My battered old copy of “One, Two…”, no doubt picked up for 20p at a jumble sale at some point in my past… 🤣📚

I’ve got into a habit, during past reading clubs, of starting off the week with a classic mystery – usually something from the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, although I did make a change for our last event, the #1929Club, when I explored the work of Alice Campbell. However, 1940 features two options from Christie in the form of “Sad Cypress” and “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe“. Both of these were early reads in my Christie journey, back in my teens, and both are well-loved. However, I recall being particularly fond of “One, Two..” and so decided it would be my first book for 1940!

The story starts simply, with Hercule Poirot making a fairly prosaic visit to his dentist, Mr. Morley; on his way out, he encounters a flustered middle aged woman whose shoe buckle falls off and he retrieves it for her. Later on, his dentist commits suicide by shooting himself, thought why he should this is beyond anyone’s guess. From such relatively ordinary events springs a tale which draws in wartime spying, double dealing, high finance and threats to the stability of Great Britain. Yet the solution may be simpler than it initially appears; but can Poirot and Japp get to the bottom of things and determine whether this is suicide or murder, and who is responsible?

In the same way as I was always drawn to “The ABC Mystery” because I spent some of my childhood in Andover (which features in the story), I felt a connection with this book too. The setting of the dentist’s surgery, up some old fashioned stairs, is very similar to the dentist I attended as a child, and so the story sprang to life immediately anyway. However, putting that aside, it really is a wonderfully clever mystery! The dentist, Morley, is an exemplary surgeon who lives a quiet life, and so there’s no reason why he should kill himself. Equally, there’s no reason why he should be murdered; and both Poirot and Japp vascilate throughout the book as to why and how the dentist died.

However, when the detecting duo look into the background of some of the others who attended Mr. Morley for an appointment that day, the investigation widens. There is Alistair Blunt, a discreet yet important financier, whose influence is vital in keeping the country stable through these difficult war years. Also attending is Mr. Barnes, a quiet civil servant who may know more than he seems to… And the volatile Howard Raikes, a close friend of Blunt’s neice, is happy to shout his mouth off about the change needed in the country – but why would he kill a dentist and not make an attempt on, say, Blunt’s life? Then there is Miss Sainsbury Seale, she of the titular buckle, a woman with an exemplary past doing good in India. Finally, there is Morley’s last patient, Mr. Amberiotis, a mysterious character staying at the Savoy. Certainly, there are any number of potential suspects – but who actually killed the man, and what was the motive??? Things take a different turn, though, when some of the other patients who visited the surgery on the day of the death are also found murdered, and the plot thickens…

Whenever I read a Christie, I know I’m in good hands and this book was no exception! The mystery was clever and absorbing, the characters most entertaining and the wartime setting brilliantly conjured. The political element was a strong thread throughout the book, with Christie using her tale to discuss the effects of disruptive influences and the need for stability during wartime; her stance was obviously conservative (with a small c – I don’t actually know her politics) but to be honest she did seem to recognise the feelings of the younger generation, itching for change whilst they witnessed those older and in power drawing them into another conflict. However, as she sensibly has a character point out, there’s no point bringing everything crashing down if you haven’t got anything to replace it with.

What I particularly loved about this book was the relationship between Poirot and Japp as they worked together on the case. Often their interactions can be a bit prickly, with Japp a little mocking of Poirot’s methods, but here they are getting along, respecting each other as colleagues and it’s lovely! Japp is happy to listen to Poirot’s views and the two discuss the case together as equals. They’re obviously two of my favourite characters in Christie’s books, and I wondered whether she had them working together for the common good because of the wartime setting? Whatever the reason, it was great fun! It’s also one of her books where she ties in the plot with a nursery rhyme – always most entertaining, and brilliantly done here of course.

Revisiting Christie’s books is always such a treat; she’s definitely one of my desert island authors and I’ve said before I would happily read her books in chronological order from start to finish – a project for when I finally retire, perhaps. I’m so glad I chose an old favourite to start our week of reading for the #1940Club – a joy from start to finish! 😀