When we think of Agatha Christie, we usually think first of her whodunits - especially those with one of her two primary detective characters, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. While these books are usually quite well written, with excellent puzzles to be solved, Christie also wrote a pretty good number of "stand-alone" crime stories in a variety of styles. Some were pretty dark, such as And Then There Were None. And some were straightforward adventure stories - fast-moving thrillers, which we can read just for fun. Thrillers such as The Man in the Brown Suit. It should be read with a sort of guilty pleasure at enjoying a really entertaining tale that keeps delivering surprises and pleasure all the way to the end. It was the subject of one of my audio reviews for the Classic Mysteries podcast about eight years ago. Here (somewhat edited) is what I had to say about it:
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It is generally wise to be careful what you wish for. A young Englishwoman, Anne Beddingfield, always wished for a bit more adventure in her life. Then one day, in a London underground station, she sees a man fall to his death on the tracks. And she sees something else: a rather suspicious man, claiming to be a doctor, who examines the victim’s body and then disappears. And that’s just the beginning of the events which are about to sweep her into what is nearly too much adventure. Somehow, it all seems to involve that mysterious doctor…whom Anne can only describe as…The Man in the Brown Suit…the name of the book by Agatha Christie which we’ll discuss today.
The Man in the Brown Suit is very early Agatha Christie – only her fifth book, published in 1924. It’s not a series book – it was written as a stand-alone thriller. And it is one of the most good-natured, enjoyable thrillers you’re ever likely to read.
The heroine is a young woman, Anne Beddingfield, recently orphaned and close enough to penniless as makes no difference. She is trying to figure out what to do with her life, chafing at the likelihood of having to take up some form of drudge-work to pay the bills. If only there were some kind of adventure in the offing – something like those Perils-of-Pauline type thrillers she sees in the movies.
Well, Anne gets her excitement, all right.
First, she happens to witness that death in the London underground. Then she becomes aware of a peculiar murder that may have been tied to that death – tied through the appearance of that mysterious “man in the brown suit.”
Anne winds up on a ship headed for South Africa…only to find that her cabin has been ransacked. There is a determined effort made to throw her overboard. And she finds herself falling in love with a mysterious stranger – who wanders into her cabin after having been stabbed, but who quickly disappears again. And behind it all, apparently, is a mysterious master-criminal called simply “The Colonel.” Oh, and did I mention some missing diamonds? Or arms smuggling to some rebels in South Africa? Or the kidnapping…more than once…of our heroine?
Confused yet? It requires all of Agatha Christie’s considerable skill to keep the different story threads separate and distinct in our minds, but she does so with the usual doses of Christie wit and good humor. There are plots and counter-plots galore. The story is told by two narrators – one of them is Anne herself, the other narrative is taken from the diary of one of Anne’s fellow travelers, Sir Eustace Pedler, who finds himself drawn into Anne’s stories and travails for a variety of reasons. And while it’s certainly written as a thriller, don’t forget that it’s also a murder mystery. And, as usual, Christie provides clues for the alert reader, though you’ll probably be too busy trying to keep up with Anne’s adventures to realize when the author drops her hints. And the characters are memorable – and varied. In addition to Anne, and Sir Eustace, and that mysterious young man, there’s a Colonel Race, who may be on some obscure mission of his own. There’s a wealthy society woman who befriends Anne. There’s a rather unusual clergyman who may not be a clergyman at all. There are Sir Eustace’s two secretaries (soon to be joined by a third). And there’s a nice assortment of secondary villains, all of them controlled by the mysterious and elusive master-villain known as “The Colonel.”
It’s quite a collection, and the pace of the story never slows. It’s a virtuoso performance from a still very-young Agatha Christie who displays really breathtaking skills in weaving all of this together into a coherent (if, frankly, somewhat incredible) story. And, as I observed earlier, it manages to maintain an atmosphere that is bright and cheerful, for all the evil deeds being carried out in the plot. Anne Beddingfield is a delightful heroine, and if she does get a bit more adventure than perhaps is good for her, she certainly triumphs in the end. As for the other characters…well, you’ll just have to read it to find out for yourself. The last time I checked, The Man in the Brown Suit was available in several editions, including print, e-book and audio formats. I’m sure that both your favorite mystery bookseller and Amazon will have no difficulty finding it for you. It’s great fun and really shouldn’t be missed.
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You can listen to the original audio review by clicking here.
Next: The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime, edited by Michael Sims
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