Sparkling Cyanide

One year ago, a group of friends went out for dinner at a fancy London restaurant, and one, Rosemary, died apparently from suicide by cyanide poisoning. The same group meets again a year later to celebrate the birthday of Rosemary’s sister Iris. One place is left empty in remembrance of Rosemary. Rosemary’s husband George has begun to put the pieces together and thinks the suicide may have been murder. When this evening again ends in death, will the killer be found before they strike again?I liked that Rosemary’s murder was at the very start of the novel and then the various characters at the party are further fleshed out after the party. I could then see why various characters would want to murder Rosemary, but did they and how? I didn’t quite guess the answer to this Agatha Christy mystery as per usual. I enjoyed that George wanted to solve the mystery of his wife’s murder. He realized she wasn’t perfect, but he loved her and wanted justice for her.This is called a Colonel Race novel. He is slightly in it but is really a secondary character.Sparkling Cyanide was the April read for the #ReadChristie2023 challenge. Poison was the focus for this month, and this was the perfect book for it.Book Source: E-book purchased from Amazon.com.

Definitely wish all mystery authors would not rush their endings which all of a sudden come to conclusion like a cascading waterfall.

I enjoy Agatha Christie stories; very British!! Enjoyed the retired colonel as protagonist. Of course I didn’t see the solution until the end. . .

One year ago, everything changed for a seemingly close-knit group of friends and family -- for it was one year ago that one of them died. Seven went to dinner in a celebratory mood, and only six returned, for the seventh -- sparkling, effervescent, attractive Rosemary Barton -- drank champagne laced with cyanide. Rosemary was a golden girl, with everything to live for, and her suicide shocked the circle of survivors, for although suicide emotionally out of the question as a viable option for the inexplicable, horrific events of the evening, it was the verdict. For who would want to kill Rosemary? It must have been the depression she'd suffered as a result of a particularly nasty bout of flu. As horrible and tragic as it was, depression was the only option, the only way to bring order and reason from chaos. The only other option was even more unthinkable...that one individual who walked away from that fateful dinner was a killer...As the anniversary of Rosemary's death approaches, the six other attendees begin to reminisce about their respective relationships with Rosemary...for as time has distanced them from the immediacy of her passing, so too has it dulled their comfort level with the suicide verdict, giving rise to uncomfortable questions. George, the long-suffering, dully respectable husband, has his doubts fanned by anonymous letters claiming Rosemary was murdered. Iris has begun to fear that she never truly knew her sister at all, while the mysterious Anthony bitterly regrets his onetime flirtation with Rosemary for jeopardizing his secrets and his hope of a relationship with her sister. Stephen, an up-and-coming politician, fears his long-time liaison with Rosemary may have jeopardized his career and his marriage, all the while wondering if his wife Sandra might have taken drastic steps to eliminate her rival. And last but not least, the quietly efficient Ruth, George's secretary, begins to ponder just how much she hates her employer's late wife. All connected, all harboring secrets...but only one with enough vitriol to kill Rosemary...and the ripple effect of that rash action threatens to strike again as the anniversary and the questions it raises inches ever closer...When I first started reading Agatha Christie years ago, I almost exclusively confined myself to the Poirot mysteries, having fallen in love with the mustachioed, fastidious detective in no small part thanks to David Suchet's portrayal in the long-running television series. Thankfully, as the years passed I learned to broaden my reading horizons and discovered the gems that lay waiting in the other corners of Christie's extensive backlist. Sparkling Cyanide has long been high on my list of Christie standalones to read, especially since it is based on one of my favorite Poirot short stories: "The Yellow Iris." (The episode is one of my favorites among the television series' hour-long adaptations.) And when I finally tracked down a copy of the elusive 1983 film version, starring my much-loved Anthony Andrews and transplanting the story to Los Angeles (!!), I knew that at long last I had to read the source material.There is something irresistibly compelling about a dinner table set mystery. Similar to a locked room tale, the dinner setting (also employed by Christie in Lord Edgeware Dies) immediately limits the pool of potential suspects. There is something extraordinarily creepy about the thought of sitting at table with a killer. The very idea of taking a meal with someone (typically) implies a certain conviviality, one Christie happily turns on its head by taking her limited guest list and making them question everything they thought they knew about each other.As the novel opens, Rosemary Barton has been dead nearly a year, the approaching anniversary leading her family and friends reminisce about their acquaintance with Rosemary. It becomes quickly apparent that no one knew Rosemary as well as they'd thought...nor any other member of the group that witnessed her shocking death. I loved how Christie structured the novel, beginning with chapters told from each survivor's viewpoint, building tension as the mystery of Rosemary's relationships with each and her true state of mind at the time of the fateful dinner gradually click into place. At the one-third mark, Christie brings the story into the present, building towards the anniversary and the ramifications of George's insistence that his wife didn't commit suicide as widely assumed, leading him to plan a second -- and equally fateful -- dinner party.The multiple viewpoints utilized aren't the neatest method I've ever seen Christie use for a mystery of this ilk, but the characters are engaging and I loved watching the secrets of their relationships and views of each other unfold in all their scandalous glory. This novel marks the final appearance of Colonel Race (also seen in The Man in the Brown Suit and as Poirot's friend in Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile), who, while never a star investigator, ably plays the assistant role, facilitating the investigation and here the dashing Anthony's creative breakthrough in recognizing the murder method.Each and every main player in the cast is deliciously over-the-top in the best soap opera fashion (with the exception of Colonel Race), and though Sparkling Cyanide may not be Christie's most tightly-plotted mystery, in spite of -- or perhaps because of -- it's eccentricities it is one of her most delightful. This book was sheer, unadulterated fun to read from start to finish. This mystery is all about relationships, running the gamut from love to loathing and everything in between, replete with Christie's signature droll sense of humor and a dash of romance between Iris and Anthony. I would love to see this tale get a proper film adaptation, playing up the period elements and keeping the characters true to their time period and scripted histories. This is pure, delicious soap opera as only the Queen of Crime can deliver, a diverting breath of fresh air for mystery lovers looking for something a little different from a favorite author.

There were so many possibilities of 'who dunnit' and why. Agatha Christie was the very best at this kind of story telling; keeping the reader engaged to the end.

This work is also sold under its original U.S. title,  Remembered Death(original British Title - Sparkling Cyanide) , a fact Christie fans find irritating as publishers have changed titles on a number of her popular books - this unnecessary practice has led to considerable confusion for readers. I'm reviewing the original U.S. title here, a 1964 7th printing Pocket Books paperback edition (first appearing in 1947) which sports the cool black, red, and school bus yellow cover, 214 pages.I should also mention that some of these publishers have more recently begun editing, redacting, and even (unscrupulously) re-writing some of Christie's actual words which is why I much prefer the older editions. But the one I've cited as reviewing here is terrific if you can find it.THE STORY: A young heiress of stunning appearance weds an older gentleman, a man blinded by love, who is thus unable to recognize his lovely bride's personal failings as a wife. She soon expands her illicit romantic activities with her enthusiastic, dynamic, and passionate paramours. But she doesn't get to engage in her concupiscent behavior for too long because, during an elaborate birthday supper sponsored by her generous husband at a high-end restaurant, she drops dead of cyanide poisoning. Even though the death is suspicious and likely suspects abound, the coroner ultimately rules the death a suicide, citing the decedent's depression subsequent to her having suffered from the flu.After a year passes, the husband becomes convinced of two actualities:1. His wife had been having love affairs behind his back.2. She was murdered by someone at the dinner table.These epiphanies were chiefly the result of anonymous letters which he began receiving, advising him directly of the latter thought and strongly implying the former. So the distraught husband calls in his lifelong friend and man-of-the-world, Colonel Race, to aid him in trapping the killer. Unfortunately this widower's meticulous plan, which involved a second celebratory dinner with all the same guests present as before and conducted at the same restaurant, gives rise to a second murder.That last comment is not a spoiler as all this is revealed by the book's back cover teaser -- Christie wanted us to know all this up front. The resolution is quite clever and most readers will anticipate neither the murderer nor the method.Christie devotees have previously encountered the fictional Colonel Race, formerly of Great Britain's MI-5 organization, a man who also paired up with the renowned Hercule Poirot in  Cards on the Table (Hercule Poirot) . Race's role is somewhat unique to Christie mysteries in that he functions as a (semi-private) "helper detective" to the primary investigator who in this case is Scotland Yard Inspector Kemp, (whom, it is further noted, had been mentored by the more well-known and now-retired Inspector Battle, ergo:  Towards Zero (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) .) While it is true that even Hercule Poirot serves as a secondary detective to the Scotland Yard one most of the time, (as does Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, etc.), the reader still knows that it will be Poirot, and not the Scotland Yard sleuth, who actually resolves the case. But here, Colonel Race's role is truly a supplemental and secondary one.While this mystery is a pretty good read overall, it's not, from my view, Christie's best effort. But since she generated a total of over eighty mysteries, romance novels, and plays it's logical that not every work can rank among "the very best." Of British cozy murder mysteries in general, (all authors), this one easily falls within the top twenty percent because Christie was simply that skilled in the art.This book was first published in 1945 by Dodd, Mead. For those who are just commencing to explore the plethora of Agatha Christie mysteries there are probably better starting points. I would recommend  Agatha Christie's Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) ; Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection) , or;  By the Pricking of My Thumbs .Highly recommended for all Christie fans and generally recommended for those who enjoy various authors of the cozy murder genre.

For some reason I can't recall reading this Agatha Christie before and am glad I read it. The mystery is set a year after a dinner party saw Rosemary Barton die at the table - poisoned, with the inquest suggesting it was self-administered.Husband George, gentle, slow and kind, had never thought that his beautiful, glamorous wife, Rosemary, really loved him. However, it still hurt when she began to have flirtations. Or, was one of those flirtations more serious? When he receives an anonymous suggestion that Rosemary was killed, rather than committing suicide, he decides to set a trap. A dinner, at the same restaurant, and even the same table, a year to the day of his wife's death, and with the same guests.Of course, this plan goes horribly wrong. George's friend, Colonel Race, suggested that George take his thoughts to the police, and, after the dinner, they are called in anyway. In the aftermath, motives are uncovered and the guests investigated, to discover the truth behind Rosemary's death. A good mystery, first published in 1945, with Christie's usual shrewd plotting and lots of possible suspects.

This novel sees Christie becoming a bit more Daphne Du Maurier in style. She takes a more psychological approach which definitely makes the narrative interesting.Another 'locked room' mystery - more or less. A bunch of interesting characters each of whom had a motive to murder. Christie's handling of the story definitely draws you in and elicits that page turning response. One proviso (and my main reason for my withdrawing a star from the rating): the ending is way too rushed. It's as if Christie wanted to keep us all guessing right up until the last moment - and then left herself hardly any space in which to reveal all of the how's and why's of this whodunnit.A good read and recommended.

When Rosemary Barton dies from cyanide poisoning at her own birthday party following a short illness it's written off as suicide.But her husband, George, doesn't believe it and when some 6 months later two anonymous letters arrive declaring Rosemary was murdered it sets him off on a disastrous course of action.He recreates the birthday party with the same guests leaving a seat for Rosemary in the hopes of flushing out her killer. Unfortunately he follows Rosemary by drinking a glass of poisoned champagne. Colonel Race has his work cut out to try and find the guilty party.. each of the guests had reason to want Rosemary out of the way.. but who would kill poor amiable George?The tiniest clues, motives everywhere and Christie once again proves herself the master of crime fiction.

I can't say this is Agatha Christie at her best and I think the book's structure may be responsible. Telling the tale from the multiple viewpoints of the suspects is a good way to provide the reader with details character traits, opinions and reactions which individuals may wish to keep secret from others in the novel. However, when this device is taken to the extreme by adding two further viewpoints as the investigation commences, it doesn't lead to a very cohesive whole. I have to admit to finding much of the novel considerably less compelling than I had anticipated, though the action does pick up towards the end. As for the denouement, I would have preferred to have been more surprised after a less than wholly gripping read. Overall 3.5 stars.

A year ago Rosemary dies of cyanide poisoning at a fashionable restaurant. Now George, her widower, wants to stage the party again with the same guests and an empty place for Rosemary. He is advised by an old friend - Colonel Race - not to do it and Race himself refuses to attend the party. George has been prompted to restage it because he has received anonymous letters saying his wife was murdered. Instead of going to the police he wants to frighten the murderer into revealing themselves.A lot of the book is made up of the back story and what led up to the fatal party a year ago but it makes interesting reading and the reader gets plenty of information on which to form their own judgement of who is the murderer. A little unfortunately the introduction to the e-book edition I read contains an introduction which says who the murderer is so if you read this edition and don't want to know then read the introduction last.As ever the book is well written and well plotted and the characters are interesting and believable.