Bundle and Battle save the day (The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie)

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	The Seven Dials Mystery - Agatha Christie
Date:	02/02/08 (139 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining read

Disadvantages: Reads a bit like an Enid Blyton

Gerry Wade is not known for his early mornings, so his friends decide to play a joke on him by setting eight alarm clocks by his bed. When the alarm clocks are due to have gone off and there is still no sign of Gerry, they presume he rumbled their plan and is turning the tables on them. Then someone goes into his room. Gerry is dead, apparently murdered, and one of the clocks is missing. When another young man dies, Bundle Brent becomes convinced that something is going on - and it seems to be linked to an organisation called The Seven Dials. Can Bundle, with the help of her friends and Superintendent Battle, work out what the members of The Seven Dials are up to before there are more deaths?

I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie's work and it is rare that I come across a book I don't already know off by heart. The Seven Dials Mystery is one that I have read, but so long ago that I had forgotten the plot. Reading it again showed me why the book is not one of Christie's best-known; it is an entertaining read, but it lacks some of the taut story-telling that some of her more famous works have. It is, though, still a good story and I did enjoy reading it.

Most people will know that Christie's most famous characters are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In this book, we are given Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent and Superintendent Battle. Bundle is the daughter of a titled Lord and has never done a day's work in her life. Bundle, in fact, has so much time on her hands that she likes to stick her nose where it isn't wanted; that is, when she isn't running people down with her haphazard driving. Perhaps because of her upper class roots, I found it hard to identify with her and she was frankly a little annoying. Superintendent Battle has appeared in other books, including Cards on the Table and The Secret of Chimneys and this book is marketed as one of the Superintendent Battle Chronology. Despite this, he hardly appears in the book and we certainly don't find out much about him, except that he is a rather taciturn, solid sort of man. He does at least make Bundle a little easier to bear.

This story is one of Christie's political thrillers. I must admit that I much prefer Christie's more traditional cozy village mysteries; her political thrillers never seem to be that well written, as if she herself didn't feel that comfortable writing them. At times, it felt as though I was reading an Enid Blyton and I half expected to read about lashings of ginger beer and camping out in tents. Now, I love Enid Blyton and must admit to still reading the odd Famous Five story, but I prefer that my adult fiction is a little better written. It left me feeling slightly dissatisfied, as if I was missing something.

The one thing I did like about this book is that it doesn't take itself too seriously and mocks the upper classes. It has been likened to a Jeeves and Wooster story, and I think this is a good comparison, because fun is poked at the wealthy aristocracy and noveau riche. Even the stalwarts of the Foreign Office are regarded as being 'pompous asses', something that makes me really happy because my ex was a pompous ass of the FCO. I suppose in this day and age, there is nothing particularly amazing about this, but the book was written in 1929 when the upper classes were generally considered with awe and respect.

In the book that I have, there is an introduction by Val McDermid, which discusses class/race issues in the book. Although not a reason to buy the book in the first place, it did make for an interesting read, and, because it was at the beginning of the book, I found I was thinking about the things she mentioned as I was reading. Whereas I don't believe in over-analysing fiction, the introduction is definitely worth reading if your version has it.

I did enjoy this book; it is fun to read and I finished it within a few hours. However, it is definitely not one of Agatha Christie's best and, for a newcomer to her work, I really would not recommend that you start with this one - the ones featuring Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot tend to be much better and it is not hard to see why this one is one of her lesser known books. If, however, you are already a fan of Christie's work, you will still like this. Three stars.

The book is available from play.com for £5.49 (and from the cover, this appears to be the version with the introduction). It is, however, worth shopping around - I bought mine for £3 from greenmetropolis.com, and Amazon have much cheaper versions. Published by HarperCollins, it has 375 pages. ISBN: 9780007122592

Summary: Not Christie's best, but still entertaining