Playing Detective

There's a game played in the Baker Street group that I thought we might like to try. Basically, a line or passage is given from one of Agatha Christie's stories. After somebody correctly identifies which story it is from, they post the next quotation.

Anyone want to play? First quotation below.

"a man may work towards a certain object, may labour and toil to attain a certain kind of leisure and occupation, and then find that, after all, he yearns for the old busy days, and the old occupations he thought himself so glad to leave."

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd??

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Your turn.

Hmm, let's try this one:

"Really, M. Poirot, if you had been to Petra you would realize that the journey there is a somewhat strenuous business for an old woman whose cardiac condition was unsatisfactory."

Guessing ... Appointment with Death?

Got it. :)
Your turn.

Alrighty then, what about this:

"I suggest that your friend may have witnessed a scene such as she described but that it was much less serious than she supposed."

I think that's from 4.50 from Paddington aka What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw.

I thought that was vague enough to stump anyone. Hmph. Note to self: Be more obscure.

Bring it on.

I really want to play, so let the games begin again:

"It was hushed up very nicely ... but he was murdered, wasn't he?"

Sounds as though it could be Funerals Are Fatal, a.k.a. After the Funeral.

Yes! You got it!!

I'll put in a new quote when I get home from work this morning...if I remember!

"It is against Nature for a man to grovel. Women and Nature have almost exactly the same reactions! Remember it is better to take the largest plate within reach and fling it a woman's head than it is to wriggle like a worm whenever she looks at you!"

Mesopotamian Murder, perhaps?

Actually it's Murder in Mesopotamia, but clearly that's what you meant. Over to you.

Of course! My mistake... ok here goes:
"Friends accept this, the only intimation."

Sounds like A murder is announced.

Yup! Your turn...

"It was not her they meant to kill, Mademoiselle! It was you! They were misled by the shawl."

Peril At End House. I love that one.

I knew that was too easy :)

Your turn.

"These things are sent to try us. Yes, these things are sent to try us. At least, I suppose so. I don't see what else they can be sent for...."

Towards Zero

Here's a new one to get us going again:

"I did not deceive you, mon ami. At most, I permitted you to deceive yourself."

Yes, of course you're right, tiegster.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles?

Yep...you're turn.

"The letters were brought in at twenty minutes to nine. It was just ten minutes to nine when I left him, the letter still unread. I hesitated with my hand on the door handle, looking back and wondering if there was anything I had left undone."

*gack!* I know this one...but I won't answer since I just had one earlier. One of the best ever, by the way. Good choice, Count.

You got it! I love that book, it was my first Christie!

It is one of her best!
Here's the next clue:
"It might be just some mentally disturbed nut who likes killing people and whose idea of playing with water is to push somebody's head under it and hold it there."

*confound it!* I know this one too...still letting other people guess, before I answer.

Hallowe'en Party?

Yes!
Your turn.

How about this:
"I didn't want to work. It was as simple as that. I distrusted work, disliked it. I thought it was a very bad thing, that the human race had unfortunately invented for itself."

Endless night.

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp"No, sir. If you ask me, there aren't any top secrets anywhere. During the war I often noticed that a barber in London knew more than the High Command."

Ha! They Came to Baghdad. Yes?

Yep...your turn

O.K. *rubs hands together*

""She said-" George pronounced the words with some reluctance, apologising for them in advance as it were, "that she wanted to consult you about a murder she might have committed."

Just a guess- is it Sparkling Cyanide?

Nope. Keep 'em coming. And here's a hint: it's a Poirot mystery.

I'm pretty sure it's Third Girl.

Booyah!

Your turn.

I'm afraid I'll have to let someone else take my turn; all
of my Agatha Christie novels are at home.

Well in that case, the field is open, ladies and gents. First in can post the next quote.

I'll have a go-
"I told them what they ought to do was ring up the police. Whether they did or not I don't know. Not my business. They're a bit dumb, both of them-but kindly folk."

I think that might be At Bertram's Hotel.

Correct! I was beginning to think I had made it too difficult.
Your turn.

It was a toughie.

"The second clue will be found in a box under the centre of the tennis net."

Dead Man's Folly (because of the treasure hunt)

Yep.

OK, here's a quote from Poirot....."The knees of a woman of twenty-three or twenty-four can never really be mistaken for the knees of a girl of fourteen or fifteen"

Cat among the pigeons

Yep! your turn

Another one from Poirot....."A railway guide, you say. A Bradshaw -- or an A.B.C.?"

I think I know this one...but I won't answer since I just had one immediately earlier too.

ryn, it doesn't seem that anyone else wants to answer. :)

OK - I was assuming it was The ABC Murders unless that was too screamingly obvious.

You're right, of course. I thought it was an easy one. Maybe we're the only two still hanging around here. :)

Must be. I'll put another one up tonight when I'm home from work. (late a.m. Maine time)

Hey sorry, I'm still here, but I assumed it was a trick question.

Darn, try this one.

"His head was markedly brachycephalic. He will not find it so easy to alter that."

Hmm, I think I know this one, but I just had a turn.
*waits for MysteryWatcher to come back*

man in the brown suit

Ding! Yep, all yours

You know it's bad when people start talking about you in *astrix*. O.K. then, bring it on.

you'll have to wait until I get home tonight, unless someone else has one they want to add.

I'm glad somebody answered that. It was bugging me! :-P

wisewoman- me too! I tried looking up 'brachycephalic' in the dictionary but it isn't there (at least in mine) to give me a clue who the quote was about.

>70 mstrust:, yeah, it's always been a quote I've remembered from that book mainly because it was such an odd word!

I have to apologize, I completely forgot about this thread, I have plenty of excuses but I won't use them.

Hopefully you haven't had this one yet.

Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions.

This one has me stumped! Commenting purely to bump the thread.
Looking forward to discovering the answer

ABC Murders.

"Mon ami," said Poirot with dignity, "when I commit a murder it will not be with the arrow poison of the South American Indians."

yep

Death in the Clouds

"The two young people greeted each other affectionately and momentarily blocked the Dover Street Tube exit in doing so."

The Secret Adversary

next one: Poirot is speaking with Hastings

"You asked me if I had noticed a young goddess, and I replied to you that I had seen only a girl with anxious eyes.
That is how I have thought of _ _ _ _ _ _from the beginning. The girl with the anxious eyes!"

anyone?

Death in the Clouds?

Nope but it is an early Poirot

Death on the Nile ??

Nope but the murder does occur out of England. And Hastings is in it!

Hmm, the statement sounds right for Evil under the Sun but, although they were on vacation , I thought they were still in England???

Oh well, I'll let that stand as a guess.

Sorry for late reply, I was on vacation and deliberately without internet.

Sounds like it's been more difficult than intended.

I'll put everyone out of their misery and say that it was Murder On the Links. This was about the 3rd book featuring Poirot, occuring mainly in France.

Darn - wanted to go into why I've always remembered that quote. Can't without using spoilers.

Well, hell, I should have thought of that.

lol!
That was a tough one, rynbooks. I know that's one I haven't read. Have another go and see if we can get it.

>86 mstrust:. I do recommend you track that one down. Again won't go into spoilers but there's a character relationship that starts there that's referenced in later books.

OK - here's a quote that hopefully isn't too obscure. And oddly - the character who starts this conversation does a similar conversation in another unrelated Christie book!

"I see you're looking at the fireplace."
"Oh. Was I?" said _________, slightly startled.
"Yes. I wondered -" she leant forward and lowered her voice.
"-Excuse me, was it your poor child?"

Bonus points if you guess both books!

Clue: This quote is NOT a Poirot book.

The quote is from By the pricking of my thumbs

Is the other one you mention Postern of Fate???

>88 sqdancer: yep , it was, with the old lady opening the conversation with Tuppence.

The other book with the same old lady is the final Miss Marple book Sleeping Murder ... It's such a odd character crossover!

over to you!

Wow, interesting. I'll have to did out my old copy of The Sleeping Murder and refresh my memory. :)

====

"I see. Well, of course, he's a nice young fellow and doesn't do to badly at the garage, and his father does rather better than most of the farmers around here. All the same, my dear, you don't seem to me cut out for ------'s wife. Not with your education and all. As I was saying, if I was you I'd go in for massage when the time comes. You get about a bit and see people that way and your time's more or less your own."

The first part seems vaguely from Taken at the Flood but the tone is pure Miss Marple. Got to admit, this one is puzzling me.

Hint: it's a Poirot novel.

OK, I'm going to resort to the blind-folded dart throwing method (by the way, not recommended in reality. Leads to serious disagreements with fellow pub-goers).

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd?

Sorry, that's not it. It's later on in the Poirot series (around the middle).

Is it Dumb Witness?

Nope.

Hint: the speaker is a district nurse and she is speaking to a girl who was contemplating becoming a nurse, now that she expects to have to earn her own living soon.

Sad Cypress ?

You've got it! :)

Your turn.

This should be easy:

"There are certain similarities shared by all these letters. I shall enumerate them, gentlemen, in case they suggest anything to your minds. The text of the letters is composed of words made up from individual letters cut out of a printed book."

Could it be The Moving Finger ??

I said it is easy :) Your turn

Thanks. How's this?

"She spoke as though in some kind of dream, her eyes still closed.
'And presently,' she said, almost as though she were quoting from something,
'he died--'."

Is it the short story "Philomel Cottage" ?

Absolutely Right!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your Turn!

OK, here goes:

"It couldn't be better in my opinion," she said. "Straight down this hill and then, as you see, the road gives a sudden very sharp turn round that bulging bit of wall....If we start the car and let it run down the hill it will crash straight into the wall and something pretty drastic ought to happen to it."

Why didn't they ask Evans?

Wow - too quick! Must try and make them harder :-)

Your turn

*grin* For some reason, all that stuff at the Bassington-ffrench's has stuck in my mind. Maybe because of her Christian Science excuse. :)

""Why did she have thirty pounds in the house, by the way, since she had a Savings Bank account?"

"Because she didn't trust the Government. Said they'd got two hundred pounds of her money, but they wouldn't get any more. She'd keep that where she could lay her hands on it any minute. She said that to one or two people. It was under a loose board in her bedroom floor -- a very obvious place. _____ admitted he knew it was there."

Mrs. McGinty's Dead?

You've got it.

Here you go-

"I have struck terror into you with all of this; you have lain awake at night fearing and wondering: did you leave a fingerprint in the room or a footprint somewhere?"

"The Under Dog" ?

Yes! Your turn.

:)

OK.. next:
"He found the bullet hole on the right side of the head. It had passed out the other side and had evidently struck a mirror hanging on the left-hand wall, since this was shivered. On the writing table was a sheet of paper, blank save for the word "Sorry" scrawled across it in hesitating, shaky writing."

Ack!! That quotation is tickling something at the back of my mind, but I can't quite place it. Maybe if I sleep on it.

Hmm. It sounds like The Dead Man's Mirror.

>115 sqdancer: - I thought it will be easy with the note and the mirror.

>116 MysteryWatcher: - Nope. But you are very close. It's an earlier story.

Need a clue? - although my answer to MysteryWatcher should be a clue enough.

Is it murder in the mews?

>119 ryn_books: Nope.
OK... some more clues:

We are searching a short story, earlier than "The Dead Man's Mirror", but very close to it (and when I say close, it does not mean written immediately before it, they are related in another way).

I admit defeat. I obviously have to brush up on my short stories.

It's from "The Second Gong"

"The Dead Man's Mirror" has a lot of similarities with it (to a point where sometimes I am mistaking both) - although it is not exactly an expansion - just using the same devices in a different way. That's why I said you were very close.

Go on, MysteryWatcher, give the next quotation - you were close enough.

Hey, a freeby!

"What you gave me was an account of five different murders. They all occurred in different places and amongst different classes of people. Moreover there seems no superficial resemblance between them."

Curtain: Poirot's Last Case ?

lol. You're wiping the floor with us AnnieMod. It's all yours again.

Well - it was easy. Here comes another easy one.

"We have three things that do not make sense: the struggle, the turned key, and the snip of rubber. But there must be some way of looking at those three things which would make sense!"

Hercule Poirot's Christmas?

>127 ryn_books: - yep :)
Your turn.

OK, a bit more off the beaten track....

"{house name} has been extremely useful to me," said ___________. "I bought it for a song and it has already been the scene of eleven exciting dramas."
"Oh, I forgot," said Mrs ______. "Johnny's wages. Five shillings."
"Johnny?"
"Yes. The boy who poured the water from the watering cans through the hole in the wall".

I think I won't answer this one to give someone else a chance although I am sure which one it is... :)

A clue!

The second person speaking was Mrs Oliver .

OK - final clue, if anyone's still reading this thread....

The passage was from a collection of short stories. The short stories all feature a central character who is NOT Poirot or Miss Marple.
The name of the short story was wanted, but at this stage I'll accept the name of the book :-)

Your last clue makes me think of The Harlequin Tea set

Sadly no.
That's a story I've enjoyed reading before though. Must dig it out and reread sometime.

All ye mere mortals bow before me:

The Case of the Discontented Soldier, in Parker Pyne Investigates. And for bonus points, the house is called Whitefriars.

Yay! am so glad that someone knew it

In fairness - anniemod knew within 10mins but decided to hold off for someone else to guess.
That was really nice of her but am tipping you'd alll probaby preferred her question :-)

Am so grateful that someone else knows this story too. Was worried I'd killed the thread...

All Hail MysteryWatcher!

Ahh, my adoring public...
I have a bad habit of picking easy ones, but oh well:

"I shouldn't like the colonies--and I'm perfectly certain they wouldn't like me!"

Just an update of the scores so far:
(Stumper - unguessed quote)

Sqdancer - 6
ryn_books - 5 (+1 Stumper)
Mysterywatcher - 5
AnnieMod - 3 (+1 Stumper)
LydiaHd - 2
The Count - 2
Tiegster - 2
Mstrust - 2
Bluetruedream - 1
Miela - 1
Readafew - 1
Tid - 1
Unorna - 1

Of course, this does not take into account the times when players have very graciously not given an answer in order to allow for competition.

This sounds like Tommy :)

Should be "The Secret Adversary" - never read it in English but I am almost sure that this is the same line I always smile at when reordering books (which ends up in reading a few pages from anything that I reorder..)

Wow, 2 hours and 38 minutes. That's really *cough, cough* quite good. lol.

Actually it is exactly 3 hours after the comment that contained the line ;) But I remembered the line as soon as I saw the question this morning.

Next one (a bit longish and should have enough clues inside to decipher it..):

"Human beings. All kinds and sorts and sizes and shapes of 'em. Some with brains and a good many more without. They'd come from all over the place. Lancashire, Scotland - that Restaurant proprietor from Italy, and the schoolteacher woman from somewhere out Middle West."

That's the one.

"I wonder who told you that?"
"Is it true?"
He said slowly, "That case was - different."

Is it Poirot from Elephants Can Remember?

Nope, but you got the speaker right.

Appointment with Death ?

That's it.

:) - next one:

"She was full, still, of pent-up resentment; all the worse because she had to acknowledge secretly, if not openly, that her mother had been perfectly right; that she was no good as an actress and that the man she had lavished her affections on wasn't worth it. And that, anyway, she didn't really care for him. "Mother knows best". It's always galling to the young."

Ordeal by Innocence?

yep, your turn :)

"Another thing was worrying me. After hesitating a moment or two I said: "You know, doctor, I'm afraid I might tend to be - well, a little personal sometimes."
"God bless my soul, woman, the more personal you are the better! This is a story of human beings - not dummies!"

Murder in Mesopotamia ?

yup, all yours!

"The scene that met his eyes was typical of the English countryside as depicted on Xmas cards and in old-fashioned melodramas. Everywhere was snow, deep drifts of it - no mere powdering an inch or two thick. Snow had fallen all over England for the last four days, and up here on the fringe of Dartmoor it had attained a depth of several feet. All over England householders were groaning over burst pipes, and to have a plumber friend (or even a plumber's mate) was the most coveted of all distinctions. "

The Sittaford Mystery?

Of course :) Your turn.

Yay! Oh, gosh, I don't have my books yet (tomorrow!), so I have to go with an internet quote.

"Marriage is called all sorts of things, a haven, and a refuge, and a crowning glory, and a state of bondage, and lots more. But do you know what I think it is?"

"What?"

"A sport!"

"And a damned good sport too," said _____.

The "damn good sport" line is Tommy's (or sounds a lot like one of his lines) and from the works with them, this sounds a lot like The Secret Adversary - don't have the book to verify and I already mentioned once that I had read it only in Bulgarian so might be mistaken - some of the books tend to blur together in my mind...

Ding ding ding! The Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Affair at Styles are the only two AC's on Project Gutenberg, so I was limited in my choices. And since I recently got married to a wonderful person, the quote really stuck out to me.

Okay, your turn AnnieMod!

Here we go:

"The train, having done one hundred and eighty odd miles of its two hundred and twelve miles journey at top speed, puffed gently and apologetically through the last thirty and drew into ____ station."

A clue: the skipped word above (the station name) is Nassecombe

Dead Man's Folly ??

Of course :) Your turn.

"Consider for one little moment, Hastings. How are we handicapped! How are our hands tied! To hunt down a murderer after a crime has been committed - c'est tout simple! Or at least it is simple to one of my ability. The murderer has, so to speak, signed his name by committing the crime. But here there is no crime - and what is more we do not want a crime. To detect a crime before it has been committed - that is indeed of a rare difficulty."

Poirot in Peril at End House?

But of course. :)

"It was on the night of the Fancy Dress dance that I decided that the time had come for me to confide in someone. So far I had played a lone hand and rather enjoyed it. Now suddenly everything was changed. I distrusted my own judgment and for the first time a feeling of loneliness and desolation crept over me."

The Man in the Brown Suit

All yours, sqdancer!

"I know, my friend, I know. But there is no third way. Always one looks for one thing - the lover, the perfect, the eternal lover. It is the music of Harlequin one hears. No lover ever satisfies one, for all lovers are mortal. And Harlequin is only a myth, an invisible presence - unless- "

"Yes," said Mr. --. "Yes?"

"Unless - his name is - Death!"

I know which the book is... but not quite sure which the story is... will try anyway: "Harlequin's Lane" ?

I knew AnnieMod would get it! :)

:)

Next one:

Sipping the double brandy that she had asked for, her spirits revived. She no longer looked the frightened and uneasy woman that she had a short time previously. Her animosity against the police, however, was not lessened. She murmured under her breath. "Gestapo! I shall make them pay. Yes, they shall pay!" and finished off her drink. She ordered another and brooded over recent happenings. Unfortunate, extremely unfortunate, that the police should have been so tactless as to discover her secret hoard, and too much to hope that word would not get around amongst the students and the rest of them.

I know this one, I could relate most of the story but so far the title completely escapes me...

Yep. All yours.

"There was nothing fishy about her death. I can tell you that. In fact, there's been nothing questionable about any of the deaths, the police have been investigating. If they were 'accidents' it might be suspicious. But the deaths are all perfectly normal deaths. Pneumonia, cerebral hemorrhage, tumour on the brain, gallstones, one case of polio--nothing in the least suspicious."

I'm sure I had read this one... cannot place it though. Argh.

The Pale Horse ? Something does not sound right though but that's the only one I remember that fits...

You're right, though, it is The Pale Horse. Dr. Jim Corrigan speaking to Mark Easterbrook.

I need to reread it... that was the only one I could think of where there was such a string of natural causes deaths and someone that can list them :)

Next one:
"I had him tailed when he left my office. Nothing doing. He went straight to the U.S. Embassy - quite correctly - he'd brought me an introductory letter from there. The usual kind they send out when they want to be polite but non-committal. I presume he left the embassy either in somebody's car or by the back entrance disguised as a footman or something. Anyway he evaded us."

Anyone?

A clue: the usual detectives do not participate; it's a standalone book.

It sounds familiar, but I can't really place it.

My wild guess is Passenger to Frankfurt.

Nope.

The man in the brown suit?

Nope.

Oh, could it be They Came to Baghdad?

Nope...

Is it Destination Unknown

Yep - Destination Unknown :)

Your turn, Wordsmithonia :)

"But I don't want her hanged, I tell you! Supposing she was driven desperate? Love's a desperate and twisting business. It can turn a worm into a fine fellow--and it can ring a decent, straight man down to the dregs! Supposed she did to di. Haven't you got any pity?"

Peter Lord talking to Poirot in Sad Cypress ?

Correct, your turn again :-)

"This, she thought, is how the old die...
And then a surer conviction came to her. This was not natural death! This was an enemy striking out of darkness.
Poison...
But how? When? All she had eaten, all she had drunk - tested, secured - there had been no loophole or error.
Then how? When?"

ooh, am back and there's LOADS of posts.
Is this The Pale Horse ?

Nope :)

I keep thinking Death Comes as the End , but I'm pretty sure that's wrong.

I keep thinking Death Comes as the End , but I'm pretty sure that's wrong.

I'm pretty sure you've got it ninjapenguin.

ninjapenguin,

You got it - this is Esa thinking when she realizes she is poisoned. :) Your turn.

PS: This thread gets way too long, should we get the next line in a new thread?

ninjapenguin?

AnnieMod- Why don't you go ahead and take it again? I don't think any one will mind.

The new quote is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/71698 (as this thread got a bit too long)

Noone is around or simply noone has an idea where the sentences are from?