Dining With The Dame - Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Dining With The Dame

18
Apr
2022

Shakshuka – Murder in Mesopotamia

categories: Dining With The Dame, Eggs, Middle Eastern, Poirot

Easter greetings crime readers and food lovers! In a seasonally appropriate menu today I am cooking eggs. Shakshuka is a Middle Eastern dish described somewhat inelegantly by Nurse Amy Leatheran in Murder in Mesopotamia as “eggs in sauce”.

Murder in Mesopotamia – The Plot

“Bismillahi ar raham ar rahim. That is the Arab phrase used before starting out on a journey. Eh bien, we too are starting on a journey. A journey into the past. A journey into the strange places of the human soul.”

– Hercule Poirot in Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

Our journey into the strange places of the human soul begins when our narrator. hospital nurse Amy Leatheran, is hired by Swedish-American archaeologist Dr Eric Leidner to look after his wife Louise who is suffering from “nervous terrors”. The couple is living at an archaeological dig site very closely based on the Royal Cemetery at Ur where Christie met her second husband Sir Max Mallowan.

Friends tell Amy that a strange tense atmosphere prevails at Tell Yarrimjah, an atmosphere that most people blame on Louise Leidner. Louise is disliked by everyone but her husband who adores her.

Louise shows Amy a series of threatening letters which she believes may have been sent to her by either her dead / not dead first husband or his deranged younger brother. It is these along with some other scary events that are terrifying Louise.

Louise Leidner is murdered the next day. Hit over the head by a heavy blunt object.

However, no one entered the compound during the time of the murder. So someone in the dig party is a murderer.

But who? And why?

Plot Points

Poirot solo. No Hastings or Japp in this one although Amy steps in to be Watson to his Sherlock. The Poirot episode of Murder in Mesopotamia does have Hastings though.
“Dead” faces in windows and other things that go bump in the night
Poirot jabbing people with pins
Another member of the dig party killed horribly but not before she can gasp out a key clue to Louise’s deah
A priest who might not be a priest
Some side shenanigans of stolen artefacts and drug abuse

There is a truckload of casual racism in Murder in Mesopotamia, most of which is espoused by Amy. I feel though that we are meant to see this as a by-product of Amy’s parochial ways and not as an espousal of Christie’s worldview. Does this make it more palatable? It’s definitely a case of hate the player not the game which is not always distinguishable in Christie.

Beware Spoilers

Ok, if you intend on reading Murder in Mesopotamia, skip down to the covers. For the rest of us, let’s talk about that ending. When I was in high school, in either year 8 or 9 we had to read a book called The Wife of Martin Guerre. The premise of this novel (land also the movie Sommersby which was a film adaptation of it) is that Martin Guerre returns home after being at war or somesuch for an extended period of time. Only he’s a very different man to the one who left. Not just emotionally. He’s actually a different man.

Even as a young teenager I found this plot ridiculous. Because why does no one else recognise that this is not Martin Guerre numero uno? The wife has a vested interest because MG2 is a whole lot nicer. But did no other person realise that this man was not Martin Guerre?

Similarly, in Murder in Mesopotamia, we find out that murderer of Louise Leidner is her devoted husband Eric who is also her dead / now definitely not dead first husband Fredrick Bosner.

I mean really? I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but if one of my exes was to turn up on the doorstep tomorrow with a new name and haircut I am pretty damn sure I would recognise him long before I decided to rekindle any old flames.

It’s certainnly a plot twist but just not a very credible one!

Murder in Mesopotamia – The Covers

There are some AMAZING covers here including a French and a Bangla version of Murder in Mesopotamia. My fave is the pulpy middle row second from left which shows a terrified Louise Leidner in the foreground with a threatening man – (dead / not dead first husband? Deranged younger brother? ) in the background.

The Recipe – Shakshuka

I used the chickpea shakshuka recipe from Women’s Weekly Vegetarian for my recipe. Chickpeas are not a standard inclusion in a shakshuka however, I like them as they bulk out a meal that I usually eat for dinner rather than the traditional breakfast. I also like to sprinkle a little feta over my shakshuka which is not in this recipe.

Lunch was just ready and we went in, the doctor apologising for his daughter who he saiid was always late. We;d just has a very good dish of eggs in sauce when she came in an Dr Reilly said , “Nurse, this is my daughter Sheila.”.

-Agatha Christie – Murder in Mesopotamia

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Murder in Mesopotamia

Tea and coffee (lots of both)
Toast and jam, rock buns, cutting cake
Curry
Scones
Sandwiches

May’s book will be Cards on the Table, another Poirot but this time with Ariadne Oliver who I love!

26
Mar
2022

Macaroni au Gratin / The ABC Murders

categories: Dining With The Dame, Pasta, Poirot

Hello Crime readers and food lovers! I am excited today to be sharing a recipe for Macaroni au Gratin – aka Baked Mac and Cheese! This month’s Agatha Christie book, The ABC Murders is dark. It is definitely the darkest book we have read so far. So, it’s a good thing we have the comforting familiarity of macaroni and cheese to get us through! We have my favourite trio in Christie too – Poirot, Hastings and Japp. It is however written in a mix of first-person and third-person which feels a bit clumsy. However, it is a cracking read so do not let that prevent you from reading this.

The ABC Murders – The Plot

We begin with Poirot receiving a letter taunting him:

MR. HERCULE POIROT–You fancy yourself, don’t you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thick-headed British police? Let us see, Mr. Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be. Perhaps you’ll find this nut too hard to crack. Look out for Andover on the 21st of the month. Yours, etc., A.B.C.

And on the 21st Mrs Alice Ascher is murdered by a blow to the head in Andover

We have:

Some fun banter between Poirot, Japp and Hastings prior to the first murder.
A second murder – Betty Barnard strangled in Bexhill
A third murder – Sir Carmichael Clarke clubbed to death in Churston
Taunting letters to Poirot with each murder and a copy of the ABC rail guide left by the body of each of the victims
The diary of a man who seems to be increasingly losing his grip on reality. The man’s name? Alexander Bonaparte Cust. (Just look at those initials!)
We have a group of amateur sleuths made up of Megan Barnard (Betty’s sister), Franklin Clarke (Sir Carmichael’s brother, Donald Fraser (Betty’s fiance) and Mary Drower (Alice Ascher’s niece).
There is a beautiful and very poignant bit of writing about the death of Alice Ascher and the remorselessness of the passing of time
This is lightened almost immediately by a lovely fun bit of banter between Poirot and Hastings concerning fruit and vegetables
The fourth letter leads Poirot to Doncaster. Will Poirot be able to stop the ABC Murderer’s reign of terror here?

What makes The ABC Murders so dark is the use of gaslighting by the villain of the piece. Christie would not however have used that term as it only came into being in 1944, eight years after The ABC Murders was published!

The ABC Murders – The Covers

There are some very cool covers here. The two that for me are the standouts – top row second from the left looks very Hitchcockian, Tippi Hedren fleeing from birds with evil intent maybe. And speaking thereof…that cover with poor Betty Barnard lying dead on the beach with the seagull’s feet on her throat gives me the screaming heebie jeebies!!!!

The Recipe – Macaroni au Gratin

I kept this macaroni au gratin very simple. The internet abounds with fancy recipes for mac and cheese. I love the lobster Mac ‘n’ Cheese they serve at Meatmaiden, one of my fave local restaurants! And if you are looking to make your mac ‘n’ cheese a bit more healthy then I can also recommend Jamie Oliver’s Greens Mac ‘n’ Cheese.

Macaroni au Gratin / The ABC Murders

Print Recipe

Comfort food at its finest!

Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale

110g macaroni
1 bay leaf
450g milk
50g butter (plus more for dabbing on the top)
40g plain flour
175 grated Cheddar cheese or a mix or what you have in the house. I used some Red Leicester for this one.
Freshly grated nutmeg
Dash of Tabasco (optional)
Breadcrumbs
Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fried shallots (optional) Or more if you like!

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Bring 850ml of water to the boil and cook the macaroni for 3-4 minutes less than the instructions on the pack. (We will finish off cooking in the oven).
Meanwhile, heat the milk with the bayleaf in a small pan and leave it to infuse.
In another pan, melt the butter and add the flour and allow your roux to cook for a minute. Gradually add the milk, whisking all the time to remove any lumps. Cook until the mixture reaches the consistency of pancake batter, stirring all the while.
Add half of the Cheddar and stir until it melts. Add some grated nutmeg and Tabasco sauce if using and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Drain the macaroni and add it to the cheese sauce. Place into one large or individual baking dishes Sprinkle with breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, the fried onions if using and a few dabs of butter to help the breadcrumbs brown.
Place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes until bubbling around the edges. Then turn on your grill and cook under the grill until the cheese and breadcrumbs are golden.
Let this sit for 1o minutes before eating. If you can wait that long!

Enjoy!!!!

Notes

I like to cook this in smaller dishes so I have a ready supply of work from home lunches!

The fried shallots are available at Asian Groceries and whilst by no means traditional, add a lovely French onion flavour to this fish.

I really wanted to make this with alphabetty spaghetti. Unfortunately, I could not find any so elbow macaroni had to do!

If the fried shallots are not your bag, you can top with finely chopped chives or parsley before serving.

Our first visit was to The Ginger Cat. Situated on the seafront, this was the usual type of small tearoom. It had little tables covered in orange-checked cloths and basket-work chairs of exceeding discomfort with orange cushions on them. It was the kind of place that specialised in morning coffee, five types of tea (Devonshire, Farmhouse, Fruit, Carlton and Plain), and a few sparing lunch dishes for females such as scambled eggs and shrimps and macaroni au gratin.

-Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders

The Adaptations

The Alphabet Murders – 1965

Tony Randall as Poirot, Robert Morley as Hastings? Anika Ekberg as….I’m not really sure who she was but she was stunningly beautiful whoever she was meant to be.

I was so up for watching this!

Until I started watching it.

It. Was. Terrible.

I lasted half an hour max and went scurrying back to my beloved trio of David Suchet / Hugh Fraser and Phillip Jackson.

I don’t know what possessed MGM to try to turn this book into a comedy but it didn’t work for me at all!

The ABC Murders – Poirot S4 E1 1992

This version is the most true to the book. To me, this is the gold standard by which all adaptations should be judged and this episode is no exception. And there is an absolutely touching moment at the end between Poirot and Cust.

The ABC Murders – 2018

John Malkovich as Poirot? Sign me up!!! I only watched this one recently and it blew me away.

This version has Rupert Grint aka Ron Weasley as Inspector Crome. No Hastings, Japp dies within the first few minutes. Poirot is old and tired and has lost his relevance. Britain is dirty and dark and xenophobia is running high. This one is DARK.

I think this one brings to life the characters of Betty Barnard and Alexander Cust in a way the other two did not. It is beautifully shot and the attention to detail is meticulous. The acting is largely superb. Poirot, Cust, Betty, Rose Marbury, Thora Grey, Franklin Clarke – all played to perfection!!!!! It is not entirely true to the book but it goes some interesting places. This one is a much watch for any Christie fan although I’m sure some die-hard Christie fans will not be happy with the kink element, the addition of a new murder and Poirot’s backstory.

I would LOVE to see more Malkovich as Poirot!!!!

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in The ABC Murders

As per usual we have a mention of Bacon and Eggs
Coffee (several mentions)
Meat Pie
Black Tea
Scrambled eggs and shrimps
Brandy
Tea and Devonshire Cream
Mackerel
Irish Stew
Sandwiches and a glass of wine

Next month we are heading to the Middle East for a Murder in Mesopotamia. My advice on this one? Pack your disbelief into a deep dark corner and just go with it. The plot is largely ludicrous but we’ll have some fun on the way!

06
Mar
2022

The Bee Sting

categories: Dining With The Dame, Drinks, Poirot, Tequila

Hello friends, welcome to a special edition of Dining With The Dame. In this, which is a companion piece to last week’s post I will be doing a selective deep-dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of Death in The Clouds. And, to fortify ourselves on this journey, I am sharing a DITC inspired cocktail – The Bee Sting. Why not make yourself one and settle in for the ride. Fasten your seatbelts, this plane will hit some turbulence! BTW, this post does contain spoilers so if you have are planning on reading DITC, you may want to save this one for later!

The Boomslang

At the inquest of Madame Giselle, we find out that the poison on the tip of the blowpipe is from an African snake called a Boomslang. Whilst the word boomslang sounds like something unsavoury that I would need urban dictionary to define for me, it is actually the name of a highly venomous African Snake. I could find no verification to Christie’s assertion that if you inject the venom into a hyena, the hyena would die before the needle was withdrawn. However, according to McGill University

Because boomslang venom is a hemotoxin it’s not surprising that it can lead to major brain and muscle hemorrhage. But the venom also causes other symptoms like nausea, headaches and sleepiness. Perhaps what is most surprising is that this venom has the ability to make the victim bleed from every possible orifice

Good lord!!! Poor Madame Giselle!

DITC and Pop Culture

Boomslangs on a Plane?

I’m sure I’m not the only modern reader who on hearing about the boomslang wondered if just maybe DITC was, in part, an inspiration for this cinematic masterpiece!

Norman Gale

And whilst taking of pop culture references could Norman Gale be an inspiration for Norman Bates? I can find no verification of this however, it is entirely possible that Robert Bloch read DITC prior to writing Psycho in 1959. The similarity of the names made me suspicious of Norman Gale long before he was revealed as the murderer!

That he is a dentist also reminded me of Little Shop of Horrors:

Doctor Who

In the utterly amazing Doctor Who episode The Unicorn and The Wasp, The Doctor and Donna meet Agatha Christie. They investigate murders in a country house, they make references to Murder on The Orient Express, Crooked House, Sparkling Cyanide and Cards on The Table, Agatha Christie suggests that they use “ze little grey cells” to solve the murder, and the villain turns out to be a giant alien wasp!

DITC And The Poirotverse

More than any of the other books I have read so far, DITC refers to some of Poirot’s previous cases:

On page 149 of my edition, the following exchange between Poirot and Japp occurs.

“I’ve questioned the passengers, too. Everyone can’t be lying.”

“In one case I investigated everyone was”

Which is a delightful callback to Murder on The Orient Express.

Earlier in the book, Inspector Fournier mentions that the murder of Madame Giselle likely occurred during a psychological moment.

“That is true,” said Poirot. “I remember a case in which I was concerned – a case of poison where that very point arose”

This is a reference to Three Act Tragedy

The Ugly Side of DITC

Ok, this is where things take a turn. Take a big gulp of your Bee Sting to fortify yourself and let’s get into it.

There is a lot to like in DITC but there is also much that is repugnant. Take, for instance, this passage regarding the budding romance between Jane Grey and Norman Gale.

The promised dinner and theatre with Norman Gale had duly come off. It was one of those enchanting evenings when every word and confidence exchanged seemed to reveal a bond of sympathy and shared tastes.

They liked dogs and disliked cats. They both hated oysters and loved smoked salmon. They liked Greta Garbo and disliked Katherine Hepburn. They didn’t like fat women and admired really jet black hair. They disliked very red nails. They disliked loud voices, noisy restaurants and Negroes. They preferred buses to tubes”

Yes, you read that correctly!

I was like “loud voices, noisy restaurants and WTAF??????”

The fact that it is also mentioned in the same breath as an “enchanting evening” only makes it more revolting.

And BTW, this is why I really wanted Norman to be the murderer. I was only disappointed that he didn’t bump off the equally awful Jane Grey along the way!

This is not the only racist slur that occurs in DITC:

The jury finds Poirot guilty possibly because he is “a little foreigner”
Mrs Mitchell, the wife of one of the stewards is utterly indignant about the murder. “Who’s to know what reason foreigners have for murdering each other; and if you ask me, I think it’s a dirty trick to have done it on a British aeroplane”
There is also an anti-Semitic slur made by one of Jane Grey’s colleagues at the hair salon

Urrgghhh…I did warn you this was going to get rocky.

Should I stay or should I go?

Reading DITC posed a real dilemma for me. It was like finding a big old turd in what had been a formerly enjoyable soup. Not only does it put you off that particular bowl of soup, but it also puts you off soup altogether. I did wonder if I should continue with this project at all after reading it. In the end, I decided I would complete my Dining with The Dame project but, like here, I would call out the bad and the ugly side of Christie along with the good.

Let’s wash the nasty taste out of our mouths with our lovely sweet / sour spicy cocktail – The Bee Sting!

The Bee Sting

Print Recipe

A citrussy cocktail with a chilli kick!

Author: Taryn Nicole

Ingredients

Scale

For the jalapeno honey syrup:

2 tbsp pickled jalapeno chilies, drained of brine
1 cup honey
30ml hot water

For the Cocktail

45ml reposado tequila
30 ml jalapeno honey syrup, cooled
30ml freshly squeezed lemon juice or a combination of lemon and lime juice
2 slices of jalapeno chilli

To Garnish

A slice of Jalapeno
A lemon twist

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

To Make The Jalapeno Honey Syrup:

Place the honey and the chillies in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Allow to cool, then strain.
Mix 1 tbsp of the jalapeno honey with 30ml warm water and allow to cool to make the syrup.

To Make the Cocktail:

Muddle the jalapeno slices in your cocktail shaker.
Add the tequila, lemon juice and jalapeno honey syrup.
Fill with ice and shake for 15 seconds.
Strain and garnish with a slice of jalapeno and a twist of lemon

Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe was inspired by the recipe for the Bee Sting cocktail on Serious Eats and Action Bronson’s recipe for pickled jalapeno honey.

There will be a lot of the honey left over – use this to make more Bee Stings, as a drizzle over fish or chicken, in salad dressings or as per Action Bronson, serve it over flatbreads spread with ricotta and hazelnuts.

Have you read Death in The Clouds? What did you think of it?

27
Feb
2022

Death in the Clouds: Chicken Chaud-Froid

categories: Chicken, Chicken & Poultry, Dining With The Dame, France, Poirot

Welcome aboard crime readers and food lovers! Today on Dining with the Dame we are reading 1935’s Death in The Clouds. Our menu option includes a rather fancy-sounding French dish called Chicken Chaud-Froid. James Beard describes it as follows:

“Chaid-froid is a thickened sauce of butter, flour, broth and cream which may be mixed with geliatin and is used to cover poultry…use this sauce to dip the bird…Decorate with truffles, tarragon, blanched almonds, mushroom caps, sliced olives or vegetables”

Well, my budget doesn’t run to truffles but I have made you a Chicken Chaud-Froid inspired by Death in The Clouds!

Death in The Clouds – The Plot

The stewards on a plane from London to Calais are shocked to find one of the passengers, Madame Giselle, dead in her seat. Some marks on her neck indicate that she may have had a reaction to a wasp sting. A dead wasp is also found on the plane. However. Hercule Poirot who is also a passenger on the plane discovers an African blow dart on the floor and deduces that Madame Giselle, a moneylender to the rich and famous, has been murdered. But who on the plane wanted her dead?

We have:

Lady Horbury, formerly an actress, who is addicted to both gambling and cocaine
Venetia Kerr, a member of the aristocracy and childhood friend of Lord Horbury
Jane Grey, a hairdresser’s assistant coming home from a holiday funded by a large win on a horse
Norman Gale, dentist and admirer of Jane Grey
Armand Dupont and his son Jean, French archaeologists
Doctor Bryant of Harley Street
James Ryder, a businessman who has failed to make a deal that could keep his company afloat
Mystery writer Daniel Clancy

Eleven passengers in the cabin including Poirot plus two stewards (no spoilers here but none of them did it). The twelfth passenger was murdered by a blowdart. And no one saw a thing.

This is a classic closed circle mystery. We know one of the passengers did Madame Giselle in. But who? Poirot figures out who by page 70 in my edition. He just doesn’t understand why! I also figured out who on my first read BUT it was more about me disliking the character and WANTING them to the murderer rather than any true detecting. However, I read this book again last week to refresh my memory of it and the clues are there in plain sight so a careful reading could get you there!

Death in The Clouds – The Covers

I would like to call out the pulpy looking cover on the bottom row second from the right. Madame Giselle’s ugliness is mentioned several times in Death in The Clouds. If that lovely blonde lady is someone’s idea of hideously ugly (Christie’s words, not mine) then that person’s standards are ridiculously high!!!

The Recipe – Chicken Chaud Froid

I’ll be very honest here. The chicken Chaud froid was not to my taste at all. I ended up scraping all the cold jellied velouté off the chicken and making a sandwich with the chicken breast. If cold creamy gelatine chicken is your thing…go for it! For the rest of us….let’s all have a little giggle at my ridiculous attempts to make a wasp out of olives and tomatoes and a plane out of carrot and olives and forget this recipe ever exists.

The recipe I used which is from the 60th Anniversary edition of the James Beard Fireside Cookbook doesn’t actually tell you how to cook the chicken. So, let’s start you off with a basic recipe for poached chicken. And take it from there.

Here’s Jame’s Beard’s take:

And here is his veloute recipe:

From Mr Clancy’s house they took a taxi to The Monseigneur, where they found Norman Gale waiting for them. Poirot ordered some consommé and a chaud-froid of chicken.

-Agatha Christie – Death in the Clouds

The Monseigneur was actually a restaurant in Jermyn Street London in the 1930’s. Here is a picture of the interior.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Death In The Clouds

Cold Tongue
Soda Water and Thin Captain Biscuits
Coffee (several mentions)
Cheese and Biscuits
The meal served on the plane included soup, meat and vegetables, salad, dessert, tea and coffee. (All on a journey from Calais to London which is all of 151 km. These days on a trip from Melbourne to Sydney which is 713 km you’d be lucky to get a pack of peanuts!)
Soup
Tea
A “frenchified” meal at Poirot’s apartment. I would LOVE to know what this was!
Irish Stew
Omelette aux champignons
Sole a la Normand
Port Salut Cheese
Kidneys at breakfast
Orange Juice
Tea and Muffins
Bananas and Beer
Consommé
Sausages and Mash
Sherry / Aperitifs

There is a lot more to say about Death in The Clouds but they would be out of place in a regular Dining With The Dame post like this. This is why next week, we are going to have a Death in The Clouds recap. With a cocktail of course.

Our March Read will be The ABC Mystery which is another Poirot mystery but a lot darker than Death in The Clouds.

Happy reading and eating!

23
Jan
2022

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans – Cucumber Sandwiches

categories: Dining With The Dame, Sandwiches, Stand Alone

Hello crime readers and food lovers! Today we are raising our pinky fingers and taking delicate bites from a classic item of British high tea, cucumber sandwiches. Our book of choice is a standalone Christie novel, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Published in 1934, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans came after an amazing run of novels – Murder on the Orient Express and Three Act Tagedy (both also published in 1934), Lord Edgware Dies (1933) and Peril At End House (1932). And…well…for my mind, it is not in the same calibre as any of these. There is also not a great deal of food mentioned within its pages. Generic references to cocktail parties, breakfast and afternoon teas abound. There is even a reference to a sausage and beer party which sounds like heaps of fun. But not many specific mentions of food. So, for my menu, I have taken the liberty of choosing an item that I hope was served at least one of those any afternoon teas, cucumber sandwiches!

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans – The Plot

Bobby James is playing golf near his home in Marchbolt, Wales. As a sudden fog descends Bobby hears a man cry out. Worried that he may have hit someone with his last shot, Bobby goes to investigate and finds a man lying close to death on a ledge below a cliff. The man gains consciousness long enough to utter the words “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” before dying. This sets Bobby and his friend / romantic interest Lady Frances (Frankie) Derwent on a series of adventures that could cost them their lives.

We have:

Sisters behaving suspiciously
Beer poisoned with morphia
Staged car accidents
Morphine addicts (aka drug fiends! in 1934 parlance)
Dodgy doctors
Supposed suicides
Kidnapping
Poisoned coffee
Wicked wives
And a romantic ending for Bobby and Frankie.

Bobby and Frankie are both very likeable characters and well written. So it is not the absence of Poirot or Marple which makes this book not one of my favourites. In fact, the tv adaptation I watched shoehorned Marple into it which to my mind, made the story even worse!. For me, this is just not a compelling plot. I think what didn’t work for me was that I LOVE trying to solve the mysteries and the mystery of Evans and why they weren’t asked is almost impossible to solve. There was some fun along the way though so this is still worth a read even if, to my mind, it was not as good as some of its predecessors.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans – The Covers

This was called The Boomerang Clue on its American release hence the varied titles. The modern 1920’s stylised look with Bobby and Frankie on the train. is my favourite. What is yours?

The Recipe – Cucumber Sandwiches

I used this recipe from The Spruce Eats but I cut my sandwiches into fingers and not triangles. And I buttered one side of the bread so there was only cream cheese on one side.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Why Didn’t They Ask Evans

Fried Fish
Coffee (Multiple mentions)
Sandwiches (a packet)
Beer (Poisoned with Morphia)
Cocktail Party & Cocktails (several mentions
Beer and Sausage Party
Port
Tea (several mentions)
Afternoon tea (several mentions)
Bacon and Eggs (It wouldn’t be a Christie without it)
Breakfast
Toast (two mentions)

Have you read Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Am I being too harsh in saying it is one of the worst Christies to date? I would love to hear from people who love this novel to tell me I’m wrong…And from people like me who think it is just a bit meh.

Beer and sausage party? Who’s in?

Death in the Clouds will be our read for February and, despite some OMG moments of blatant racism, is to my mind a much better story. We’ll delve into that in February.

Happy reading and eating!