Sparkling Cyanide (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries | Publication Date: December 9, 2001

It's been less than a year since beautiful heiress Rosemary Barton took her own life during a birthday dinner in her honor. Her husband George never believed that his fun-loving wife would commit suicide--especially now that he's received two anonymous letters that suggest cold-blooded murder. One implicates even George himself. It's true he long suffered Rosemary's infidelities. But what about her embittered sister who was left out of the family will? Or any of Rosemary's secret lovers, not to mention their betrayed wives? Now one of them has ever forgotten Rosemary. Nor has any one of them ever forgiven her. But only one of them killed her...

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The denoument will probably come as a surprise to nine readers out of ten" New York Times "SPARKLING CYANIDE is the one ! which I should take with me to a desert island; for I find in it a seriousness and a psychological insight unparalleled in the author's other works.' Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

AGATHA CHRISTIE is the world's best known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in 44 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare.

Her writing career spanned more than half a century, during which she wrote 80 novels and short story collections, as well as 14 plays, one of which, The Mousetrap, is the longest-running play in history. Two of the characters she created, the brilliant little Belgian Hercule Poirot and the irrepressible and relentless Miss Marple, went on to become world-famous detectives. Both have been widely dramatized in feature films and made-for-TV movies.

Agatha Christie also wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. As well, she wrote four non-fiction books including an autobiography and an entertaining account of the many expeditions she shared with her archaeologist husband, Sir Max Mallowan.

Agatha Christie died in 1976.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (December 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312981295
• ISBN-13: 978-0312981297
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,114,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Christie, Agatha

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder Out of the Past, June 8, 2003

By 

Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sparkling Cyanide (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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)--

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treat for Col. Race fans, June 26, 2005

By 

Jeanne Tassotto (Trapped in the Midwest) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sparkling Cyanide (St. Martin's Minotaur Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Character-driven plot has disappointing ending, August 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sparkling Cyanide (Mass Market Paperback)

"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.