Towards Zero (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries)

Rating:
Summary: Marvellous, one of those without a promising start
Review: At the prologue, veteran lawyer Mr Treves remarked that investigations at a murder oft looked at the murder as the starting point when oft murder was the end and that the real story began long before.

And so Agatha Christie introduced many disparate threads in the beginning that appeared to have absolutely no relationship whatsoever with each other - Inspector Battle's daughter getting into trouble in school, a failed suicide of a man let down by the world when all he did was to be honest, a young man getting his wife and ex-wife down to his adopted country seat home at Gull's Point.

The deaths did not come in until about half the book, the first person to make the exit being Mr Treve himself. Next was the elderly widow Lady Tressilian, matron of Gull's Point.

Rounding up the usual suspects, we have Neville Strange, young, rich, semi-pro sportsman; his second wife Kay, a glamorous hothead from the Riviera; his divorced first wife Audrey, a complete contrast in character to Kay, stately, willowy and dignified; Thomas Royde, family friend on home visit from Malaya, devoted to Audrey for years; Edward Latimer, friend to and similarly devoted to Kay; Mary Adlin, Lady Tressilian's companion and manager of the household; plus an assortment of domestic help.

Did Kay kill Lady Tresslian, thinking she would be the beneficiary to the legacy as wife of Neville Strange? Especially when Neville declared he intended to divorce her to get Audrey back.

Was Audrey the culprit, knowing she was the actual beneficiacry, being the wife of Neville when the will was drawn up, mentioned in name specifically?

Or was it Neville, to thwart Lady Tresillian's objections to his divorcing Kay to get Audrey? Much as Lady Tresillian disliked his first divorce and his second wife and as much as she liked Audrey, she disapproved of his irresponsible behaviour.

Or perhaps it was Edward, confidante to Kay, who thought of doing her a favour by securing her an inheritance.

Or even Mary, who could be a repressed woman.

Slowly, possible motives and opportunities emerged for the suspects. Inspector Battle who had to cut short his trip found himself applying the lessons he learned from his daughter and from Hercule Poirot to detect the fiendishly cunning traps set by the murderer.

It was one of the more difficult puzzles created by Christie. While readers may be justified in feeling upset when characters narration were purposely withheld from them, enough clues and hints and omens were given in the book to point them to the culprit.

It would take a patient and careful reader to pick up all the clues and be able to see the final light when the last piece of the puzzle was revealed.

Rating:
Summary: Please be patient and don't throw the book away
Review: The first half of this book is slow-paced and rather boring. But please be patient and don't throw the book away. It is just marvelous how black turns to white and white turns to black at the ending.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging puzzle that will keep you guessing to the end
Review: This 1944 mystery begins with a group of criminologists discussing murder cases, one remarks that murder mysteries are written backwards, beginning with the crime when in fact, the real story begins much earlier.

The action then shifts to other characters as the countdown to zero hour begins. The diverse group includes a would be suicide; an athletic young man and his current and former wives; a planter from the Far East; and a wealthy invalid and her impoverished companion. We see these characters and others take the steps that ultimately lead then to an isolated seacoast estate and murder.

This is a Sgt. Battle mystery (The Seven Dials) and we are treated to some background information on him. Poirot is mentioned but only in passing. Christie, speaking through Battle, makes clear her feelings about the then current fad of psychology and those who attempt to apply it while only half understanding the theories.

The 60 year old story has worn well overall. A 21st century reader would be puzzled only by the stigma that some of the characters applied to divorce and the relatively unsophisicated forensic proceedures. This is, as is typical of Christie's work, well plotted, the clues are all there for the reader to follow through the maze of red herrings but nearly impossible to solve before the detective.