the merits of this work by christie lie as i see them, not in the logical procedures of the detectivews work, or spy, but in the connection between the author's style, and the reason for the novel being wriiten. christie writes, from the height of her years, that she sought to rationalize the violent changes to society, several decades after such horrors should have been expunged when ww2 ended. the world wasn't playing like a gentleman. the style chosen, is very similar to that of several noted adventure writers from sir anthony hope, whose ruritania adventures are mentioned, to sir arthur conan doyle (not much liked by christie, one should note) and specifically his story "the final problem" which is alluded to in a character which i shall not reveal.

it is true, that in the late 1960's espionage novels were very different in style from those that christie knew and assimilated in the early 20century, and thus one may feel as though sir anthony hope reappeared not much changed after 90 years, but christie is well aware of the discrepancies and presents them in a playful way. the result is not only a fond farewell to a much more sensible and sporting sense of skullduggery, but a concious addmission of personal anguish at seeing all sens flee from even the world of crime, not only the world itself.

nobody blamed sir arthur conan doyle when he wrote serlock holmes into the general attempt to make sense of the horrors of ww1 in "the final problem". neither did we grudge superman and tarzan when they fought hitler. can we thus grudge agatha christie's small and playful last-ditch-attempt at making sense in a world gone mad?
i don't think we should, or can. this book is fun.
the merits of this work by christie lie as i see them, not in the logical procedures of the detectivews work, or spy, but in the connection between the author's style, and the reason for the novel being wriiten. christie writes, from the height of her years, that she sought to rationalize the violent changes to society, several decades after such horrors should have been expunged when ww2 ended. the world wasn't playing like a gentleman. the style chosen, is very similar to that of several noted adventure writers from sir anthony hope, whose ruritania adventures are mentioned, to sir arthur conan doyle (not much liked by christie, one should note) and specifically his story "the final problem" which is alluded to in a character which i shall not reveal. it is true, that in the late 1960's espionage novels were very different in style from those that christie knew and assimilated in the early 20century, and thus one may feel as though sir anthony hope reappeared not much changed after 90 years, but christie is well aware of the discrepancies and presents them in a playful way. the result is not only a fond farewell to a much more sensible and sporting sense of skullduggery, but a concious addmission of personal anguish at seeing all sens flee from even the world of crime, not only the world itself. nobody blamed sir arthur conan doyle when he wrote serlock holmes into the general attempt to make sense of the horrors of ww1 in "the final problem". neither did we grudge superman and tarzan when they fought hitler. can we thus grudge agatha christie's small and playful last-ditch-attempt at making sense in a world gone mad? i don't think we should, or can. this book is fun.