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Post by dem bones on Jun 16, 2011 7:15:46 GMT
Tom Adams Blurb: It was really very awkward... after all, as the local vicar I have many obligations to fulfil and my time is precious... But there was no doubt about it. The Colonel was dead. There, as large as life - or should I say death - lying sprawled across a desk in a horridly unnatural position. I pulled myself together and went over to him. The cold hand that I raised fell back, lifeless. You see, the real trouble was that only a few hours earlier I'd said: "Anyone who murdered Colonel Prothero would be doing the world at large a service." And someone had - in my study!Have read most of The Hound Of Death, a pleasant enough experience, wasn't much impressed, but that's OK, Agatha Christie is hardly celebrated for her supernatural fiction. Then it struck me: I've only ever read one Christie novel, and that so long ago I was an amoeba or something. So, where's a really good place to start? also, a number of authors have lifted the And Then There Were None plot and horrored it up for their novels - three that spring to mind are 'Michael Slade's Ripper, Philip Caveney's Bad To The Bone and John Coyne's The Legacy - and, must say, I go in for that kind of thing. are there any other variations to look out for?
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jun 16, 2011 7:27:50 GMT
Love those surreal covers! And Then There Were None (other titles are available) is one of my all time favourites - finally got to see the 1945 film version which was a treat. The Pale Horse I seem to recall has supernatural elements. She has a unique perspective on changing Britain as her novels span the 1920s to the 1970s. There's one called (I think) Third Girl that's supposed to be set in Swingin' London that takes a bit of believing.
Anyone see the David Suchet take on Hallowe'en Party? That was borderline horror.
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 16, 2011 7:34:45 GMT
I've only read two Agatha Christie's: And Then There Were None (which is brilliantly nihilistic and dark - far more so than any film version, though the 1945 is the best, I think) - and Curtain, the very last Poirot novel, which was only published, by her wishes, after her death, and covers events at the end of The Belgium detective's life, literally his final case. A very clever, very sombre book. I did try to read one of her her novels, not involving any of her famous detectives, and had to give it up. Too dated, light-weight and corny. But she wrote so many, she must have had a fair number of misses, and two out of three, as Meatloaf says...
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 16, 2011 7:47:10 GMT
I've only read two Agatha Christie's: And Then There Were None (which is brilliantly nihilistic and dark - far more so than any film version, though the 1945 is the best, I think) - and Curtain, the very last Poirot novel, which was only published, by her wishes, after her death, and covers events at the end of The Belgium detective's life, literally his final case. A very clever, very sombre book. I did try to read one of her her novels, not involving any of her famous detectives, and had to give it up. Too dated, light-weight and corny. But she wrote so many, she must have had a fair number of misses, and two out of three, as Meatloaf says... And Then There Were None is a classic - great book. This is my brother's patch and he always said that the Poiroit ones were okay, Mrs Marple was great but don't go anywhere near the other ones with the smarmy couple (forget their names) It's said that Christie was the best-selling writer of books of all time and there is a reason I am sure. (Oh, an don't read The Orient express on a train or you'll suspect everyone.)
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Post by dem bones on Jun 16, 2011 8:33:58 GMT
Good on you gents for sussing that it's the darker stuff I'm after (should've made that clear in initial post). Have already decided they'll have to be the Fontana's with the Tom Adams covers, and he came up with a beauty for Hallowe'en Party, that's on the hit-list. so far, have only got Murder At The Vicarage (above), A Pocket Full Of Rye (crap cover, won't be reading that in a hurry) and aforementioned The Hound Of Death (Fontana 1982). And Then There Were None is the only Christie novel I kind of read, borrowed from stepdad of dem's modest collection at an age when even the Wealdstone F.C. programme represented a challenge (said collection also included something called Jezebel, lurid cover, paperback, circa 'sixties I'd have said. any ideas?).
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 16, 2011 9:30:26 GMT
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 16, 2011 9:44:11 GMT
I love those Fontana covers and had a bunch of them when I was 12. Favourites would include;
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Hercule Poirot's Christmas The Sittaford Mystery They Came to Baghdad Murder in Mesopotamia Mrs McGinty's Dead (with a giant wasp!)
etc etc
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 16, 2011 10:39:41 GMT
I love those Fontana covers and had a bunch of them when I was 12. Favourites would include; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Hercule Poirot's Christmas The Sittaford Mystery They Came to Baghdad Murder in Mesopotamia Mrs McGinty's Dead (with a giant wasp!) etc etc Stunningly good covers those Fontana ones. I think The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was the first edition in mint dustwrapper that my cunning brother picked up for ten pence in a church jumble sale many years ago. It was more valuable than the church building. Needless to say it pricked his conscience a bit but strangely he never mentioned it to the old dear at the time.
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Post by killercrab on Jun 16, 2011 11:59:46 GMT
You can get a book showcasing all of Tom Adams' CHRISTIE clever covers ! It's been around awhile mind , I remember seeing a copy at coillege , but can be got cheaply enough on Amazon. I love the devil worship one with the ram's head and the one with the Halloween skull apple!
Kc
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Post by noose on Jun 16, 2011 12:11:00 GMT
I found a box of around thirty of the Fontana books when I was about ten or eleven up in the loft - and these were my first introduction to 'adult' literature. And this one was the one I read first, because it had the grimmest cover on the planet...
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Post by andydecker on Jun 16, 2011 12:12:44 GMT
Anyone see the David Suchet take on Hallowe'en Party? That was borderline horror. Yes, it was in the latest DVD batch which included Murder on the Orient Express which I had to have. Party was nicely done, rather Gothic. Normally the extras on those british tv-crime editions are rubbish, but here is a lovely documentary with Suchet traveling on todays Orient Express. Orient Express has been filmed so often, it was interesting to compare. It pains me to say that it left me a little bit cold at first. The Finney movie has really a long shadow. But the second half was really gripping. It is funny how much the countless movies have shaped our perception. I was much surpised when I read Orient Express a while ago and discovered that the big scene at the end where Poirot gathers all suspects - a staple of these movies - actually never happens in this form. Mostly the stories are told by the "random bystanders". Murder in Mesopoamia is very good, if you can ignore the absolutly unbelievable premise of a woman marrying the same man twice without noticing it. Then they were none is also fun. Christie´s style may be shallow and hard to read today, but she did invent some plotwists which are still copied today. And under all the sweetness she has written some really sick relationships. The Poirot tv-movie have such a high standard. They are often criticised to have a rather cavalier attitude with the source material. But imho they mostly make the storys better - some of Christie´s ticks just don´t work any longer. Five little Pigs is a favorite of mine, beautifully realised and shot, sometimes very stylized. I guess today one would call this kind of story a cold case.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 16, 2011 19:31:23 GMT
the very same, Dr. Strange. thank you! can't remember a damn thing about it other than the cover. subjected to a Simon bloody Majors novel at that tender age! i must've done something really BAD. thanks also for all the Christie suggestions, gents, a crafty google and, tell a lie, i haven't read And Then There Were None, it was One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (gun barrel poking through torn newspaper, Fontana edition), so that's most likely where i'll start. wise guys know to ALWAYS judge a book by its cover, so pretty obvious these Christie Fontana's are among the finest crime novels ever written. Halloween Party (1972) Mrs McGinty's Dead (1974 : the "with a giant wasp!" edition) The Pale Horse (1964) Five Little Pigs (not sure of the date. fellow on cover looks like refugee from 'Richard Haigh's killer pigs versus Wembley Stadium classic, The City) and.... Fontana, 1977 gads, a nun with an axe! no prizes for guessing what just stormed to #1 on the gloomy hit list.
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Post by noose on Jun 16, 2011 21:55:43 GMT
Mr Adams has been on my interviewing hitlist for a while, but this thread has inspired me to get in touch, so hopefully a PF interview will come of it soon!
Cheers Dem!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 17, 2011 5:33:26 GMT
the very same, Dr. Strange. thank you! can't remember a damn thing about it other than the cover. subjected to a Simon bloody Majors novel at that tender age! i must've done something really BAD. thanks also for all the Christie suggestions, gents, a crafty google and, tell a lie, i haven't read And Then There Were None, it was One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (gun barrel poking through torn newspaper, Fontana edition), so that's most likely where i'll start. wise guys know to ALWAYS judge a book by its cover, so pretty obvious these Christie Fontana's are among the finest crime novels ever written. Halloween Party (1972) Mrs McGinty's Dead (1974 : the "with a giant wasp!" edition) The Pale Horse (1964) Five Little Pigs (not sure of the date. fellow on cover looks like refugee from 'Richard Haigh's killer pigs versus Wembley Stadium classic, The City) and.... Fontana, 1977 gads, a nun with an axe! no prizes for guessing what just stormed to #1 on the gloomy hit list. Anyone know the artist - whoever it was never failed to deliver the goods and definitely brought out a horrific element to what would otherwise have been a pleasant puzzle. I also recall that the covers gave clues to the murderer's identity.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 17, 2011 7:32:02 GMT
Mr Adams has been on my interviewing hitlist for a while, but this thread has inspired me to get in touch, so hopefully a PF interview will come of it soon! Cheers Dem! good luck with that, Johnny. Tom Adams, Alan Lee, Justin Todd, John Holmes - Fontana sure took a great pride in their cover artwork back then. maybe justin could consider them for the NEL Visual Guide treatment. must admit, this thread got my disreputable, uh, "creative juices" going too. Just not in a good way ..
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