The Man in the Brown Suit Spoilers
I finished it this morning. This was one of Agatha Christie's early novels and fits into her traveler and spy genre better then a mystery. While it had a fun tone in places I didn't much like the main characters and the ending was a dud for me.
re: The Man in the Brown Suit Spoilers
Colonel Race, one of Agatha Christie's reoccurring sleuths, had his debut here but he really doesn't do much in the narrative. I think Christie thought Race was more interesting then I think he is. I do think he's the kind of guy Christie found attractive big, doesn't suffer fools, doesn't talk too much, observant, and just a bit dangerous. Still Colonel Race is very much an artifact of the Colonial Era and his character is "I have lived in the wild lands and it has made me keen minded and hearty." but modern readers will see him as "you own a diamond mine in South Africa bro."
In a lot of ways I can see why he isn't very memorable. Even Inspector Battle has a more interesting concept.
I do like this comedic elderly governmental official who hates working but is cursed to have incredibly competent secretaries and everyone thinks he is a legislative and policy dynamo who really cares and its really his entire staff. He constantly falls into work and duties he doesn't want and is kind of a duplicitous gad about
It is odd that no one has sat down to do an MCU treatment and say "hey what if these people all did exist and we could make fun nods in the movies to each of them and their adventures
Considering Agatha Christie did actual team up novels (Cards on the Table really is an Avengers team up of some of Christie's heavy hitters) its interesting
Zia Rambles
If I was doing it myself I'd actually set them in modern times (because the stories were written to be contemporary) and lean into the fairy tale dreamy style where people really do have amazing intuition. Sort of a Sherlock/Elementary reboot. Make it a rambling Netflix-y streaming show where the episodes can vary in length and maybe lean into the queer aspects a bit.
Set them all in the same city (I say Toronto) and have the characters intersect. Poirot is still a refugee, Marple a woman from a wealthy family who has seen her personal fortunes decline in spinsterhood, make Inspector Battle truly a by the book inspector whose power is his organizational skills, Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin really are still the supernatural duo, Tommy and Tuppence are private investigatorsand spies. And have them cross over and do easter eggs for fans to spot like Mr. Satterthwaite in the background to a Poirot moment or Tuppence interviewing marple on a small case.
I find it fascinating that Agatah Christie's characters and settings actually do overlap: Poirot, Marple, Tommy& Tuppence, Inspector Battle, Colonel Race, Ariadne Oliver (her OC do not steal), Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin, as well as Parker Pyne actually do interact with each other or other characters. Her mysteries are a shared universe