REVIEW: The Mysterious Mr. Quin

 The Mysterious Mr. Quin
Author: Agatha Christie

I have been learning so much about my favorite author by reading her stories in publication order! I have loved Agatha Christie's characters and classic mysteries since I was 9 years old and read my first Hercule Poirot novel. But up until my current reading project I had never read any of her short stories and several novels are new-to-me as well. And I keep having to backtrack to read some stories that were published first in magazines and then collected into book form later. 

I loved the early Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple short one-minute style mysteries! All of the stories were written and published in detective and fiction magazines and then published as short story collection books. Come to find out The Mysterious Mr. Quin is the same situation! 

Mr. Quin is a mysterious, almost supernatural man, who appears unexpectedly to help uncover the truth behind unsolved crimes. An older gentleman, Mr. Satterthwaite, finds himself a very willing accomplice as he likes looking into the everyday drama of human lives.

I listened to the audio book version of these stories. The audio is narrated by Hugh Fraser who played Hastings in the Poirot television series. He does a great job of narrating. Very enjoyable listening experience!

I did not realize until I had finished the book that The Mysterious Mr. Quin is another collection of stories first published in magazines. There are 12 stories in all. Here is a bit on each one: 

The Coming of Mr. Quin - This story was first published as The Passing of Mr. Quin in The Grand Magazine in March 1924. The very myserious Mr. Quin makes his first appearance at a country house where a man committed suicide by shooting himself years ago. Mr Harley Quin comes to the door saying his car has broken down....and by the time his chauffeur has repaired it, Mr. Quin has helped solve the mystery.

The Shadow on the Glass - Another country house. A ghost. And a murder. Quin appears to help Mr. Satterthwaite figure out the truth behind the shooting. First published in The Grand Magazine in October 1924. 

At the Bells & Motley - Mr. Satterthwaite is travelling but flat tires cause him to shelter from an oncoming storm at the local inn....and he meets up with Mr. Quin. The innkeeper states that the storm is very like one on the very day a local mystery started. Sleuthing follows, as usual. This story was first published in 1925 in The Grand Magazine. 

The Sign in the Sky - Mr. Satterthwaite attends a murder trial that ends in a finding of guilty and a death sentence. He then proceeds to a restaurant and finds his friend, Mr. Quin. It appears not all the evidence is what it seems....  This story first appeared in The Grand Magazine in July 1925. 

The Soul of the Croupier - Mr. Satterthwaite is in Monte Carlo. Mr Quin appears right on cue of course....and drama plays out at the roulette table. I admit I had to look up what a "Croupier'' is -- the person in charge of a gaming table, paying out money or tokens. There is no murder in this tale....just human drama. First published in Story-Teller Magazine in January 1927. 

The World's End - This time Mr. Satterthwaite has travelled to Corsica. He again miraculously bumps into his friend Mr. Quin and they solve the mystery of a missing opal. First published in Story-Teller Magazine in February 1927. 

The Voice in the Dark - World hopper Mr. Satterthwaite is now in the French Riviera at Cannes. Mysterious voices, a shipwreck and a vast estate create the mystery that Satterthwaite and Quin come together to solve. First published in Story-Teller Magazine in March 1927. 

The Face of Helen - This time Mr. Satterthwaite goes to the opera where he meets up with Mr. Quin and gets pulled into another love-related drama. The life of a beautiful woman hangs in the balance as Satterthwaite works to put all the pieces of the mystery together. First appeared in Story-Teller Magazine in April 1927. 

The Dead Harlequin - Mr. Satterthwaite buys a painting that depicts a Harlequin gazing in a window at his own dead body on the floor. The body is a likeness of his friend Harley Quin. So, he buys the painting and ends up pulled into a mystery. This is my favorite story from the collection! First published in Detective Fiction Weekly in June 1929. 

The Bird with the Broken Wing - Mr. Satterthwaite happens to be in the same room with a group of people having a séance, when a message comes through for him. He figures out the message and stumbles into yet another mystery. This story is one that did not first appear in a magazine. It was first published in The Mysterious Mr. Quin in 1930. 

The Man from the Sea - The setting is a Spanish island. Mr. Satterthwaite is walking on a high cliff enjoying the sights when he stumbles into a mystery. Quin of course makes an appearance as well. First published in Brittania & Eve magazine in October 1929. 

Harlequin's Lane - Mr Satterthwaite is at yet another country house where he meets up with Mr. Quin. They investigate a murder. First published in Story-Teller Magazine in May 1927. 

The first story, The Coming of Mr. Quin, was adapted into a movie - The Passing of Mr. Quin - in 1928. 

I enjoyed these stories! They all center around lovers or relationships damaged by violence or unsolved crimes. Mr. Quin has a supernatural element to him, which adds a splash of extra fun to the tales. 

Mr. Satterthwaite is a bit of wealthy snob. He's big on class distinctions and proper behavior in the wealthy class and "lower'' strata. I see this theme repeated often in Christie's characters, and racist nuances pop in at times. Colonial opinions. Commentary on other cultures, races. Characters giving opinions on the poor, servants, lower and middle classes. I still love the stories, but they are definitely a product of 1920's-1930s upper class white European opinions. 

I'm really enjoying my journey through Christie's writings in publication order (Or as close to publication order as I can get) and researching whatever little rabbit holes I find on the way. And I'm loving reading Christie's works as a 52-year old and discovering little tidbits of social commentary and early 1900s nuances that I missed as a child/teenager reading these stories for the first time. The mysteries hold up and are just as much fun to read as they were back when I first read them.....but the social opinions and ideas expressed by some characters in the stories do not hold up to nearly 100 years of time passing. Thank God! 

I have yet to read Christie's autobiography or a biography on her...reading through all her fiction first. I'm curious as to one thing -- did Christie hold the opinions of her upper class characters? Or....was she  making thinly veiled social commentary??  I can't wait to find out! 

In my quest to read all of Christie, I'm going to skip over The Floating Admiral (1931) for now because Christie helped write it as part of the The Detection Club, a group of mystery writers. I'm going to read it -- and the other books written by the Club -- but focusing on works written only by Christie for right now. So...moving on to: The Sittaford Mystery (also published as The Hazelwood Mystery).   This is one I haven't read before -- can't wait!!!!