Review: THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY, Agatha Christie

• 
  This edition read on my tablet as a free downloadable pdf 
• Originally published 1931
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0046REG94
• this edition Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins (October 14, 2010)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
• AKA THE MURDER AT HAZELMOOR (title for USA publication)
• My original review (2009)  and then another in 2022

Synopsis 

A seance in a snowbound Dartmoor house predicts a grisly murder…

In a remote house in the middle of Dartmoor, six shadowy figures huddle around a small table for a seance. Tension rises as the spirits spell out a chilling message: ‘Captain Trevelyan… dead… murder.’

Is this black magic or simply a macabre joke? The only way to be certain is to locate Captain Trevelyan. Unfortunately, his home is six miles away and, with snow drifts blocking the roads, someone will have to make the journey on foot… 

My Take

I am re-reading this novel with my U3A Agatha Christie Reading Group and look forward to discussing it with them. I think it works quite well as a stand-alone mystery that has some romantic elements thrown in.

So here are some of the elements in the novel we will discuss

• The role of the seance as the harbinger of death. How did that work? Who was it that told the gathering that the message was for Major Burnaby?
• What are the relationships between the various characters? (How did they keep track of the characters? There are a lot of them)
• Why have Miss Willett and Mrs Willett really taken Captain Trevelyan's house?
• What is the role of Emily Trefusis in solving the murder?
• How effective is Inspector Narracott and what is the role of Mr Duke?
• Who are the most memorable characters? What makes them so?
  
• Which are the most effective red herrings?
• This novel is a stand-alone, although I think at this stage Agatha Christie was still looking for a suitable sleuth. Will Inspector Narracott appear in future novels do you think?
• What does the isolation of Sittaford House make you think of? What about the escaped convict scenario?
• How credible is the secondary plot (the Willett scenario)
• What did you think of Charles Enderby? How good is he as a journalist?
• Why did the murderer commit the murder? Is the reason given plausible?
• Why did ITV decide to turn it into a Marple rather than leave it as a stand-alone. How does changing the plot for television make it more attractive? 

We usually watch a television version of it after our discussion but of course the ITV version is a Miss Marple, with a very much altered plot. I have put that at the bottom of this page in case you don't want to know the details. I am not sure whether the group will want to watch this as it is so dissimilar to the original.

One of the things we are finding as a reading group is how difficult it is to borrow an Agatha Christie novel (a printed book rather than an e-copy). 

My rating: 4.5

All my Agatha Christie Reviews. 

The Television version

The Sittaford Mystery is the fourth episode of the second series of Agatha Christie's Marple. It was broadcast on ITV by Granada Television on 30 April 2006. The screenplay was written by Stephen Churchett and the episode was directed by Paul Unwin. It was an adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel of the same name although originally Miss Marple was not involved. 

Synopsis

When Clive Trevelyan - Member of Parliament, war hero and heir apparent to Prime Minister Winston Churchill - is killed, Miss Marple sets about to solve the case. Trevelyan has made his fortune many years before in Egypt having secretly uncovered a lost tomb. He is killed during a major snowstorm when there are no police available. There are several possible suspects including Trevelyan's ward, James Pearson and his fiancée Emily Trefusis; his political agent, John Enderby; a journalist Charles Burnaby; a visiting American Martin Zimmerman; and several other apparently disinterested parties. A convict has also escaped from Dartmoor prison. Miss Marple concludes that Trevelyan's murder is related to his days in Egypt and sets about to identify the murderer. 

Comparison with the original story

The Sittaford Mystery was not originally a Miss Marple book. Some plot elements from the original are retained but spun together differently to result in a totally new story. Most of the characters are new and even the few who have some part of the original names now have totally different backstories.

•     The identity of the killer is not the same as in the novel.
•     Several characters have different names than in the novel.
•     Several characters are omitted or changed.