Towards Zero (Agatha Christie Collection)

£9.9
FREE Shipping

Towards Zero (Agatha Christie Collection)

Towards Zero (Agatha Christie Collection)

RRP: £99
Price: £9.9
£9.9 FREE Shipping

In stock

We accept the following payment methods

Description

Fourth-Date Marriage: Angus MacWhirter saves Audrey's life about a week before he's set to leave for South America. The grateful Audrey requests to join him, and suggests that they marry before leaving the country. Angus agrees. Pascal Thomas began his career with estimable French comedies; then, in the naughties,he began to adapt Agatha Christie,with "Mon Petit Doigt M'a Dit" feat Thomas and Tuppence Beresford (the names were Frenchified ) and he used again the husband-and-wife detectives in his latest effort "Le Crime Est Notre Affaire". Superintendent Battle: Vacationing with his nephew, he is assigned to the case with him; husband and father of five children, youngest of whom gives him an insight useful to solving this case.

The Reveal: Audrey was never in love with Nevile to begin with, and it was never her idea to reunite with him and Kay under the same house. In fact she was scared of him and she was the one who left, but Neville made everyone believe the contrary with some supreme Manipulative Bastard qualities. If I see any weaknesses in this book, this is without a doubt the last scene. It is completely sentimental and unrealistic and in my opinion spoils the entire effect of this book. This story would be great without this silly scene. Fortunately, that's basically the only thing that annoyed me. He crossed the hall, squared his shoulders as though definitely throwing off some burden, passed through the living-room and out on to a glass-enclosed verandah where his wife, Kay, was curled up amongst cushions drinking orange juice. Kissing Cousins: Thomas Royde is head-over-heels in love with Audrey, who is a distant cousin of his. He comes to Gull's Point intending to propose to her, now that she's divorced. In a subversion, Audrey does not return his feelings. Double Subverted later when it's revealed that Audrey was romantically involved with Thomas's late brother, Adrian. Lady Tressilian, an old and humourless woman confined to her bed, invites several guests into her seaside home of Gull's Point for two weeks at the end of the summer. Tennis star Nevile Strange, former ward of Lady Tressilian's deceased husband, incurs her displeasure by bringing both his new wife, Kay, and his ex-wife, Audrey, thus causing awkward romantic misunderstandings. But events soon become sinister when Lady Tressilian is killed and Superintendent Battle, who is holidaying nearby in the home of his nephew, Inspector James Leach, finds himself in a labyrinthine maze of clues and deception.Towards Zero is a bit different with Superintendent Battle as the main crime solver (mind you, influenced by Poirot's methods), and although he comes across as a bit bland with no distinct personality, the case itself is excellent (despite the creepy and pointless ending). The mood feels a bit darker for some reason, and the weather descriptions and the big house as the murder scene reminded me of And Then There Were None (1939). The relationships between the characters and the idea that certain events ultimately come together to point zero, the murder, add a little extra spice into the mix. The psychology in general behind people's behavior is at its best here. Same with Audrey, she attempts suicide when it seems she's going to be arrested for Lady Tressilian's murder but Angus saves her and helps the police finding the real killer. In the end she agrees to marry him. Battle arrests Audrey on the evidence and her ready admission of guilt. However, he suspects that Audrey is in a similar situation to that of his daughter when she had previously confessed under pressure to a theft she did not commit. MacWhirter meets Battle and tells him what he has learned about this case, including his observation of a man swimming across the creek on the night of the brutal murder, and climbing into the house on a rope. Then, Thomas reveals that Audrey had ended their marriage, not Nevile, as she had grown afraid of him. She had left Nevile and was about to marry Adrian Royde, Thomas's brother, when Adrian was killed in a road accident. With the parties on a motor launch, Battle uses this information to force a confession from Nevile Strange. He was the mastermind behind all the events and circumstances that should have converged into "zero" – the hanging of his first wife for the murder of Lady Tressilian.

An adaptation was made as part of Season 2 of Les Petits Meurtres. The episode, also entitled L'Heure zéro, first aired on 13 September 2019. The setting was changed from a country house to a TV studio in Lille in the 1950s and featured a new set of investigators, commissaire Laurence, his secretary Marlene and journalist Alice Avril. Much of the premise of the original was, however, retained. Framing the Guilty Party: Neville frames himself in a way that's easily explained away and makes Audrey look like she's framing him, and that she actually committed the murder. It was an April day such as usually occurs at least once in a month, hotter than most of the June days to follow.Camilla, Lady Tressilian: chatelaine of her seaside home at Saltcreek, Gull's Point; a widow in her early seventies. Everyone Must Be Paired: At the end of the book, everyone that wasn't guilty is happily paired off, in a way that neatly solves the All Love Is Unrequited issues above. Audrey goes to marry Angus, while Ted is free to pursue Kay after her husband is convincted as the murderer. It is implied that Thomas would eventually get over Audrey and get together with Mary instead.

As per usual, Christie bamboozled me. My nose was pointed in exactly the wrong direction by some (now that I think more about it) rather obvious red herrings. I should know better by now than to be led astray, but 9 times out of 10 I am wrong! In October and November 1944, it was serialized with illustrations under that same title as a supplement to The Mail (Adelaide), in Australia. Portions are missing from the newspapers scanned by Trove, so the exact dates are not certain, save for the start on 7 October 1944. [7] Adaptations [ edit ] Stage [ edit ] It was performed in 2019 at The Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich, England, using the play as written by Agatha Christie in 1945 and recently "unearthed by author Julius Green." [10] As the only prior staging using this script was in Martha's Vineyard, the theatre claims this as the first performance of this version of the 1945 stage play in Europe.In 2007, the novel was adapted as part of the third season of the Agatha Christie's Marple television series produced by ITV. Geraldine McEwan plays Miss Marple. [12] The novel did not include Miss Marple; other characters are changed as well for this adaptation to fit the series approach. Superintendent Battle is replaced by Superintendent Mallard played by Alan Davies. Whilst at an uncomfortable dinner party Mr Treves regales all the guests a tale of one child killing another with an arrow, ruled as an accident and the child given a new identity the old solicitor suggests is murder ever predetermined - a Towards Zero point. Battle also has a secret professional life that is revealed in the denouement to The Seven Dials Mystery, but this is never referred to again. In this novel he states, that

Robert Barnard: "Superb: intricately plotted and unusual. The murder comes later, and the real climax of the murderer's plot only at the end. The ingenuity excuses a degree of far-fetchedness. Highly effective story of the child and the bow-and-arrow (part II, chapter 6) and good characterization of the playboy-sportsman central character – very much of that era when one was expected to behave like a gentleman at Wimbledon." [5] Publication history [ edit ] He's just that solid sort of dude who kind of steps in and stops the crazy. I really liked him and I'm glad Christie gave us a chance to get to know this character a little better. In 1956, Christie adapted the book into a play with Gerald Verner. It was first published by Samuel French Ltd. in 1957. The play was first staged in September 1956 at the St James Theatre in the West End of London. [8] Christie first wrote a stage play under this title in 1945, with one week of performances in Martha's Vineyard in the US. The script was uncovered in 2015 by Julius Green. [9]The novel was well received at publication, noted for the well-developed characters. A later review called it superb as to the plot, noting also how well the novel depicted the gentlemanly behaviour expected at the main tennis tournament in 1944. Of course we have. Look here, Kay, we’ve had this out before. Sir Matthew was my guardian. He and Camilla looked after me. Gull’s Point is my home, as far as any place is home to me.’ And yet, this impossibility also made this book compelling. I didn’t believe it one bit, but I was eager to see how it would all be carried off. One thing I’ll say for Agatha Christie is, her books are wonderfully short and to the point, and zooming through a book in a day or two is pretty rewarding. Since I’d completely forgotten who the murderer was, I could barely stand putting this down as I tried to put the clues together and figure out which of all these folks had the strongest motive to kill anyone. And that’s the attraction and addictiveness of Agatha Christie, right? Nevile Strange was coming down the stairs. He was dressed in white flannels and held four tennis racquets under his arm.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

Delivery & Returns

Fruugo

Address: UK
All products: Visit Fruugo Shop