Dead and Gondola: A Christie Bookshop Mystery by Ann Claire

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Everyone has their dream job.  For Ellie Christie (no known relationship to Agatha), that dream job is to run the family book shop, the Book Chalet, nestled in the mountains of Last Word, Colorado.  Now her dream is coming true, after her parents decided to retire early and leave the running of the shop to Ellie and her sister Meg.  Ellie’s been working elsewhere for a while, so she is just getting back into the swing of things.  One surprise is finding that ex-Hollywood star turned book influencer Morgan Marin has moved to Last Word and is patronizing the shop, including the book club. This is not to the liking of Mrs. Ridge, the long-time assistant who has very definite opinions as to how the book club is to be conducted. Having a séance is not part of a book club meeting, even if one takes place in this month’s book selection.  It only gets worse when the Ouiji board spells out “D E A D M A N” just before a real life corpse turns up. . . .

This is a first in series book, and I do hope there will be more. The characters were likeable, the mystery was certainly competent, and the setting was intriguing.  The “gondola” part of the title refers to the ski gondolas used to get up and down the mountain and which figure in the crime.  I did figure out part of the solution, but there were still a few surprises in store.

Mostly, I enjoyed all the Agatha Christie references.  I started reading Christies in my youth when I was well and truly baffled by the Victorian Flower Language that Miss Marple employed so freely, and I remain a fan of Christie in particular and fair play mysteries in general.  I liked that the author was so knowledgeable about Dame Agatha and the books she wrote, even mentioning that Ellie guided tours to Torquay, England where the mystery writer was born. A book that Christie wrote under her Mary Westmacott pseudonym figures in the story.   One teensy weensy quibble is when Ellie comments that they have tried to find a genealogical link to Agatha Christie: if they did, based on the name, the relationship would be not to Agatha herself but to her first husband, Archibald Christie, who cheated on her.  Of course, they could then claim a relationship to Archie and Agatha’s daughter Rosalind, so it’s still a connection. (Agatha was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller.)

And there is a cat-- of course there is a cat-- and her name is Agatha.  She is adorable.

And if, like me, you enjoy Christie’s work, I highly recommend the movie “See How They Run.” It’s set in 1950s London where there’s a plan to make a film of this new play, “The Mousetrap.” A murder on the set brings in two police officers to investigate in this delightful dramedy starring Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Ruth Wilson, and Adrien Brody.