The Secret of Chimneys
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| The Secret of Chimneys | |
 Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition |
|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Percy Graves |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Bodley Head |
| Publication date | June 1925 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 310 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | The Road of Dreams |
| Followed by | The Murder of Roger Ackroyd |
The Secret of Chimneys is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in June 1925[1] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year[2]. It introduces the characters of, among others, Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)[3] and the US edition at $2.00[2].
Christie later used the "Chimneys" mansion, along with some of the characters in this book in the 1929 novel The Seven Dials Mystery.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
 |
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Bulawayo. Of all places for Anthony Cade to run into his old friend Jimmy McGrath! But then again, for men with as much in common as they had — both adventurers and soldiers of fortune, both sharing a taste for good whiskey, lovely women, and all things exotic—maybe a chance meeting in the Rhodesian bush was not quite as astonishing as it at first seemed.
Always ready with an interesting yarn or an intriguing offer, McGrath had one of each for his friend Anthony Cade. Paris, a few years back: Jimmy McGrath was walking alone in a deserted area of the city when he happened upon a group of French toughs beating up a helpless old gentleman. Just to even the odds, Jimmy took the old gent's cause, thrashed the attackers, and sent them running. He was then amazed to find that the old man was none other than Count Stylptitch of Herzoslovakia. Why, even those who had never heard of Herzoslovakia had heard of the Count—master diplomat and kingmaker, the "Grand Old Man of the Balkans."
Jimmy had thought the chapter ended, but he recently read that Count Stylptitch had died in Paris and received in the mail a parcel containing the old man's memoirs. Along with the manuscript came an advisory staring that a thousand pounds would be awarded him upon delivery of it to a certain publisher in London. So much for the story, now for the offer; Even though Jimmy McGrath could put the extra loot to good use, he had it from a good source that there was gold to be found at a particular location in the African interior. When compared with a lode of gold, a thousand pounds paled to a paltry sum. But rather than drop the deal, how would Anthony Cade like to act in Jimmy's stead?
Cade reflects momentarily. Why would anyone want a package sent from Paris to London via Africa? The tale and the proposal are just enigmatic enough to court his attention. They toast to the deal. Herzoslovakia, though it was not a great power, Cade knows enough of its recent history to find it an interesting parcel of real estate. The last of the Obolovitch rulers, King Nicholas IV had fallen in love with a Parisian actress named Angéle Mory — a woman of alleged moral turpitude—and had tried to dupe his people into believing that she was of Romanoff descent. The final affront came when the king had the temerity to marry this parvenu tart and proclaim her Queen Varaga of Herzoslovakia. That little maneuver not only cost the royal couple their thrones (by way of a republican revolution), but it also cost them their lives (both were mutilated beyond recognition on the palace steps).
Though he was put out of work along with the Obolovitch dynasty, Count Stylptitch continued to wield considerable influence over world affairs and pined for the day when the monarchy would be returned to Herzoslovakia. If one believed what one read in the newspapers, the Herzoslovakian romance with republicanism had quickly soured and there was a strong movement within the country to find another king. Poor Count Stylptitch — dead barely months before seeing his dream realized. Before the two friends parted company, Jimmy McGrath had a small favour to ask of his old friend. It seems that several months ago, in Uganda, Jimmy had saved the life of one "Dutch Pedro," which was a pointless thing to do since Pedro died of fever shortly thereafter anyway.
However, before he died, he managed to repay his debt to Jimmy by passing on to him the letters with which he had been blackmailing an Englishwoman by the name of Virginia Revel. Blackmail was too foul a business for Jimmy's sensibilities and he asked his friend Cade to relieve the poor lady's mind by giving her the letters. Well, Cade would be in the neighbourhood anyway. It was only a small favor to ask of a friend.
All goes swimmingly until Cade arrives in London and is met at his hotel by the man with the unpronounceable name: Baron Loloprotjzyl. ("lollipop" is Cade's best approximation). The Baron claims to represent a Herzoslovakian royalist faction in London and is concerned that publication of the memoirs would prove to be an encumbrance to their plan of putting Prince Michael Obolovitch on the throne. Prince Michael, he explains, already had been assured of Britain's backing in his bid. Beyond his simple appeal to Cade's patriotism, the baron tries to sweeten the deal by offering Cade twice what he would receive from the publisher. Attractive as the deal might have been. Cade has to turn it down; after all, he has given a promise to his friend Jimmy McGrath. There is his honor as an Englishman to consider, as the baron is fond of stating.
Cade's next visitor is less courtly. He is not even polite enough to identify himself by name. Announcing himself simply as a member of the Comrades of the Red Hand, he invades Cade's suite and plainly demands the manuscript. The Comrades of the Red Hand are a picturesque, if by and large ineffectual, radical political group. Having done their feeble best to oust the Obolovitch dynasty, they are determined to see that it does not reappear in Herzoslovakia. But, Anthony Cade is not a man to take anyone's demands seriously, and when the ill-mannered intruder draws a revolver to back up his threats Cade answers it with a well-aimed kick. Hardly worth the effort of a chase, the man is left to flee in pain down the hotel corridor.
That night, Cade awakens to the sound of a rustling in his hotel room. He springs from his bed. switching on the light as he does so. The man kneeling by his suitcase he recognizes as a hotel waiter named Giuseppe, and before Cade can demand an explanation, Giuseppe is at him with a knife. Once again, someone has underestimated Anthony Cade, and after a brief scuffle the attacker is disarmed. However, before Cade can immobilize him, Giuseppe escapes—not only with his life, but with the letters meant for Virginia Revel.
After depositing the manuscript with the appropriate publishing company, Cade thinks himself duty-bound to at least proffer an explanation to the poor lady at 487 Pont Street. Virginia Revel is a tall, statuesque woman of twenty-seven. Bright, charming, and vital, she is also self-possessed and utterly in charge of her life. Had he known her beforehand. Cade might not have been surprised when, before he can explain the purpose of his mission, she vexes him with a polite request. Would he care to help her dispose of the dead body slumped in a chair in her study?
Does she recognize the deceased? Certainly she does. It is the same fellow who had tried to negotiate a blackmailing scheme with her only days before. Cade also recognizes him; it is Giuseppe who had tried to knife him while burgling his hotel room. Whoever killed him saw to it that he was picked clean of any identification. All Cade can find is a small scrap of paper caught in the lining of one pocket. The message scrawled on it is terse enough: "Chimneys 11:45 Thursday." Virginia Revel has an appointment to visit Chimneys this very evening. Could it be possible that somebody, or some persons, intend to prevent her from keeping that appointment? There is another curious item — the murder weapon on the floor next to the chair. Though Virginia Revel disclaims any knowledge of weaponry, the pistol used clearly has the name Virginia engraved on it. It is too obvious a clue for a man used to dealing in the most Byzantine intrigues, and anyway, it is bad form to turn one's back on a lady in distress—especially a beautiful lady. Anthony Cade has no choice but to accept Virginia Revel's entreaty to become her bodyguard on her visit to Chimneys.
Chimneys is a country estate in Berkshire. It is 11:45 in the evening when Anthony Cade arrives there (after having first disposed of Giuseppe's body and the murder weapon as professionally as he can). Everything is dark and quiet. Suddenly there a shot. It seems to come from the room occupied by Count Stanislaus of Herzoslovakia, but Cade cannot be sure. Maybe he has just imagined the shot—quite understandable in view of his adventures these last few days. Cade notices a light go on, then off, in the room of Mademoiselle Brun, the French maid. Morning. The tinkle of silverware mixes with the buzz of earnest conversation as the visiting: notables gather for breakfast and discuss the scandalous events of the previous night. Someone has, in fact killed Count Stanislaus.
Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard, an unflappable veteran detective, assures Lord Caterham that he will be discreet in his investigation. Aiding Battle will be Inspector Lemoine of the French Surete who has crossed the Channel in search of the infamous jewel thief "King Victor."
However, a most startling revelation is made by a member of the foreign office, the Honorable George Lomax. It seems that Count Stanislaus was merely an incognito; the murdered man was in truth none other than Prince Michael Obolovitch, pretender to the throne of Herzoslovokia.
The plot is thickening for Anthony Cade but he is determined to stick around until the end. It appears there is more to these Chimneys than just a few whiffs of smoke.
[edit] Literary significance and reception
The Times Literary Supplement reviewed the novel in its issue of July 9, 1925 and after setting up the story stated favourably that "there is...a thick fog of mystery, cross-purposes and romance, which leads up to a most unexpected and highly satisfactory ending".[4]
The novel was not reviewed in The New York Times Book Review
The Observer of June 28, 1925 said, "Mrs. Christie plunges lightheartedly into a real welter of murders, innocently-implicated lookers-on, Balkan politics (of the lighter Ruritanian kind), impersonators, secret societies, ciphers, experts, secret hiding-places, detectives (real and pretended), and emerges triumphantly at the end, before her readers are too hopelessly befogged. Nobody is killed who matters much. The right people marry, after it all, having first endeared themselves to us by their frivolous attitude to the singularly animated doings around them." The reviewer concluded that Christie's, "ingenuity and clear-headedness are really remarkable."[5]
The Scotsman of July 16, 1925 began, "Despite Herzoslovakian politics and a background of oil and finance, this new novel by Agatha Christie gets a grip of the reader when it comes down to the business of disposing of a corpse, innocently come by but not to be repudiated without danger of grave scandal." and went on to say, "It is an exciting story with a bewildering array of potential murderers and a curious collection of detectives, amateur and professional, and with a crook of international importance and (alleged) consummate ability." The review concluded: "There is more than murder in this story; there is a treasure hunt in it, not for gold but a diamond, and the story is suitably staged for the main part at Chimneys, that historic mansion whose secret will be found in Chapter XXIX, though the wise in these matters may have discovered it a little earlier"[6].
Robert Barnard: "If you can take all of the racialist remarks, which are very much of their time, this is a first-class romp, all the better for not being of the 'plot to take over the world' variety. It concerns the throne and crown jewels of Herzoslovakia, and combines such Hope-ful (sic) elements with bright young things and some effective caricatures. By far the least awful of the early thrillers."[7]
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The Secret of Chimneys was adapted by Christie into a stage play in 1931 but its planned performance was cancelled. The manuscript was lost until 2001 when a copy surfaced in Canada where it received its world premiere on October 16, 2003.
[edit] Publication history
- 1925, John Lane (The Bodley Head), June 1925, Hardback, 310 pp
- 1925, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), Hardback, 310 pp
- 1947, Dell Books (New York), Paperback (Dell number 199), 224 pp
- 1956, Pan Books, 1956, Paperback (Pan number 366), 222 pp
- 1958, Pan Books, 1958, Paperback (Great Pan G106)
- 1958, The Bodley Head, 1958, Hardback, 224 pp
- 1978, Panther Books, 1978, Paperback, 224 pp
- 1989, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), 1989, Paperback, 272 pp
- 2007, Facsimile of 1925 UK first edition (HarperCollins), November 5, 2007, Hardcover, ISBN 0-00-726521-2
This was the last novel published under Christie's six book contract with the Bodley Head which had been agreed back in 1919. Christie had signed without literary agent representation and had come to resent its terms which she stated were unfair.[8] Her future books in the UK were all published by William Collins & Sons (with the sole exception of The Hound of Death) once a new and more favourable contract had been signed with them by her newly-appointed agent, Edmund Cork of Hughes Massey. Cork became a lifelong friend.
This novel was much admired by her future mother-in-law, Marguerite Mallowan, who penned a note in a leather-bound copy she commissioned of this book together with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Hollow. The note read "Passing a bookshop while I was in Paris in 1932, I bought The Secret of Chimneys, now almost unobtainable. I had just heard of Agatha Christie. Though not a reader of detective stories, her book captivated me so much that I never left it until I had finished it. Soon after she married my son, whom she had met in Mesopotamia while he was working under Sir Leonard Woolley. Later I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd which, I think, made her reputation universal. Lastly came The Hollow, a book dear to me as revealing her artistic, simple and sincere temperament. This is the reason for my choice of these three books to be bound together. I wish them to be a testimony of my admiration for her art, and above all, of my gratitude for her loving kindness through all the years I have known her". The copy of the book was sold at auction in September, 2006[9].
[edit] Book dedication
Christie's dedication in the book reads:
"To my Nephew. In memory of an inscription at Compton Castle and a day at the Zoo".
The ‘nephew’ is James (Jack) Watts (1903 – 1961), the son of Christie’s brother-in-law and sister James and ‘Madge’ Watts. Christie became very close to her nephew after his birth when she was thirteen and joined her mother in looking after him at his home, Abney Hall when her sister and brother-in-law went on skiing holidays to St Moritz and at Christmas[10], memories of which she writes enthusiastically about in the foreword to her 1960 collection of short stories The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. The reference to Compton Castle and the zoo are obscure. It is possible that the house “Chimneys” is based on Compton Castle but Abney Hall is equally a probability. Christie gives no description of “Chimneys” in the book, merely stating that “Descriptions of that historic place can be found in any guidebook.”[11]
[edit] Dustjacket blurb
The dustjacket front flap of the first edition carried no specially written blurb. Instead both the front and back flap carried adverts for Christie’s five other Bodley Head books together with one or two short quotes from reviews for those books.
[edit] Comic strip adaptation
The Secret of Chimneys was released by HarperCollins as a comic strip adaptation on August 20, 2007, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Laurence Suhner. ISBN 0-00-725059-2
[edit] References
- ^ Announcement in The Publishers' Circular and Booksellers Record June 3, 1925. Volume 122, No 3076, Page 733
- ^ a b American Tribute to Agatha Christie
- ^ Vanessa Wagstaff and Stephen Poole: Agatha Christie: A Readers Companion (Page 41). Aurum Press Ltd, 2004. ISBN 1-84513-015-4
- ^ The Times Literary Supplement July 9, 1925 (Page 466)
- ^ The Observer June 28, 1925 (Page 7)
- ^ The Scotsman July 16, 1925 (Page 2)
- ^ Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie - Revised edition (Pages 204-5). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0-00-637474-3
- ^ Christie, Agatha. An Autobiography. (Pages 317-8). Collins, 1977. ISBN 0-00-216012-9
- ^ Shotsmag the best ezine for crime and mystery fiction (Latest News)
- ^ Morgan, Janet. Agatha Christie, A Biography. (Page 36) Collins, 1984 ISBN 0-00-216330-6
- ^ Christie, Agatha. The Secret of Chimneys. (Page 95) The Bodley Head, 1926. No ISBN
[edit] External links
- The Secret of Chimneys at the official Agatha Christie website
