Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The Seven Dials Mystery

Another Agatha Christie novel with a new and unexpected twist near the end that makes this an unique read. The novel starts when some young folks, while on a holiday, plan a prank to be played on one of their friends who is notorious for being a very late riser. The plan was to wake him up from his slumber by arranging 8 alarum clocks to go off at regular intervals next morning. The clocks perform efficiently but the person never wakes. On investigation it was found that the person died with an overdose of chloral. But the curious thing was that of the 8 clocks that were arranged on a table right beside the victim, one of them was thrown outside and the other 7 were neatly arranged in a row. This makes Jimmy Thesigar, a friend of the victim, curious. The inquisitive Lady Eileen Caterham also finds the fact curious and following another murder, starts inquiring on her own. She teams up with Jimmy and Loraine, the first victim's half-sister and also with the help of a Scotland Yard cop, Superintended Battle tries to delve out the truth. In the process she stumbles upon a secret gathering of 7 persons in the Seven Dials club but could not identify their faces due to their masks. Here she comes to know that there will be an attempted robbery on a classified document at a gathering. She informs the other 2 and tries to prevent the theft. After this the story becomes gripping and ultimately an unanticipated surprise for the readers near the end brings the truth to light.
The narrative is studded with some amusing dialogues but the serious who-dun-it nature is not at all compromised anywhere & the mute smartness of Battle is an enjoyable contrast with the vigour of the young sleuths.

No comments: