Read Christie 2021: The Thirteen Problems

I'm going, I'm going... on my way to the forest of death!

Name: The Thirteen Problems

Writer: Agatha Christie

Country: United Kingdom

Year: 1932

Genre: Crime novel

Synopsis:

On a Tuesday night, a group of friends gather at Miss Marple's house and the conversation revolves around unsolved crimes. Each of the participants is convinced that they are better acquainted with human nature than the rest, which sets the tone for the creation of the Clube das Tuesdays, an opportunity for each of them to present a case in which only they know the solution. . It will be up to all the other guests to prove how good observers and listeners they are and try to unravel the successive mysteries. Nights in St. Mary Mead are therefore devoted to crime...

Review

It's almost halfway through the year and the Read Christie 2021 Challenge continues. This time, the book chosen for the theme ‘A story featuring a garden’ was The Thirteen Problems, which is a short story collection, where Miss Marple (again!) is the star. However, and as it is not against the rules of the challenge, I opted for a single short story.

The Idol House of Astarte is the second tale of the work, where it is Dr. Pender's turn to tell a story, and the crime that this character decides to present is apparently caused by the supernatural. The case takes place at the property called ‘Silent Grove’, recently acquired by Sir Richard Haydon, where Pender and a few others are invited to stay for a party. Among them is Diana Ashley, a society beauty. Delighted by her, Sir Richard decides to show her and his guests a temple supposedly from the Stone Age, which is found in the woods belonging to him, where the statue of a goddess of that era is located. A true home for the idol of Astarte! Diana is fascinated and this becomes fatal for Sir Richard. Like? You'll have to read the tale to find out. Telling anything else would be spoiling, and that's not acceptable in here.

The only thing I can say is that Miss Marple solves the mystery using her knowledge through everything she observes in the village where she lives, St Mary Mead.

In my opinion, the story Christie presents to us in this short story is quite unusual and creative. It could be read in summer as well as in autumn, in the middle of Halloween. As I progressed through the pages, I wondered where this was all going to end, and unlike spinster Marple, I couldn't figure out who the killer was.

Although it's a short story and, therefore, with little time for character development, I liked the way it unfolded and how the characters are presented. The author gives us a quick and general image of the type of person each one is, and that is enough for us to feel satisfied.

Regarding the ending, I found it satisfactory and what I liked most was that the story is written in a way that it can be read in isolation. I didn't feel the need to read the first story to understand the second. However, I felt curious and, who knows, I may not end up reading all the stories… when I stop having this 'problem' with Miss Marple.

Whisper of the Heart

The Thirteen Problems was published in Great Britain in 1932 and in the same year it appeared in the United States under the title The Tuesday Club Murders. I confess that I like this title a lot more, but this is a personal opinion.

The creation of a group of friends that discuss unsolved crimes is an interesting idea and could only result in success if written by Agatha Christie. Based on this short story and many others I've read by the author, Christie tends to focus on an aspect in which the whole story will revolve around. In The Idol House of Astarte it is the Supernatural and what it triggers in the human mind.

Personally, I've always been an imaginative person and I've always loved reading about the supernatural and the fantastic genre. (Harry Potter is one of my favorite sagas!) However, not everyone is like that and there are those who don't like to dabble in these matters for fear that something is listening and attacking them in the shadows. Everyone has their opinion and it's up to me to respect them. However, fantasy or not, how many of us have gone through places that made you shiver or felt something strange like Dr. Pender, when he went to the woods where the temple was? Is this all in our heads, or are there really places that seem to emanate an evil and dubious aura? Do spirits exist or are they just material for good horror stories?

I confess that when I look at photographs from the Victorian era, I get goosebumps, and between us I'm not a big fan of porcelain dolls. I find them sinister and soulless creatures (you get me!). And I always learned that I must listen to my intuition, because human intuition is most of the time right!

Agatha Christie was a curious woman but also a sensible one, and I believe that in this story she chooses to 'play' a little with all these questions, showing that, in the end, everything has a rational explanation. Or is it not?

Rating -🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉🟉 (7)