I really enjoyed reading The Secret of Chimneys, eventhough the plot is incredibly convoluted and the racism, expecially in the beginning of the book, is staggering. There are political intrigues, killed monarchs, a mysterious manuscript, a jewel thief mastermind, international affairs and the big country estate called chimneys, where all the different characters met up and all those story lines are coming together.
My biggest issue with this book is that exactly one specific character happens to be present at Chimneys by sheer luck and everything depends on this character in the end. I´m quite capable of suspending my disbelief, but I have a hard time with this, since everything depends on this one chance encounter. And since Christie seems to be infatuated with that specific character, the other characters aren´t allowed to shine (by that I mean specifically Inspector Battle).
It´s not my favorite Christie, but it´s been an enjoyable read and as of now Christie is my go-to-author for comfort reads. I really love reading her books,eventhough there might be flaws in some of them.
I´ve read this book for the Frontierland 2 square for Booklikes-opoly and people get shoot in this one. A perfect fit.
Page Count: 400 pages
Money earned: $3.00
14
8
