Product Description

A brand new audio edition of Agatha Christie's thriller, the first to feature Superintendent Battle and 'Bundle' Brent. Little did Anthony Cade suspect that a simple errand on behalf of a friend would make him the centrepiece of a murderous international conspiracy. Someone would stop at nothing to prevent the monarchy being restored in faraway Herzoslovakia. The combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Surete can do no better than go in circles -- until the final murder at Chimneys, the great country estate that yields up an amazing secret!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29490 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-16
• Released on: 2007-01-01
• Formats: Audiobook, CD, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 5
• Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Another excellent work of Agatha Christie!
The Secret of Chimneys is an excellent book for any reader, not just for Agatha Christie's fans! It draws the reader into its story from the very beginning. There are also many interesting characters and, as is Agatha Christie's usual practice, the murderer is someone who you have never suspected, or, if you have, you dropped all suspicions you had quite soon. On the whole, a very interestingly written book which is sure to have you reading it all in one go!

Everything But The Kitchen Sink--And Maybe That Too!
If Agatha Christie's THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS had been written in the 1890s instead of the 1920s, we might actually regard it as a classic of its kind. Instead, it is best regarded as something of a cultural curiosity.

The English of Christie's age and background tended to have an 'Empire' mentality, and a sense of national and racial superiority was often the result--and it is seen in the works of many English mystery writers of the 1920s and 1930s. (Dorothy Sayers is particularly notable for a patronizing anti-Semitism.) Unlike some of her contemporaries, Christie would eventually outgrow the mindset--but CHIMNEYS shows her at her most xenophobic, taking swipes at unpolished colonials, Jews, and those troublesome little Balkan states, to name but a few.

That said, the plot centers on a monarchy's possible return to power in one of the aforesaid Balkan states--and it offers us everything but the kitchen sink... and if you look closely enough you might find that too. There are mysterious memoirs, scandalous letters, blackmail, missing jewels, secret passages, a body in a trunk, and gunshots at night. Ultimately, the novel reads like the basis for a Marx Brothers movie that every one thought better of.

But it does have one or two charms, and the primary one is a handful of entertaining characters that stand out against the otherwise cardboardish creations that people the novel: the spirited and charming Virginia Revel, the eternally anxious Lord Caterham, and Caterham's "bright young thing" daughter 'Bundle.' And the absurd plot itself has its own odd sort of fascination: you can't help wondering what silly thing Christie will throw at you next.

This is really a book more for established fans who will be interested in the writer's earlier and more obscure titles. But for newcomers interested in the same period, I would recommend THE SECRET ADVERSARY, which offers the same convoluted and often ridiculous plot but does so with tremendous humor, spirit, and more memorable characters.

Early Christie in ripping form
This is one of Christie's early thrillers written in the 20s. She wasn't sure yet what kind of writer she was going to be, or even if she'd be a professional writer at all, and threw off some light-hearted yarns that suited the tastes of the times. She knew she was cobbling together the usual cliches and didn't care, in fact she often throws her characters into the most hackneyed situations. Yes, there is some casual racism ("Don't say you've married a black woman you met in Africa!" "No, she's white - white all through.") The one Jewish character is a financier - it's a stereotype, but he's not unsympathetic. She more than once used the setting of the big country house where the real business of running the world is carried on. For a brief period in her youth she stayed in some of those country houses.