The Secret of Chimneys

As you go through the book, you will feel that you are going through the scenes of a drama rather than a novel. Yes, the description of events are more filled with discussions rather than reflections on the mysteries. The loquaciousness is the only consistent thing about the story that contains at least three mysteries woven into a single fabric and no dearth of suspects. Interestingly, as the mystery gathers pace, the number of sleuths increase. We have Battle, then comes the detective from the French police. Several other amateurs and professionals in the respective field also tries their hand at trying to crack the mystery that consists of a murder, a theft from days past, attempted robbery which attracts the suspects and the detectives in the same place.
The Chimneys, the great country estate seems to hold secrets that threatens the Royalty and the politics of a small fictional country ruled by the monarchy and which had seen much bloodshed and scandals. Curiously, the supposed errand of the apparent unrelated yet adventurous young man, puts him and his life in the midst of the dangerous race for control. As a murder occurs in the premises where several political personage has taken residence, the professionals are called.
The shrewdly deceptive Battle enters and so does several other mystery seekers. A gem, stolen long ago but apparently hidden in the Chimneys, seems again to attract the thief who stole it. The person, released from the gallows gives the slip to the police and seems to lurk in the vicinity. A master of disguise, he seems to blend with the others in plain sight. Attempt of robbery for a particular manuscript of allegedly risky memoir threatens the balance of nations. Added to this is another death and a bundle of scandalous letters.
As the reader will find, that there is no dearth of mystery but however, the entire novel along with the signature Christie twists will fall short of expectations at the major portions where adventure predominates over mystery.

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.