#murder-every-monday — Public Fediverse posts

#MurderEveryMonday Cover with a Zoo animal Elephants can Remember: Is it good?

I know, I know: my choice to this #MurderEveryMonday is probably again too obvious, but it also gives me the opportunity to talk about this book. Check Kate's blog to know more about the hashtag. Agatha Christie was 82 years old when she wrote Elephants Can Remember. This is the last novel she wrote with Poirot as the detective and it was published in November of 1972.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/murdereverymonday-cover-with-a-zoo-animal-elephants-can-remember-is-it-good/

#MurderEveryMonday Cover with a Zoo animal Elephants can Remember: Is it good?

I know, I know: my choice to this #MurderEveryMonday is probably again too obvious, but it also gives me the opportunity to talk about this book. Check Kate’s blog to know more about the hashtag.

Agatha Christie was 82 years old when she wrote Elephants Can Remember. This is the last novel she wrote with Poirot as the detective and it was published in November of 1972. Poirot’s Early Cases (1974) and Curtain (1975), both published afterwords, were written in the 1920s and 1930s, for the short stories, and for the last case of Poirot in the 1940s, the book being kept unpublished in a bank vault.

Even at the time of publication, the book received some less kind reviews, with some pointing out inconsistencies about times and ages, which quite frankly could (and should) have been avoided by the editors and publisher of the book. Still, many today consider this a lesser work, but I find several reasons to like it.

The book starts with Mrs. Ariadne Oliver going to a literary luncheon. Oliver is the alter-ego of Agatha Christie: she likes apples, she is always trying hair styles, writes crime fiction, and complains about her Finn detective, lamenting inventing him, since she doesn’t know anything about Finland. It’s always a delight to have her as a character in a book. In the first chapter, Mrs. Oliver tell us about her problems with making speeches, the questions people always ask her, the letters she receives from her readers, and how she tries to deal with all of this. And I found this a delight because it seems clear we’re given a glimpse of something Christie also struggled with and knew first hand.

At that lunch, a woman asks Mrs. Oliver if she is the godmother of Celia Ravenscroft and after corroboration, the woman continues: “Did her mother kill her father or was it the father who killed the mother?”.

And I still remember, when I first read this book (which is more than I can say for so many other books), I was as puzzled as Mrs. Oliver. I mean, why would it matter if it was the father or the mother? Why would it be so important to know? But this also tell us something about the beliefs and obsessions of the people in the past (in this case, in the 1970s). I think Agatha Christie was more observant than a talkative person, and because of that she noticed things more. And I love her books have these snippets she took from her observations: it can be something she heard someone saying, or it can be something being discussed in a newspaper, some new advance in science, something she remembers her family doing when she was a child, etc.

This is also a book about a murder in the past and deals with the people’s memory (the elephants), sometimes people remember certain things, but not others, or they remember things differently. And it’s Poirot job to make sense of all this.

I didn’t re-read this one for some time now, but I remember liking it. And now that I’ve talked about what I liked about it, I’ll be re-reading it again shortly. So, tell me, did you read Elephants Can Remember? Did you like it or not? And why?

#MurderEveryMonday Cover with a series sleuth: three favorite sleuths

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/murdereverymonday-cover-with-a-series-sleuth/

#MurderEveryMonday Cover with a series sleuth

For today’s #MurderEvryMonday I decided to start with Miss Marple, here with The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side and A Crime is Announced (a favorite).

Then, we continue with Lord Peter Wimsey (also a favorite). The Portuguese edition being the short story collection Lord Peter Views the Body.

And finally a depiction of Father Brown.

It’s quite interesting to see how characters are depicted in book covers and how/if they differ from our own imagination.

If you want to know more about #MurderEveryMonday check Kate Jackson’s blog, see the next themes, and share your covers using the hashtag.

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction cover with a village on

For today's #MurderEveryMonday I'm sharing a cover of a book I want to read, Murder before Evensong, the first in the Canon Clement series, and a book I've read before (one of my 2023 favorite reads). Serpents in Eden is a short story collection with both known crime fiction authors and others less known, with extra points for the introduction by Martin Edwards.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/04/27/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-cover-with-a-village-on/

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction cover with a village on

For today’s #MurderEveryMonday I’m sharing a cover of a book I want to read, Murder before Evensong, the first in the Canon Clement series, and a book I’ve read before (one of my 2023 favorite reads). Serpents in Eden is a short story collection with both known crime fiction authors and others less known, with extra points for the introduction by Martin Edwards. By the way, if you want to read the 1948 article The Guilty Vicarage – Notes on the detective story, by an addict by W. H. Auden, you can do so here.

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction title with an evaluative adjective

When Kate reminded us of this week's #MurderEveryMonday theme, my first thought was for H. R. F. Keating because I had noticed a pattern in some of his books: The Bad Detective The Good Detective The Soft Detective The Rich Detective These are standalone's and I never read anything by Keating, but I'm curious about his writing. He was president of the 

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-title-with-an-evaluative-adjective/

#MurderEveryMonday Orange Cover

For today's #MurderEveryMonday I'm reusing an old photo of the crime fiction novel with the most orange cover I have. This is the ninth volume in the Adam Dalgliesh series and I think I like it when I read it. To know more about the hashtag, check Kate's blog. To compensate the reused photo, I'm also sharing a small video about the non-fiction book "Agatha Christie A Reader's Companion" (cover also orangey).

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/murdereverymonday-orange-cover/

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction title with a word to do with intelligence

Today's #MurderEveryMonday is a crime fiction title with a word to do with intelligence. Check Kate's blog to know more. I started with "Desapareceu um Inventor" (can be translated as "An inventor disappeared" (scientist)), which the original title is "Your deal, my lovely" by Peter Cheney. Never read this one and it's one in the FBI agent Lemmy Caution series.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-title-with-a-word-to-do-with-intelligence/

#MurderEveryMonday Title with a word to do with smell: Sad Cypress

For today's #MurderEveryMonday I had to share Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie - cypresses have scent. It's not very well known, but it's one of my favorite reads. I also love the David Suchet TV series' episode with Elisabeth Dermot Walsh as Elinor Carlisle. The book starts with Elinor Carlisle in court, accused of murder. We go back in time through Elinor perspective first to know the context, the second part of the book sees Poirot entering the scene, asked by his friend Doctor Peter Lord - is this a nod to Sayers' Lord Peter?

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/murdereverymonday-title-with-a-word-to-do-with-smell-sad-cypress/

#MurderEveryMonday cover with “something a baby or child would use”

The centre of Portugal has been devastated by storms and flooding. More than a week later, we still have thousands of people without electricity. Our region didn't suffer as much as the centre, but we are all bracing ourselves for new storms in the next days. Still, I wanted to share a cover for today's #MurderEveryMonday, "cover depicting something a baby or child would use"

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/murdereverymonday-cover-with-something-a-baby-or-child-would-use/

#MurderEveryMonday A special edition

Today's #MurderEveryMonday is a title with a word that starts with the letter Q. I'm hoping I can use the title in Portuguese for this one, because it is the perfect excuse to tell you about a special edition, that is not much known. The book chosen is The Floating Admiral, which title was translated to Portuguese as Quem Matou o Almirante?

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/02/02/murdereverymonday-a-special-edition/

#MurderEveryMonday Crime Fiction Novel made into a film

For today's #MurderEveryMonday I'm choosing two of my favourite book adaptations into a film: Witness for the Prosecution by Billy Wilder (with Marlene Dietrich) from 1957 And Then There Were None by Rene Clair from 1945 Check Kate's blog to know more about the hashtag and share your covers.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-novel-made-into-a-film/

#MurderEveryMonday Crime Fiction Novel made into a film

For today’s #MurderEveryMonday I’m choosing two of my favourite book adaptations into a film:

• Witness for the Prosecution by Billy Wilder (with Marlene Dietrich) from 1957
• And Then There Were None by Rene Clair from 1945

Check Kate’s blog to know more about the hashtag and share your covers.

#BookLook #books #ColecçãoVampiro #CrimeFiction #livros #MurderEveryMonday #Policiais #readings

#MurderEveryMonday Crime Fiction with Day or Night in the Title

For today's #MurderEveryMonday I found a couple of "day" and several "night" in the title, but without much time (hectic day), I thought I would go for two favourites. Agatha Christie's Endless Night was published in 1967 and it seems it was one of the author's favourite. This is not your typical Christie, it's an eerie and suspenseful reading, but it is also really good.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2025/12/29/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-with-day-or-night-in-the-title/

You know I love #Poirot, but it does seem he's a little bit careless sometimes with this thing of loosing clients. #MurderEveryMonday

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/murdereverymonday-title-hints-to-something-not-visible/

#MurderEveryMonday title hints to something not visible

Today’s #MurderEveryMonday is a “crime fiction title which hints that something has disappeared or is not visible”.

I went through my shelves and the majority of books I could find were about someone disappearing, instead of something, but I decided to go with it.

My first thought went to The Invisible Host by Gwen Bristol and Bruce Manning, published in 1930, with a close setting where people start dying. Later, Agatha Christie worked the same idea for And Then There Were None. Loved both books, and I thank Dean Street Press (check the link to see their crime fiction titles) to republished the Host so we could read it today. Do you know other books with a similar idea? Let me know in the comments, I would love to read them.

My second thought was The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin because while maybe “moving” doesn’t hint to a disappearance, the blurb at the back is very clear: this toyshop vanishes during the night. How and why would a toyshop vanish? Read the book, it’s a good one and the Oxford Professor Gervase Fen is on the case. It’s also the only book that hints at something instead of someone.

Then, I thought of “Poirot loses a Client” (the book in the middle, same title both in Portuguese and American English). Mainly because this Christie Portuguese publisher used already made translations from Brazil, back in the 1950/60s, probably cheaper than to get a translation from scratch, and I also have this idea that Brazil would use the American editions to translate, maybe because they were closer and was easier to negotiate with the American publishers than with the UK ones. But this one is the UK’s Dumb’s Witness. And it reminded me that John Curran published in his Secret Notebooks, for the first time, a similar short story that was later found in Agatha Christie papers, called The Incident of the Dog’s Ball (albeit the culprit is different).

You know I love Poirot, but it does seem he’s a little bit careless sometimes with this thing of loosing clients. And while the titles don’t hint at it, it also happens in the short stories A Cornish Mystery and How does Your Garden Grow?, both from the Poirot’s Early Cases (first book in the photo) and also in the novel Murder on the Links.

Someone engages Poirot to look into or do something and then, they’re gone. Where did his clients go or why? I’m not spilling it. Read the books :-)

Finally, I found The Phantom Lady by William Irish that starts with a man talking to a woman in a bar, without catching her name. When he returns home something happens and then he needs to find the woman of the bar to do something, but she vanished.

The Raymond Chandler one is translated as A Woman was Lost, and is in fact Farewell, My Lovely. With Chandler, I’m never sure if I know Philip Marlowe (the detective) from the movies, the old time radio shows, or the books. This is the melancholic, cynic, private eye, whiskey, guns, and the femme fatale. If you like the sub-genre hardboiled, Chandler is always a good option.

#BookLook #books #ColecçãoVampiro #CrimeFiction #livros #MurderEveryMonday #Policiais

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction with a clock on the cover

For today's #MurderEveryMonday I found many clocks on the cover. The Verdict of Us All was a recent second hand find. These are short stories by members of The Detection Club in honour of HRF Keating. I have a list of The Detection Club works here and I'm determined to read them all. The problem is it is quite difficult to find some of the older titles so I was really happy to find this one.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2025/12/15/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-with-a-clock-on-the-cover/

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction with a farm animal in the cover

#MurderEveryMonday Crime fiction with a farm animal in the cover

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2025/11/17/murdereverymonday-crime-fiction-with-a-farm-animal-in-the-cover/

#MurderEveryMonday “the man” or “the woman” in the title

Today's #MurderEveryMonday theme is "the men" or "the woman" in the title. I went through the Portuguese #ColecçãoVampiro to find all the titles. We have more men than women.

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/murdereverymonday-the-man-or-the-woman-in-the-title/

#MurderEveryMonday “the man” or “the woman” in the title

Today’s #MurderEveryMonday theme is “the men” or “the woman” in the title. I went through the Portuguese collection Vampiro to find all the titles. We have more men than women. I’m considering the titles in Portuguese, and when different I will write the original title. Also all the titles in Portuguese have “the man” (o homem) or “the woman” (a mulher) as you can see from the photos, but when translating the Portuguese titles into English we must change the order of the words, so it makes sense.

• The powerful man – Michael Spillane (original title: The Deep)
• The man in the bed number 10 – Mary R. Rinehart (original title: The man in lower 10) – read it and liked it
• The sinister man – Edgar Wallace – read and liked it
• Maigret and the man from the bench – Georges Simenon (Maigret et L’Homme du banc) – favourite cover by the artist Lima de Freitas, not sure if I read this one, but usually like Simenon and recommend
• The shadow man – Dashiell Hammett (original title: The thin man)
• Maigret and the man with two women – Georges Simenon (original title: Liberty Bar)
• Maigret and the solitary men – Georges Simenon (original title: Maigret et L’Homme tout seul)

The man in the brown suit and The man in lower 10 were the first titles I remember could do for today’s hashtag. This book by Agatha Christie is not her usually murder mystery, but it is more on the side of adventure novels and I also like she borrowed from her trip with the British Empire Expedition.

There is less “the woman” in the collection.

• Maigret and the vanished woman – Georges Simenon (original title: Chez les flamands)
• The quiet woman – Harry Carmichael (I have read this author as Hartley Howard and liked it, I’m curious about this one. Real name: Leopold Ognall)
• The phantom woman – William Irish (original title: The phantom lady. Read this one a long time ago and liked it)
• The woman that was not missed – Dorothy Simpson (original title: Dead and gone. Can’t remember if I ever read Simpson, although the name rings a bell).

Back to your covers. If you want to participate in #MurderEveryMonday check Kate’s post here.

#AgathaChristie #BookLook #books #classicCrime #ColecçãoVampiro #CrimeFiction #GeorgesSimenon #MurderEveryMonday #readings

For today's #MurderEveryMonday cover of a crime fiction book with a bus, I didn't have many covers, but thought London would never disappoint and it didn't! More at:

https://paulasimoesblog.wordpress.com/2025/11/03/murdereverymonday-cover-with-a-bus/