By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Bordering on gothic
Review: As with Postern of Fate, By the Pricking of My Thumbs ventures torwards the gothic horror genre as Tuppence tries to unravel the mystery of a house depicted in her aunt's painting.

Rating:
Summary: Late Christie, Even-Paced Mystery
Review: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968) marks the penultimate appearance of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. It is one of the novels which I return to periodically because I find that the novel continues to provide a certain amount of entertainment.

In By the Pricking of My Thumbs, we have less the espionage element that might have characterized their earlier adventures, The Secret Adversary, N or M?, or even possibly Partners in Crime. Instead, this novel represents a novel later in Christie's career in which she began to explore alternative reasons for murder. I am reminded of the sort of ingenuity that Christie utilizes in a late Miss Marple Mystery, Nemesis, written around this same period.

The reader should be aware that this even-paced thriller belongs to the brand of mystery in which the reader will have to sit back and enjoy Tuppence's wanderings with only a mysterious painting as an initial clue. The couple is older and their concerns focus little on employment but on the reasons why a woman has disappeared from a nursing home.

I recommend By the Pricking of Thumbs to people who are looking for something a little different from the genre which ordinarily belongs to Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. While By the Pricking of My Thumbs is not as odd as Endless Night, I would place this work among her works which emphasize subtle yet insistent menace, drawing on the ordinary as a means of hiding past crimes.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Tommy & Tuppence Novels is Quietly Chilling
Review: BY THE PRICKINGS OF MY THUMBS certainly offers the sense of adventure, wit, and charm we have come to expect from Christie's Tommy and Tuppence Beresford--but unlike their other outings, which might best be described light-hearted romps, this novel possesses a quietly chilling tone that intensifies as the story progresses.

The story finds Tuppence interested in a painting recently inherited from Tommy's aunt, a painting of a country house by a bridge. Convinced that she has seen the original subject, she decides to track it down--and when she does, she stumbles into stories of a series of unsolved child murders that occurred in the district many years before... and some one is displeased enough about her curiosity to become lethal.

This is the best of Christie's Tommy and Tuppence novels, a neat mixture of the characters' bright and witty personalities, an interesting story that takes several unexpected turns, and a surprisingly charged atmosphere that haunts the memory. While most serious critics dismiss the Tommy and Tuppence books, BY THE PRICKINGS OF MY THUMBS is the equal of any of Christie's best work, and long-time fans and newcomers alike should find it a thoroughly enjoyable--and unexpectedly disquieting--read.

Rating:
Summary: Aunt Ada
Review: I didn't care for this book until I practically memorized the first 50 or so pages in Dutch. Now it's one of my favorite Christies.
I can't believe she made up these conversations and small incidents, like the swallowing of a thimble for fun --- the delightful, dedicated young man who conned 25 elderly ladies --- the breakfast table chatter of people who have lived together long enough to read each other's mind. She must have kept incredible notes on everything she ever saw or heard. I'd like to have it in French, German and Swedish.
The humble Farmer. Maine Public Radio

Rating:
Summary: Classic Agatha Christie
Review: I first read this book when I was 13. Eleven years later it is still one of my favorites. The mysteries of the house involved and the murders surrounding it still bring shivers to my spine. The pages of the paperback copy I own are tattered and worn from numerous readings. It remains a "sleeper" agatha christie; especially since Tommy and Tuppence are often seen as passe by many diehard christie fans. Don't be put off. It peaks volumes about the darkest of human emotions. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: another excellent tommy and tuppence mystery .
Review: i read this book a year ago when i was in 7th grade and it was just excellent. i am a great fan of agatha christie's books and i like all her detectives - hercule poirot, miss marple, tommy and tuppence. i like tommy and tuppence mysteries because it's so energetic. it's very different from poirot or miss marple who just hears the story, finds clues - mostly psychological - and solve the crime. Tommy and Tuppence actually run around, make a lota mistakes, etc. etc. fun to read. and i loved this book because it was very strange yet creative begging --> because of what tuppence heard an old lady asking a weird question, they get mixed up in a wEird mystery. like all her novels, this one also has UnexpecTed ending.. and.. i don't see why some ppl don't follow the plot. it's pErFectly clEAr.. and it just happens i can kinda guess the plot even if it's supposed to be "unexpected", when u read her novel a lot.. well, I highly recommend this one who's looking for some break from our lovely Poirot or Miss marple.

Rating:
Summary: Tommy and Tuppence visit Aunt Ada and....
Review: stumble upon yet another sinister criminal network.

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, first introduced as young adventures in post WWI England (THE SECRET ADVERSARY) have appeared from time to time as since: as young marrieds (PARTNERS IN CRIME), then as middle aged parents of grown children (M OR N?) and now somewhat older but still active.

The story opens as the Beresfords decide to pay a duty call on Tommy's rather difficult Aunt Ada. Tuppence is banished by the old lady and retreats to the nursing home's sitting room where she meets another old woman, Mrs. Lancaster. The two chat quite happily for a while until the old lady asks Tuppence "Was it your poor child?". Even allowing for the older woman's age and possible senility Tuppence finds the whole thing rather unsettling.

Still weeks pass and the whole matter begins to be forgotten until, while settling Aunt Ada's affairs after her death, Tuppence finds herself again dealing with Mrs. Lancaster. This time though, it is the woman's absence rather than her presence that is disturbing.

Soon Tuppence, in her typical manner, is hot on the trail with Tommy in pursuit, in his typical manner. As always, Albert is there to keep an eye on the pair.

Christie made the decision to age this pair of sleuths more or less in 'real-time', they were in their early to mid twenties in the opening books (written in the mid to late 1920's), mid to late forties during WWII and seem to be about 60 in this 1968 novel. This marks a departure from her treatment of Poirot and Miss Marple who age very little from their first appearance to their last.

It is always good to see this delightful pair and find out what they have been up to. The plot of the novel is very much in keeping with the ones before, and, like all Christie novels the clues are all fairly laid out for the reader to follow. Of course there is the 'Christie twist' at the end that the reader never saw coming. Like many of her later works, this one is rather sinister as opposed to the light hearted romps of her earlier works. Still, I gave this one four stars not five because I felt it dragged a bit at times. Perhaps Tommy and Tuppence would have been more at home in the action packed madcap
adventures of their earlier books despite their advancing years. I know that I would have been.

Rating:
Summary: Read it for the ending
Review: This has to be my favourite of all the five T&T books. And they're all damn good!

This one is slightly unusual (well, most of Christie's books have something a little unusual in them, to set them apart from all the others.) in that we are not even certain there is anything to investigate, almost all the way through the book. There are practically no bodies, only the shady disappearance of an old lady, which could very well all be exaplained quite rationally.

Nonetheless, not only is this her best T&T, it is one of her best full stop. The duo may not have quite as much youthful vigour as they did in the first three novels (they are much older now) but their spirit is still there, and the way Tuppence goes haring off across the country on a mere unfounded suspicion is quite typical of them in their younger days!

The characters are good, and the plot is very original, with a solution you will NOT be able to guess. The very nature of the solution comes as a great shock to the reader, as it's completely unexpected. (It's rather similar in style to "Crooked House"'s solution.) A great, disturbing, malevolent evil is uncovered from undera guise you will never expect. As with all the best CHristie books, the ending shocks more than most.

The entire novel, in fact, carries an underlying tone of omnipresent evil, foreboding and fear, which serves to create a wonderful atmosphere, for what is one of her most perfect stories.

A definite must-read.

Rating:
Summary: haunting work
Review: This Tommy and Tuppence adventure will stay with you a long time because of it's chilling conclusion; really, one of Christie's most creepy and disturbing villians. Multilayered plot keeps getting more and more involving, as once more, Tuppence goes off on a hunch, and naturally, lands smack dab in the middle of trouble. Again.

Rating:
Summary: The weakest Tommy and Tuppence novel
Review: While Tommy Beresford visits his feeble old Aunt Ada at Sunny Ridge rest home, his wife Tuppence meets old Mrs. Lancaster in the sitting room. The solitary woman is drinking a glass of milk because "It is not poisoned today." Suddenly she looks at the fireplace and asks: "Was it your poor child? That is where it is, you know." When three weeks later Aunt Ada dies, Tommy and Tuppence revisit the rest house. Intrigued by the fact that old Mrs. Lancaster has suddenly disappeared without a trace, the old sleuth starts her own dangerous investigation.

The title is from Macbeth, "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes."

To many readers it is a complete mystery why Agatha Christie kept returning to that somewhat tedious couple Tommy and Tuppence. Compared to her other sleuths Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot, this couple turns out bleak and soulless. In By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968) it only gets worse. Not only are Tommy and Tuppence clearly suffering from senility, they also get involved in a story that completely lacks the ingenuity of their earlier appearances. Although a lot of promising subplots are started, during the story Agatha slowly kills all of them. What is left is an ending that is not only unbelievable and boring, but also completely wrong.

I would not advice anyone to read this novel. But if you still do, please keep in mind that Agatha Christie wrote some brilliant novels that cannot be compared to this debacle.