SLEEPING MURDER - CHAPTERS 1-3

SLEEPING MURDER - CHAPTERS 1-3

I am so excited about diving into this book with you all! Fall is creeping into the air with hints of cooler evenings, so cozying up with a good read is in order. Agatha Christie won't disappoint! So without further delay, let's crack this book open and step into the English countryside.

Right off we meet Gwenda Reed. Gwenda is young, well-off, newly married, from New Zealand, and an orphan. Actually, she and her new husband, Giles, are both orphans. She has come to the English countryside to buy a house by herself as Giles is traveling for work.

Then Christie gives us a fabulous line. "And it was in that moment that she made her decision-the decision that was to lead to such very momentous events." How's that for some foreshadowing? At that moment we are all in, because we are looking for 2 things - a decision and momentous events, right? So what was this decision? A simple one. It was to travel by car instead of by train, and begin her search for the perfect home.

I'm going to stop us for a moment here. Can you imagine choosing a home for you and your husband by yourself? I'm sure some of you have had to do that if you have a spouse in the military or one that travels a lot, but I was already thinking about how difficult that would be. But it wasn't for her. She drives into Dillmouth and on the outskirts of town she travels past a drive with a for sale sign. With just a glimpse of the house through the trees she knows this is the place.

She visits the home. As she is going around she's mentally thinking about changes that she will make. Then she reaches the top of the stairs and has a wave of "terror." She wonders if someone has died in the house, but she shakes it off, puts an offer in, and becomes the new owner of Hillsdale.

Promptly the changes begin to the house. Gwenda hires a carpenter to put in place her plans. Only she encounters something strange. Everything she planned is already there! The wallpaper, the steps in the garden, the doorway to the dining room. As the workers uncover the areas to make the changes, the foundations or parts of them are there from the past. It is very unnerving to Gwenda. It's unnerving to us, the readers, as we try and make sense of what is happening. She asks the questions out loud that we are internally asking. Is she crazy or clairvoyant? (At this moment I am applauding Christie's absolute genius at this stage she has set for us!) Gwenda decides she needs a few days away and goes to visit some uppity relatives.

She visits the Wests. (Did you not love the description of Raymond "like a pouncing raven?") More importantly this is where we meet Miss Marple. She's an attractive older woman who enjoys solving things.

That evening they attend a play. As the play is coming to an end an actor says, " Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle, she died young.." Gwenda begins hysterically screaming and runs out. Can you imagine? Later Miss Marple sits down with Gwenda, who thinks she is going crazy, and listens as Gwenda tells the images that her mind unleashed at those words. A body of a woman with her golden hair encircling her blue face. And a pair of monkey hands. Monkey hands? When asked who was dead she mechanically says, "Helen." Who's Helen?

Wow! Wow! Wow! Are you hooked already?