The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie ISBN: 0-553-35077-3 Hardcover: 242 pages Publisher: A Bantam Book Released: 1924, 1988

Source: Bought through Half.com.

Book Description, my take:
Anne Beddingfeld longs for adventure, like the heroines in her favorite novels. When a stranger falls to his death, she realizes that the man who says he's a doctor is actually riffling through the dead man's pockets...and, as he hurries away, he accidentally drops a cryptic note. The death is ruled an accident, but Anne decides to investigate in hopes of finding her adventure.

The note indicates that something is going to happen on a certain cruise ship that is sailing to South Africa, so she buys a ticket and joins the cruise. Her sea-sickness doesn't suit her idea of a heroine, and she decides being tied up is rather uncomfortable, but she gets more adventure--and suspects--than she bargained for.


My Review:
The Man in the Brown Suit is a historical mystery. It pokes fun at the heroine adventure stories of the time and is meant to be funny, though not overly so.

The story was written as a contemporary mystery, so it's not heavy on the historical detail though there's enough detail to visualize and understand what's going on. The characters were varied and engaging. The suspense was mainly created by wondering whodunit since the heroine never seemed overly concerned even when she was facing physical danger.

The mystery was interesting. Whodunit was guessable--we're given a vital clue at the end, very near to the big reveal. However, the clue wasn't obvious and I suspect few people catch that clue.

There were no sex scenes. There was a minor amount of explicit bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this engaging, entertaining mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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