Customer Reviews

Sparkling Cyanide

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Also known as REMEMBERED DEATH, this 1943 Christie novel is not among the author's most memorable work, nor is it among her most celebrated--but it is a solid piece of work all the same, and one that shows Christie toying with a favorite theme: a curious death in the past arouses suspicion that erupts into the present tense. A year previously London beauty Rosemary Barton unexpectedly dropped dead at dinner in an exclusive London restaurant--and when cyanide was found in both her champagne glass and in her evening bag, her death is ruled a suicide. But with the passage of time her surviving husband becomes suspicious and determines to restage the dinner party with an eye toward uncovering the truth. The result is yet another death--and once more cyanide is in the champagne glass.

As in many of her novels, Christie carefully limits the field of suspects to those actually at the table, and it soon transpires that virtually every one present had a motive for Rosemary's murder--and would have a motive to kill again. Is it Rosemary's sister Iris, who inherited a fortune upon her older sister's death? Rosemary's illicit lover, whose career could be ruined by scandal? Or perhaps his wife, who might have killed to save her marriage? Or is there a darker criminal element at work?

Although this novel reached the screen with David Suchet playing Hercule Poriot, fans of Suchet's performances should not be misled: Poriot does not appear in this particular novel, and the detective of note is Col. Race, who pursues the killer through an emotional interest in Rosemary's sister Iris. And indeed, this is one of Christie's more romantically-laced tales, with the story hinging on the various romantic and sexual entanglements of the various characters. The writing is solid and unexpectedly moody for a Christie novel, and while a few hardcore Christie fans may be able to spot the killer before the book's conclusion, most readers will be taken considerably by surprise. A fun, enjoyable read.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

Charming socialite Rosemary Barton had committed suicide during her birthday party. Or had she been murdered? She had been a bit depressed after a prolonged bout of the flu but Rosemary had everything to live for, she was young, rich, had both a devoted husband and a lover. And why choose a busy glamorous restaurant during a dinner party held in her honor? Over the next few months doubts began to surface over Rosemary's death, but if she had been murdered then who could have done it but a guest at her party - her husband, adoring younger sister, loyal secretary, friend, her lover or his unsuspecting wife? Then the second murder happened.....

This 1943 mystery (also published as REMEMBERED DEATH) is told from the points of view of starting with Iris, Rosemary's younger sister, shifting to the other members of the ill-fated dinner party. The detective called in here to solve the crime is the mysterious Col. Race.

As always with a Christie novel the clues are all fairly laid out for the reader to follow, the mystery is clever with some interesting twists and turns along the way.

"Sparkling Cyanide" has all the elements of Christie's best books: well-drawn characters which are introduced in a clever, unusual way (each relates his or her memories of the dead Rosemary in a separate chapter), a strong plot, and more motive than usual. Unfortunately the mystery's solution is so completely contrived and unrealistic that it ruins the rest of the book. Definitely a must-read for the Christie style, but don't be surprised at the hokey solution.

Young and beautiful Rosemary Barton died while dining at a fine restaurant. Her death was purportedly caused by Rosemary's spiking of her own champagne with cyanide. A year having passed, Rosemary's grieving husband and younger sister are coming to believe that Rosemary's death was not by her own hand. There are, as one might expect, several good suspects and little good evidence. Rosemary's husband has a plan to flush out the killer, a recreation of the fatal dinner. Will the killer be given away or will death be again on the menu?

Remembered Death (or Sparkling Cyanide) has lots of the elements that make a Christie novel identifiably a Christie novel. There are the idle rich, a suspicious death with few and vague clues, a group of people all with good reason to want the murdered person dead and a subtle detective plodding to a revelatory denouement. This book, however, is clearly not one of Ms. Christie's better efforts. The plot lacks forward momentum, the characters are flat and non-compelling and, perhaps worst, the solution isn't entirely persuasive. Go ahead and read this if you're a Christie completist. If not, you're best off picking another.

This was such a great book, this was my first time reading Christie's books and it's an all time favorite. It is so clever and not a typical murder mystery you will often read. Get it, read it, you'll love it

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.

Does not come across as a legitimate Agatha Christie. I have read most of her books, and this one is "strange". Not exactly her style. A bit disappointed.

Agatha Christie goes back in time to solve a murder. The victim was Rosemary Barton who died the year before the story begins. She was celebrating her birthday with husband and friends at a fashionable restaurant when she apparently took her own life. Because no one present had any desire to kill her and cyanide was found in the depressed woman's purse, suicide was accepted as the cause of death. Nine months later, her husband George begins receiving anonymous letters saying the death was not what it appeared. These hints of murder lead George to suspect that one guest at the dinner party did indeed kill his wife. The killer strikes again a year later when an almost identical party is held at the same restaurant to celebrate the birthday of Rosemary's younger sister Iris.

Who was the beautiful heiress Rosemary Barton? Through the words of each of the characters, the reader gets various versions of Rosemary---her personality, her lovers, her love affairs, her marriage, her death.

Once again, Christie gives us memorable characters: Iris, the younger sister who failed to inherit but would receive all on Rosemary's death; George, the husband who just might be resenting her philandering ways; Ruth Lessing, George's faithful secretary; Anthony Browne, her gentleman friend with a notorious past; Stephen Faraday, one of her lovers; and Sandra Faraday, Stephen's wife.

Colonel Race, a recurring character in Christie novels, appears in this one as a family friend of the Bartons who is called in by George to find the killer.

In 1983 this novel was adapted to television. Unfortunately, by moving the setting from England to California and updating the plot, much of Christie's excellent novel suffered.

This was such a great book, this was my first time reading Christie's books and it is already one of my favorites of all time. It is so clever and not a typical murder mystery you will often read. Get it, read it, you'll love it

This is an okay book. I guess I missed my fave detective, Poirot, but otherwise it's not too bad. The way the mystery is solved, by just a chance occurance, is so realistic that those who hated "The Big Four" for it's lack of realism will appreciate this edition from Dame Agatha.

In fact, the whole book is full of realism, excepting how the murderer chose to claim its victims. I guess the realism is the deciding factor for this book. Did you like "The Big Four", or do you prefer the who-dun-its? This isn't the best, but it's far from the worst!!!