Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie

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Hercule Poirot boards an airplane from Paris to Croydon and before the plane lands, a woman is found dead in her seat. Although at first glance it seems as if her death was a natural result of being stung by a wasp, it is sharp-eyed Poirot who notices the tiny dart on the floor near the victim's feet, and it quickly becomes apparent that she had been murdered, especially when the blowpipe is found. Known as Madame Giselle, a wealthy moneylender with a seemingly long list of possible suspects, both the police and Poirot look into the passengers for a possible motive, though it troubles Poirot the seeming audacity of a killer who would use a blowpipe as a murder weapon- and the fact that no one saw anything, not even Poirot himself.

Published in 1935.

Also published as Death in the Air.

The Greene Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine

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A shooting in the middle of the night at the home of the wealthy Greene family has one sister dead and the other wounded. The police are certain it's a simple burglary gone wrong but the eldest son, Chester Greene, thinks otherwise and solicits the help of the District Attorney, Markham, voicing his own suspicions yet unable to explain why he has his doubts about a burglary. A few days later, Chester is also killed in the exact same fashion in his bedroom at night. Detective Philo Vance is intrigued with the case and especially with the Greene family and the odd circumstances of a will that forces them to live together in the same house for a certain period of time- a family that clearly has no love for each other in an atmosphere of hatred and resentment. As Vance attempts to weave through the puzzling clues left behind, the body count continues to rise as one by one the Greene family is targeted.

Published in 1928.

Malice in Maggody by Joan Hess

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Malice in Maggody is a murdery mystery novel written by Joan Hess featuring her main character, Arly Hanks, as the first female sheriff of her hometown of Maggody- not that it’s much of an achievement. Returning home to Maggody, Arkansas from New York after a bad divorce, Arly is just biding her time recuperating till she can get back on her feet. After all, it’s not as if anything really happened in Maggody, where her mother Ruby Bee owns the local bar and grill and the population is less than a thousand.

However, the local residents are stirring with outrage and anger when an unwanted sewage treatment plant is going to be dumped into their own Boone Creek, despite assurances that it woudn’t affect the water quality- but as Jim Bob Buchanon, mayor of Maggody, pointed out in the first line of the book “It’s shit-pure and simple shit, no matter what they call it” (p.1)- and Jim Bob Buchanon has a plan that includes the disappearance of the EPA official sent to sign the paperwork disappears on his way back to the city, just as a former Maggody citizien escapes prison and may be heading back to Maggody, and his wife. Arly’s plate has just gotten a whole lot full but it becomes a whole lot shocking when a body is found in the doorway of the Flamingo Motel, which Arly’s mother owns, and which very well seems connected to the EPA official’s disappearance.

Malice in Maggody is a very humorous, light-paced read with even more humorous and interesting characters, making me laugh in some parts and keeping me absorbed from beginning to end. In fact, Maggody promises to be a very entertaining series and this is only the first in many Maggody novels to come.

Published in 1987.

About

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I've always been a voracious reader and over the years I've probably read hundreds of books in my twenty + years of living. The idea of starting a blog about the books I've read has always lurked at the back of my mind, and I've even written them in a composition notebook so that I could write them up later if I ever created a blog. I created a similar blog on wordpress (with the same title) but I've decided to start fresh on blogger. I hope I'll manage to do better on this site than I did last time.