Poirot: Mrs McGinty's Dead

Agatha Christie is one of the most amazing authors of all time. The book Mrs McGinty's Dead was first published in 1952. The novel features the characters Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver. 


In the plot James Bentley is arrested for the murder of old Mrs McGinty. The man is easy convicted and set to be sent to the gallows but Superintendent Spence who helped convict him is not convinced of his guilt and in his uneasiness at sending an innocent man to his death he turns to Poirot for help. Poirot with the help of his writer friend Ariadne Oliver set out to find the real killer in this whodunnit.


The Poirot TV version from 2008 stars David Suchet. He plays such an intriguing character. Reminds me of The Penguin from Batman and in fact I'm sure that the actor David Suchet would of played a brilliant villain Penguin if ever had been given the opportunity. He gives the character a distinctive waddle. 


The actor portraying James Bentley, Joe Absolom on death row is familiar from the Doc Martin TV series.
I good witty part in the movie has Poirot ringing up Police Superintendent Spence excitedly telling him that someone has attempted to kill him and he is so happy about the fact when he tells him.

David Suchet Poirot wears a charming broach on his jacket in one scene and the clothing, room props, locations and scenery in the movie is warm and gorgeous.
There interesting is a comment to Poirot about him living in one of those "Modenist' places.

Famous Five TV Series Five go off in a Caravan Episode

This is episode 6 of Season 1 and is a single episode in length. With the variety of animals, a circus theme and to die for gypsy caravans that I love the look of I feel that this story could of easily been expanded into a double episode without any problems.

Julian again is quite rude in his dealing with some adults but standing beside the two men he is backchatting he isn't much shorter than them so perhaps it makes his character more believable and the leader of the five.
The bad characters are interesting but by choosing to do this in 30mins means that we don't get any real charactrer developement or analysis.

A good episode though I do feel the story was rushed along unnecessarily. Perhaps if the makers had known they were going to be rejected on adding new stories to the series they may have expanded all books to be several episodes each :)

For those people who collect the Famous Five books with this TV series covers you will notice that a number of the covers were created from this episode.

Famous FiveTV Series Five Go to Smuggler's Top Part 1 and 2

Episode 4 and 5 of Season 1 is based on Five go to Smuggler's Top. A storm making a tree land on the roof of  Kirren Cottage see the Five packed up to spend their holidays with their friend Sooty Lenoir and his little sister Marybeth to their home at Smugglers Top.  We first see Sooty and his sister wearing clothes that are so 1970's, the clothes are great then again George's navy windbreaker is also a favourite and I think I owned on once upon a time. Not to mention Cheryl Ladd in Charlies Angels also had a satin version in the 80's.

The Five find themselves in the middle of an adventure.

The house they are staying at is intriguing and as the Sooty's Stepfather doesn't like dogs the children scheme to bring Timmy into the house and hide him when necessary via one of the secret passages that goes through the wardrobe in the bedroom (a bit Narnia like)

There are different suspects, one who dresses like Sherlock Holmes and sticks out like a sore thumb and reminds me of Professor Slughorn from Harry Potter.

The butler of course is also a suspect and the children suspect he may be only pretending to be deaf and in a good plot outline Sotty's Step father is a suspect as Sooty and his sister dont trust him.

Someone kidnaps their Uncle Quinten, and Sooty also disappears. Can there still be smugglers at Smuggler's Top?

The Famous Five discover an underground tunnel and Timmy saves the day.

Some of the darker filming issues appear in these episodes and some are unclear due to the "Mist" and "Fog" on the marshes but you get use to that with this series.
You start to see that Julian's character can be quite rude to adults in the series as he says some things that would seem out of place when staying as a guest at someones house. Not really what I remember him being like in the book but definately these aren't the only

Another great episode.

Five Go Adventuring Again, TV Series 1978 Episode 3

Episode 3 of the Famous Five Tv Series from the 1970's is Five Go Adventuring Again, based on the Enid Blyton book of the same title.

The cousins arrival to Kirren Cottage in their school uniforms rather than on bikes like the previous story is an indicatgion for what we are in for.

The Famous Five are having a tutor for the school holidays.

Bad guy tutor Rolland is instantly disliked by Timmy the dog (often a sign of how someone is like when not liked by dogs) and when something goes a mishap in the middle of the night Uncle Quentin blames his daughter George, which she denies.

Seems a bit strange to me that a girls father wouldnt look at the stranger living in the house rather than his daughter especially since he is a scientist who often has secret papers.

Netherless The Famous Five have discovered a thief at Kinin Cottage - but when they start looking for proof, they find unusual secret passages that become a part of their adventure.

This story has a number of secret passages, trap doors and other excting secret entrances that every kid would love to have in their home.

Loved it.

Five Go to Kirren Island Part 1 & 2 TV episodes 1978

This was one of my favourite tv shows as a child and my favourite book series as a child so with the release of the Famous Five The Complete Collection released on DVD I decided to see how the show has stood the test of time.

Production for the series began in 1977, with filming commencing during the Summer of that year.

The series starred Michele Gallagher as George, Marcus Harris as Julian, Gary Russell as Dick and Jenny Thanisch as Anne, while Timmy the dog was played by a Border Collie called Toddy.
The series was very successful at the time but didnt go past series 2 because  the Enid Blyton Estate didn;t allow them to create original stories so once they had completed  two seasons covering 19 of the 21 books (two of which couldn't be recreated due to The Children's Film Foundation still had the film and TV rights to the books.) the series ended on a high.

The opening story is a double episode and introduces Julian, Dick and Anne to their cousin George and her dog Timmy. We first see Julian, Dick and Anne on their cycling to Kirren Cottage. The children's bags are being picked up and brought by car from the station. This is a great introduction for Julian, Dick and Anne as we see them having fun and cycling from the start of the series which was one of the staple elements of The Famous Five series.  Instantly I feel that Jenny Thanisch was the perfect choice to play Anne and is exactly as one would imagine her to be in the books. In fact all the child actors were well chosen and act their roles well.

 I notice that George has been dressed during the story in a top that has pink buttons on the shoulders, not a choice that one would imagine for George but other than that the characterisation of George is the best I have seen. Timmy in the books was also a mongrel and as he was capable of scaring criminals one would imagine he would be a mix of large breeds that have some agression to them, definately the pure bred Border Collie that ened up in the series.
The story flows well and is easy to watch. It is well filmed and the first episode doesn't suffer the dark filming issues of some episodes.

The story has the five going to Kirren Island to help save their Uncle Quentin. Very enjoyable just as I remember it. Know wonder the series was one of my favourites.

Five Go to Kirren Island: Part 1 (Original transmission: 3 July 1978)

Five Go to Kirren Island: Part 2 (10 July 1978)

(Note: Kirren is spelt differently from the books)

T31 The Three Investigators in the Secret of Skeleton Island Movie

The Three Investigators book series ran from 1964 to 1987 and comprised of 43 books.

The sleuths in the series are Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews. 

The original book series started with the boys aged 13 to 14 years. Although the movie version picked boys of similar age they come across in the movie as somewhat younger especially the actor playing Bob who is noticeably smaller and who brings along his teddy bear on the adventure. It wouldn't be realistic to believe that a 13yr old boy would sleep with a Teddy bear whilst sharing a room with 2 friends his age. So it seemed a bit silly to add this to the movie.

As the second movie was released 2 years later it will be interesting to see if the boys fit into the roles better at that age.

In the book series Bob also has a  leg brace he wore, due to multiple fractures inflicted when he rolled down a hill which wasn't done in the movie.

In the books the Three Investigators headquarters is a house trailer, hidden in a salvage yard owned by Uncle Titus Jones and Aunt Mathilda who Jupiter has lived with his the death of his parents in a car crash at the age of 4. It has many secret entrances, a telephone, small lab, a dark room and an office. The movie did the idea of secret entrances well in the movie and the headquarters was interesting to see.

Overall the movie enjoyable, was well acted for the age of the actors, filmed well and  easy to watch.

Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance free ebook

For those of us that love old classic mysteries having a kindle that you can download with endless free old ebooks online is great. One such series is the Billie Bradley Series available on the manybooks website.

Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners was written by Janet D. Wheeler and published in 1920. This is the first book in the series and a great introduction to the characters.

In the plot Billie Bradley whilst messing around in a school classroom after school breaks an expensive statue and worries how she is going to pay to replace it. In the meantime her friends tell her that they are going away to a private boarding school the following year and Billie and her brother Chatwood are not able to follow suit as their family can't afford for them to go as their money is tied up in property investment at that time.

Billie then falls heir to an old homestead, through a deceased Auntie with the unoccupied mansion located far away in a lonely section of the country and considered haunted. The story revolves around Billie, accompanied by some of her friends visiting her inherited property, and the queer things that happen there.

A charming story, good characters, 4 of the 6 look like they would be romantically linked in the future. Made me want to start book 2 in the series right away is always a good sign. And in fact I did and found the second book starts exactly where the first ended so I would definately recommend reading them in order.

There are 9 books in this series which are:

1. Billie Bradley and Her Inheritance, 1920
2. Billie Bradley at Three Towers Hall, 1920
3. Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island, 1920
4. Billie Bradley and Her Classmates, 1921
5. Billie Bradley at Twin Lakes, 1922
6. Billie Bradley at Treasure Cove, 1928
7. Billie Bradley at Sun Dial Lodge, 1929
8. Billie Bradley and the School Mystery, 1930
9. Billie Bradley Winning the Trophy, 1932

Nancy Drew The Greek Symbol Mystery

Before going to Athens, Greece I decided to read this Nancy Drew book to compare the book description to the place much like when I went to Merritt Island and read the Mystery of The Moss Covered Mansion beforehand.


The plot of this story has Nancy's friend Helen Nicholas approaching Nancy to help her when I large inheritance she is entitled to is stolen. As soon as Nancy arrives in Greece she finds herself and best friends Beth and George in danger.
A series of clues lead Nancy and her friends to a ring of art smugglers and to the secret of the Greek symbol.


From a readers perspective The Greek Symbol Mystery isn't one of the strongest mysteries from the Nancy Drew Series. I felt that the author was playing "the tourist" a bit too much and throwing in popular places in Athens rather than keeping the story flow consistent. Yes I suppose if Nancy was visiting Athens on business for a mystery chances are she would still be a tourist getting around the popular sites but I wasn't wrapped up in the story line the way that I wanted to be. Nancy goes shopping and buys Greek Linen and friends buy some jewellery. 


Not saying it was a bad story I just did not just the excitement and anticipation I got from reading The Moss Covered Mansion, after that I couldn't wait to get around Merritt Island and visit the places that Nancy visited there. Although I loved Greece the story didn't enhance the experience in the same way.

Trixie Belden 27 The Mystery of the Ghostly Galleon

The Mystery of the Ghostly Galleon by Katheryn Kenny (pseudonym name) is number 27 in the Trixie Belden Series. Miss Trask a long time established character in the series refreshingly gets her time in the spotlight as we learn more about her interesting family background that involves a Pirate's Inn and the long time unsolved mystery of the disappearing Captain Trask.  Still I was shocked to read about Miss Trask's grey hair, for some reason I always imagined her somewhat younger in appearance. The story includes all of The Bob Whites including  Dan. The story also does a good job of showcasing Trixie and Marts sibling rivalry whilst still maintaining a caring attitude towards his sister when she needs it most. The food in this book sounded delicious too. I love a book that remembers that writing good menus in restaurants is important. Here are some ... Flaming Trask -ka-babs  which are chunky beef wedges marinated in Pirate's Inn own special and delicate sauce skewered and cooked to perfection over an open fire. The Weak - Hearted Willies Chicken Pies whose interiors will please your palette and whose exteriors will melt your mouth and Captain Chowder creamy thick soup. 

Meet Felicity Audiobook

Meet Felicity written by Valerie Tripp is the first book in the Felicity series by American girl.
Meet Felicity came with the Felicity doll, who was wearing her "meet" dress as shown on the cover of the book. The book was also available to buy on it's own or as part of a boxed set of books.

I had already watched the American Girl movie on Felicity and the movie was not my favorite amongst the American Girl stories. This is probably due to the era. I love reasoning about the 1930's and 1940's and find this early area about patriots generally not as interesting.

Surprisingly I found this book a lot more interesting that I imagined it would be. I believe this is in part tp the fact that the first book in the series really only focuses on Felicity's relationship she develops with a horse she calls Penny. How she tames the horse and how she seta it free to escape a violent owner.

I was definitely encouraged to read further books in this series woth greater interest than I originally anticipated. The American Girl Felicity audiobooks I got as a cd pack for $20 off ebay including postage. That covers all books that are in the Felicity boxed set. The audiobook is well read with nothing in it distracting from getting the story across to the listener. A great read / listen to.

Beverly Gray at the World's Fair

This is it. Book number 6 and the only book in the series I have not read yet.
I have been enjoying starting the series at book 1 in preparation for this books arrival and will be happy to read on in order after this is finished in order to piece things together as they happened. The first time around I read the series in whatever order I could get them off eBay with a good condition dust jacket, this time I am reading to link the entire story together.

I decided to read one chapter as is was real late when I finished reading Beverly Grays Career and ended up reading 5 chapters. This is pretty much how this book read. Never a chapter alone as perhaps intended but like with any great compelling book in large digestible chunks, each time looking and thinking " I only have so many chapters left." it brought back memories as how I felt each time a Beverly Gray book arrived the first time I read the series. Even for me a inn tube person I considered getting a camera out to capture the arrival of this rare prize. It is great to find a series you can get really excited about. For me that excitement has come from Beverly Gray and Trixie Belden mainly now and The Secret Seven and Famous Five growing up.
Reading the series in order has also put the characters in better order for me. I can understand now why you would have 12 Alpha Deltas, as it allows Beverly to travel but still be with friends in adventures and mysteries. I do wish that Clair Blank as an author spent more time describing her characters. Most I would not have the faintest idea as to their facial features, hair color etc. Some Alpha Deltas I barely know anything about, where I grew up on Enid Blyton books where the characters seemed to be defined in a lot greater detail.

The story starts with Lois leaving on a ship for Paris to study art for a year. Ralf Mathews, Larry Owens and Paul Benson, all suitors in Beverly Gray's Career are all present.
Connie has arrived and we learn her name is really Constance Elwood and Connie is for short. Connie Elwood and Kathleen Ryan move in with Lenora and Beverly just after Lois leaves.

Lenora, Connie and Beverly leave for Chicago and Beverly runs into Shirley ( not a long time till they saw Shirley again as was stated would be the case in Career ) Kathleen Ryan stays in New York and Jim Stanton turns up. Kathleen raves about how good looking Jim is and I can't remember anyone carrying on about Larry being as good looking. Would of been good to have seen a movie and have them side by side to see who they picked for the actors to play Larry and Jim.

Beverly and Virginia become involved in a murder at the world's fair. When Lenora becomes a part of the investigating team, Lenora shows a spunk and prowess that Beverly seems to drift in and out of. Lenora states she loves detecting and again I think here is a girl who doesn't know what she wants to do for a career but she knows exactly what she loves doing. I then start to thinking is detective work that different to reporting? Why doesn't Beverly show more passion for pursuing the bad guys like Lenora does? Would a good reporter really hold off on a scoop story to get a fuller story later? Lenora spends a long time convincing Beverly that they should break into someones room to investigate. Lenora has a sense of urgency and gunho whilst Beverly is more contemplative.

The ending to the story was superb and again a great lead into the next adventure. The main mystery finished some time earlier and poor Beverly was attacked by a tiger and suffered yet another marriage proposal from poor Jim. You think he would get fed up of being shot down. We also learn of Shirley's fate. If the world fair hadn't of dated this book then the new invention showcased at the world fair of television definitely did. Funny to see Lenora scared of a cable car too considering they are so tame by today's standards.

Reading the books in order has done a lot to fill in gaps of who's who and learn more about the Alpha Deltas.

The Hudson River Mystery Trixie Belden

After reading The Sasquatch Mystery I was craving to read a Trixie Belden book that had a true Trixie vibe as I felt that for at least half of The Sasquatch Mystery I wasn't really in Trixieland.
Even though The Hudson River Mystery wasn't the next mystery in the series and I have been reading I grabbed it from the shelf because I wanted a mystery at home on Crabapple farm and I knew if the mystery was on The Hudson then the mystery was going to be at home.
I wasn't disappointed.
The story starts with Trixie doing chores at zcabapple farm with Honey giving a helping hand. Even Dan managed to turn up early in the story and even though it was a minor role it was great to see him back instead of hearing the usual he is working excuse.
Trixieisms to the max in this book didn't disappoint me. Gleeps, jeepers, Di and Dan both being present, Mart playing with words, being called Ms. schoolgirl Shamus, Mart telling Di she is attractive, Di calling Mart cute, Jim having a sparkle in his eyes talking to Trixie, what more could you want?
You get a bit of a history lesson of The Hudson with this one, reminiscent of what you got in The Mystery in Arizona.
Gosh I even learnt what to do if my car fell in a river and started sinking..... Hopefully I will never have to use that knowledge.
Add to this a good mystery based on Trixie thinking she saw a shark in The Hudson River and I was truly in Trixieland again. FINALLY.
What a great read and just what I needed.

American Girl A Kit Mystery Midnight in Lonesome Hollow

Midnight in Lonesome Hollow is a 1930's mystery starring Kit Kittredge of the American Girl Doll Series.

This book is set in Kentucky in 1934 where Kit is going to visit her Aunt Millie to help her set up a library.

The writer Kathleen Ernst has done a great job in looking at the traditions of the place and time whilst placing an emphasis on learning and reading without it being "thrown in your face". The book teaches you a lot about the 1930's whilst still sucking you into a good mystery. Don't get me wrong it's not a huge mystery but the charm of the book teaching you about The Great Depression with a mystery involvement is wonderful as long as your one who enjoys learning about history.

Kit comes across as quite a lot younger than Julie in the Julie Mystery series although this really isn't the case. I wonder why that is? I'll have to think further on that one as I read more Kit and Julie mysteries. I got more of both whilst in the USA this year.

But I have also found the website www.bookdepository.co.uk has free shipping worldwide and I can pick up more in the American Girl Mystery Series really cheaply.

One negative, being set in Kentucky rather than on home soil Kit doesn't have best friend Ruthie there for the story which is a shame, I'm a huge Ruthie fan.

Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew Mall Madness

Not my usual type of reading. Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew Mall Madness is an early readers book. Out of curiosity for how they are written I thought I would give this a go. The mystery seems to be centred on the idea that if you can do basic addition sums (maths) then you will have the answer to working out this story. Very predictable, though perhaps not for a young child it is aimed at. An okay read for the age group it is aimed at though I'm not convinced the moral of the story is all there. Seems a bit off somehow. If you have read it you will probably understand.

Trixie Belden The Sasquatch Mystery

This is probably the hardest Trixie Belden book I have found to get interested in. In fact for the first 10 chapters I didn't like it. I thought that Trixie's cousins, Cap, Knut and Hallie held too much of the story and Trixie almost came across as a loner, an outside looking on the events rather than being the focal point of them that she usually is. Jim I felt suffered even worse as I can't remember him doing anyhting of use for the first 10 chapters and seemed like a tag along friend of the Belden Boys.

As for Miss Trask tell me what kind a chaperon watches one of the kids in her care disappear after getting in a fight with a Sasquatch in front of her eyes and decides that its okay for the kids to stay there and also doesn't seem too bothered that the police aren't taking the disappearance seriously and just waiting for the kid to show up.

Okay one last vent then I will get up to the good bits I promise. And as for a Sasquatch Mystery anyway who came up with that as a lame theme? Someone who had spent their time watching 70s shows like the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman who eventually went the Big Foot root when running short of ideas right?

Now if you can hold out for the stupidity of the first 10 chapters to be over then you do get to a good story (funnily when they drop the Sasquatch scenario and concentrate on people villains.)

Though why does poor Di have to suffer so much? The author mustn't like her as poor Di seems to be cast as "dumb" in this book. Which is one better than poor Dan who despite the cast of thousands still can't get a spot on this camping trip even though he is suppose to have a thing for Hallie Belden. Damn the 70's series that doesn't allow for romance in their books.