Just been away on a very enjoyable week's holiday in the English Lake District, during which time I read three books:
"The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side" by Agatha Christie. This was her 64th book, and was originally published in 1962. This is a "Miss Marple" story, and is a loose sequel to the earlier Miss Marple novel, "The Body in the Library". Gossington Hall, formerly the home of the local "squire", in whose library the aforementioned body was found, is now occupied by an American film star, Marina Gregg and her husband. During an fete to raise money for charity, a local woman dies after drinking a poisoned cocktail, apparently intended for Marina Gregg. Miss Marple investigates.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In it, Miss Marple, now a very old lady, reflects on how the world of the 1960s, and life in her small village of St Mary Mead, has changed since her own youth. Although this is far from being Christie's last book, or even the last "Miss Marple" book, it is notable in being the last book that Christie wrote to be set in a small English village, and very much represents the end of an era in that sense.
The title comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which is quoted a number of times in the book:
Quote:
Out flew the web and floated wide-
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.
|
One of the best of Christie's later books, to my mind. Very highly recommended.
Next I read "A Hymn Before Battle" by John Ringo. I bought this from Baen in October 2000, and it's the first book in his (and other authors') long-running "Posleen" military SF series. In this book, Earth is contacted by a confederation of alien races to warn them that the Earth is next on the invasion route of an aggressive alien race (the Posleen) who have so far conquered 70 planets. The Galactics are pacifists, psychologically incapable of fighting, so Earth is recruited to furnish troops to stop the Posleen, with the aid of Galactic technology. Very good - this was back in the good old days when Ringo wrote decent SF, rather than right-wing political manifestos, which are what he now seems to churn out.
Last, but not least, was another Agatha Christie book, "The Clocks". This was published in 1963 and was her 65th book. The book has two interwoven plots: the main plot involves a young woman from a secretarial bureau who is sent to the house of a local blind women teacher for some work. When she arrives, she goes into the woman's house and discovered the body of a man, in a room full of clocks which were apparently put there by the murderer. There is a subplot of a secret service agent investigating communist spies (the agent is the main narrator of the book). Poirot is fairly peripherally involved in the story, and the two storylines come together at the end. Pretty good, but not as good as the previous book.