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    The Secret of Chimneys: The Official Authorized Edition
    The Secret of Chimneys: The Official Authorized Edition
    The Secret of Chimneys: The Official Authorized Edition
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Secret of Chimneys: The Official Authorized Edition

    Written by Agatha Christie

    Narrated by Hugh Fraser

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    What is The Secret of Chimneys? A young drifter finds out when a favor for a friend pulls him into the heart of a deadly conspiracy in this captivating classic from Agatha Christie.

    Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the center of a deadly conspiracy. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favor has placed him in serious danger.

    As events unfold, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté gradually converge on Chimneys, the great country estate that hides an amazing secret. . . .

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJul 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062233851
    Author

    Agatha Christie

    Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

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    Reviews for The Secret of Chimneys

    4.5/5

    148 ratings37 reviews

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    • 3/5
      In which a country house plays host to international espionage.

      The Secret of Chimneys is an odd little thing. Christie’s 1920s novel output consists of many mediocre thrillers, and this is one of the best of the lot. The household at Chimneys – personified by Wodehousian heiress Eileen “Bundle” Brent - have panache, and – while it’s far from Christie’s greatest strength – she really tries her best to write with a looser, more lively style, in the vein of the better Tommy and Tuppence books. If you only read one Christie thriller, check this one out – and it’s always enlightening to see an established author tackling a different genre. On the other hand, the sparkle, while there, is never particularly brilliant. The “international intrigue” encroaching on the comfortable country-house lifestyle is diverting, but the facts of the case are all a bit broad really.

      Beyond this, Chimneys is one of those rough early novels that reveals an awkwardly racist streak. As with Hergé, and his Tintin series, Christie’s later work would somewhat make up for these youthful indiscretions, and – also like Hergé – an element of this racism and anti-semitism was simply a product of her upbringing in pre-war England. But it colours things nonetheless.
    • 4/5
      The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie - Good

      Always a delight to return to AC for a little reliable comfort reading. Was
      particularly pleased with this one as it is totally different to the TV adaptation to the extent that only a few names and the fact that it was partially set at Chimneys links them.

      Great easy read to hibernate to.

    • 4/5
      This was one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels, combining both mystery and romance. Thought it was great!
    • 5/5
      The best Agatha Christie I remember. Of course , at least one nice (supposedly) person dies, but overall fun, funny and fundamentally a mystery.
    • 4/5
      This is the first of the series ostensibly centered around the character of Superintendant Battle of Scotland Yard. The Secret of Chimneys was written in 1925. This was written about five years before the Marple books and five years after the Poirot books. The main mystery centers around political skulduggery revolving around a fictional Balkan State. Adventure loving Anthony Cade leaves his job as a travel guide to carry some important papers to London. These are the memoirs of a Count who had his fingers in many pies and it is feared that these writings may reveal secrets dangerous to many in government circles. Anthony becomes a target and the fun begins.

      Christie writes with a light touch, quick pace and about amusing characters. This story was fun to read and I look forward to the next in the series. It was interesting to note in the Christie movie with this name Jane Marple was the lead protagonist. I will have to watch it and compare notes. The moguls of the movie business must be positive that not only can Miss Marple have only one hat or we won't recognize her, they must also believe that the public won't accept anything but Poirot and Marple. They may be right, I don't care for Tommy and Tuppence.
    • 4/5
      The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie was a very fun read revolving around revolutionists, royalty, mistaken and false identities, a spectacular missing jewel and, of course murder. Beginning in Africa, the story quickly moves to the stately English manor of Chimneys and follows the escapades of Anthony Cade, international adventurer as he tries to complete his mission of delivering a sensitive Herzoslovakian manuscript of memoirs and a bundle of blackmailing letters. This is the first book that features Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard, and he wisely stays in the background leading a firm and steady hand to the procedures. Along with an assortment of political guests, Battle is assisted by a couple of international colleagues whose main interest is in unveiling the famous thief, King Victor. The murders seem to be almost a side plot as political intrigue and revolution in the fictional Balkan state of Herzoslovakia is the main feature.I think Agatha Christie had a fun time writing this tongue-in-cheek thriller/mystery. She delivers a tale peopled by handsome adventurers, swarthy foreigners, beautiful, calm English ladies, and fuddled English aristocrats. There was a sweet romance included and although the final outcome of the story was no surprise, I enjoyed this very vintage mystery.
    • 3/5
      Occasionally during her career, Agatha Christie produced one-off thrillers, and this is one of them. Anthony Cade is working as a tour guide in Africa when a friend offers him the chance to obtain £1000 by delivering a manuscript to a London publisher, however on arriving in London his life is almost immediately put in danger and he becomes drawn into a series of plots involving an expert diamond thief and the heir to the throne of Herzoslovakia. While this is an entertaining read- not least for what Christie holds back about some of the characters until the very end- it's perhaps a little overlong and flags slightly in the middle.
    • 3/5
      Sort of Agatha Christie does John Buchan (but not as well) - still amusing period detail...
    • 4/5
      HIMNEYS begins in Bulawayo, Africa, when Jimmy McGrath runs across his old friend Anthony Cade. Jimmy has in his possession a manuscript that needs to be delivered to a publisher in London by a particular date. He also has a bundle of incriminating love letters that he wants returned to the person who wrote them. He can't take them himself as he on the hunt for some gold.Cade agrees to take on both tasks, and travels to London by steamer in the guise of James McGrath.One of elements of this story is political intrigue related to the kingdom of Herzoslovakia in the Balkins. Its last king was assassinated seven years earlier and the kingdom has been a republic ever since. However the heir to the throne is attempting to claim it back. The Herzoslovakian links in the story become important because the manuscript is the memoir of a former Prime Minister.The action moves to London and then on to Lord Caterham's country house Chimneys, where a murder takes place. Christie's search for a suitable protagonist continues. THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS marks the appearance of yet another, this time a Scotland Yard detective, Superintendent Battle. He is assigned to this case because of the importance of Chimneys, which is apparently often used as a pleasant meeting place for affairs of state. We are told Battle is a man of "ripe experience", and there certainly seems an attempt to give him a modicum of intelligence, and to allow him at times to be a step or two ahead of others in his understanding and intuition. On the other hand he is often poker-faced and expressionless.Other people who will appear in later novels are Caterham's daughter Eileen (Bundle) and Bill Eversham, a young clerk from the foreign office. Colonel Melrose makes a cameo appearance as the Chief Constable although in later stories and novels he will be the Coroner.The novel is possibly set I think in "real time". There is a reference to European nations rebuilding for the past 7 years, which seems to indicate a passage of time since a cataclysm, possibly the Great War. There is however no other reference to those events. There is also a reference to the previous, assassinated, queen of Herzoslovakia having claimed Romanov connections.Perhaps I am mistaken and the setting is actually in the period just before World War I when the Balkans was in great turmoil. Another point in favour of this earlier period is the reference to Bertillon measurements as a means of identifying a person. These were measurements taken of various parts of the body: a system in common use in France in the late 19th century.This is a novel in which many characters are not who they seem to be, beginning with Anthony Cade who poses as Jimmy McGrath. There are many who are leading a double life, and it becomes difficult for the reader to decide who is on whose side.There are elements in THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS that really don't work all that well. The idea of an arch criminal which first appeared in THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT makes anappearance, as does the idea of conspiracy and secret societies, in this case the Society of the Red Hand. The Koh-i-noor diamond, part of the British Crown Jewels since 1858, makes a puzzling appearance.This is also a novel in which Christie shows that she doesn't really care if the reader has all the information, that we should expect that she will keep cards up her sleeve to be revealed in the final denouement. The novel is full of red herrings, and at the end we ask ourselves if we had enough information to solve the mystery. A pattern that is becoming a trademark in her novels even by this, the 5th one, is that in the final pages the cast of characters will be gathered and all will be revealed.I wouldn't rate this as one of her best novels, although at the time of publication it was well received. It feels rather over-populated with characters, heavily reliant on ideas of conspiracy, intrigue and political upheaval, with some romantic elements.
    • 4/5
      The Secret of Chimneys is the first Christie novel to feature Superintendent Battle, who will, over the course of his career, be the featured detective in two more mysteries, The Seven Dials Mystery and Toward Zero. Battle, however, takes second place to one Anthony Cade, who, when we first meet him, works as a tour guide in Africa. At a bar one day Cade meets an old buddy, James McGrath, who has been tasked with the delivery of the memoirs of the now-dead Count Stylptitch of Herzoslovakia to a London publishing firm. But McGrath has decided to seek his fortune in the gold fields, and offers Cade a tidy sum to go to England with the memoirs and a stash of letters that could be blackmail fodder for an unsuspecting Virginia Revel. Cade is off to England, and finds himself caught up between two sides of a touchy political situation. He also finds that he is a target of some very nasty people who are trying to get both the memoirs and the letters. The situation leads him to a house called Chimneys, the home of Lord Caterham, his daughter Bundle, and various diplomats and others interested in the political situation in Herzoslovakia. Upon his arrival, Cade finds himself as a chief suspect in the death of Prince Michael Obolovitch, the heir to the Herzoslovakian throne and negotiator of British oil interests in that country. Enter Superintendent Battle and the hunt for the murderer begins.As with most Christie novels, there are plenty of suspects, an abundance of motives, and an interesting array of lead characters. Unlike most of her stories, this one is filled with political intrigue, and the reader has to digest the background story of the country of Herzoslovakia before really delving into the mystery. This may be a bit off-putting to regular Christie readers, but it's worth the time and effort to get the story and the list of who's who regarding that nation as it sets an important backdrop to the various criminal activity throughout the book. It is rather complicated and at times convoluted, but still an interesting read, with a lovely twist at the end. If I were a reader who has decided that he or she would like to read through the Christie novels, I would not want to start with this one, since imho, it doesn't deliver the best Christie has to offer. My advice: read through the Poirots and the Marples, then tackle the others for something just a bit different.
    • 4/5
      I wasn't as fond of this one as I was of the second book in this series (probably because I started with that one first) but I just couldn't warm up to either Anthony or Virgina. The book itself was spectacularly written.
    • 5/5
      This is a great example of the madcap kind of mysteries that are more or less romps around the Stately Houses of England, with mysterious strangers, sinister foreigners, bluff Americans, an odd tycoon or film star or two. Always some intrigue and romance thrown in. Sure, it's not exactly hard on the brain, but it is pure escapist fun, and that's why I love this book. Reminds me a bit of The Prisoner of Zenda. Neat little ending.
    • 4/5
      I had completely forgotten this first Superintendent Battle mystery. Quite fun with Balkan politics, international jewel thieves, blackmail and possible impostors, not to mention a murder or two!Hugh Fraser does a marvelous narration.
    • 3/5
      It's a decent book, perfect for weekends, but it's a far cry from some of her previous works.
    • 5/5
      Favourite Agatha Christie book. A Christie classic but with more humour and personality in the characters.
    • 4/5
      Somewhere in Africa, in the 1920s (the book was published in 1925) two friends meet and have a strange conversation about stolen love letters and the memoirs of a famous balkan politician. One of them, Anthony Cade, returns to England intending to give the letters back and see the biography published, however he is visited by a strange man wanting the book and he unexpectedly finds that the letter writer is not what he thought… not to mention that she will involve him in a mysterious death. The Chimneys of the title is the home of the Marquis of Caterham and a favourite place for political reunions much to the current Marquis’ desperation. All the characters will end up there looking for a famous jewel stolen a few years and that is connected with the letters, the biography and the story of a fictional country named Herzoslovakia. When a murder occurs Superintendent Battle is called to Chimneys to investigate all the clues and see if he can not only solve the murder but also unravel the mystery of the stolen jewel. All this in an atmosphere of secret and political intrigue since the happenings may influence Herzoslovakia’s government. The political events mentioned felt very much inspired in what was going on at the Balkans at the time, from the secret society mentioned down to the royal assassination due to a poor choice of a bride and the fragile political balance the governments had.What a lovely story! I spent an afternoon reading it with a cup of coffee by my side. It doesn’t get much better than that.
    • 3/5
      I'm not sure whether it's a spoof of spy novels or an honestly heavy-handed spy novel, but it was good fun.
    • 4/5
      First published in 1925, this is Christie's fifth novel, and it hits on all archetypal cylinders once you get past the number of coincidences that take place in the early, table-setting portion of things. If it all strains credulity too much, just chant "Truth is stranger than fiction" a few times and hope to get past it, as it's a really fun outing that introduces a host of memorable characters, some of whom will reappear in a few years in THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY. In this one, we have a murder at Chimneys, the country house of a minor royal in England. But it's not just any victim; it's the prince who had previously been slated to take the throne of the fictional Balkan country known as Herzoslovakia. It seems that the royal family there had been deposed some seven years earlier, but the populace has rethought things after a difficult go at democracy and wants to restore the monarchy, but now their royal savior is fast approaching room temperature. Enter our hero, Anthony Cade, who does his own snooping while the official investigators do theirs, as well. All works out well in the end, and the police are not viewed as incompetent here, which is a nice change of pace from a lot of mysteries. There is one gaping plot hole that goes unaddressed, but I won't bring it up here for fear of spoilers. It didn't ruin things for me, but it was something that probably should have been handled differently. But it was overshadowed by the many interesting and likable characters, so I won't harp on it. And despite what many Christie critics say about her cheating by withholding critical information, it is not a fair charge here, and the reader can easily solve the murder along with Mr. Cade. On the other hand, some other plot details that reveal themselves in the end come as a surprise and add to the number of coincidences that we were given at the outset. Again, just roll with it and enjoy this early Christie outing as the fun diversion that it is.
    • 5/5
      A delightfully improbable story in which an English adventurer in the middle of Africa is unexpectedly offered two missions by a friend --first, to deliver the memoirs of a somewhat dubious deceased Balkan statesman to his publisher, and secondly to return a packet of indiscreet letters to a lady. This leads to the adventure being invited to a weekend at the stately home Chimneys,where the party includes the charming lady who wrote the letters, and the current pretender to the throne of the deceased statesman's (presently republican) nation of Herzoslovakia (whose history sounds more like Yugoslavia's the Czechoslovakia's -- the late King Nicholas IV is obviously based on a king of Serbia. It also appears in The Labors of Hercules) It turns out a jewel and a jewel thief are also involved. The whole preposterous business is more like The Adventure of the Bloodstained Eggcosy than like the average Christie.A lot of fun. Very unlikely the blurb "It ended when a man's emotions turned a gay and fashionable house party into an unforgettable nightmare of terror and death." Unforgettable, yes. Nightmare, no.
    • 3/5
      This is a fast easy read with interesting characters and complicated plot. Anthony Cade is a bored tour guide in Africa. When offered a chance to get back to England by delivering a hotly sought manuscript to a publisher in London plus deliver some scandalous letters to the woman who wrote them, he jumps at the chance. Soon he realizes that some people are willing to kill for the manuscript and then the letters are accidentally stolen by a manuscript thief.Now he feels responsible to tell the woman her letters have been stolen and when he gets to her address, she is looking at a murdered man in her living room. It also appears that the succession to the throne of a country in the Balkans is behind this murder and others that are to follow. Most of the story takes place in an English country house with its many servants, guests and hidden passages. The police and especially Scotland Yard come out looking very able in this story.My one criticism is that Christie seemed to want to wind this novel up in a hurry and tied up the various hanging mysteries too quickly and neatly.
    • 4/5
      Anthony Cade, a young man seeking adventure, meets an old friend, Jimmy McGrath in Bulawayo. Jimmy wants to go gold prospecting, but has accepted a job conveying a manuscript of potentially damaging political memoirs to its London publisher, and also wants to return a bundle of letters written by a frightened wife to her lover, which a now-deceased man might have intended to use to blackmail her. Anthony agrees to travel to England as James McGrath and fulfill Jimmy's commitments.A stately English country home, British and foreign aristocrats, dead bodies here and there, scandalous memoirs, blackmail letters, a fabulous missing jewel, and an inept but lethal organization calling itself the Comrades of the Red Hand! Great fun.
    • 2/5
      In The Secret of Chimneys one can see the clash of the different kinds of books that Christie wants to write. TSC is partly a modern romance, partly a thriller, partly a detective story and partly a murder mystery. And Christie herself seems quite uninterested in a large part of the story for chapters on end. By the end one feels that everything in the books happened so that this young woman and this young man could meet in a way that allowed each of them to realize just how spectacular the other is. Even the other characters in the book seem to be relatively unconcerned about the various plots and machinations against which this couples meet cute can play out.The convoluted coincidence ridden plot of this book unwinds itself less gracefully than in The Man in the Brown Suit but Christie’s ability to write a man who is attractive to women without making him a thug in a well tailored suit has improved. At least one doesn’t expect that the heroine of this book has settled for what will almost certainly be an abusive relationship.SPOILERLooking back and knowing what history has in store for the exciting Balkan country to which our hero and heroine are heading off at the end of the story one finds it believe that they will have a long or happy married life.
    • 2/5
      A minor Christie mystery. Definitely not her best.
    • 2/5
      Unlike other books, I reacted more strangely than usual in two ways. First, I checked previous reviews here. I had to because there was no guessing how received and how viewed this book was. Secondly, I had personal feelings in the matter of the hero. I almost never feel annoyance or jealousy at a Mary Sue, but here I thought of poor Bill and how he never had a chance. The fact that Agatha Christie tried to give even him a happy ending - that came out wrong - is slightly annoying. The story tried to juggle and awful lot of balls in the air. My rating of it reflects how it all came together. I knew there would be twists galore at the end but still the latter was unsatisfying. This is the longest Agatha Christie story I've read. She didn't yet know how to trim the fat. That would come later. Despite the poor climax, the racial tones, the vile hero, and the meandering red herrings, it was the lack of coziness which determined my final opinion. This book is not Big Four bad, but reserve it when you've exhausted all of the author's classics.
    • 2/5
      In my early teens, some forty years ago now, I encountered Agatha Christie’s novels, and, as is perhaps customary with teenage obsession, started working through them, as if driven to complete the set as quickly as possible. One of the first of her books that I read was this one, The Secret of Chimneys, and at the time I thought it was about as good as literature could get. It features neither Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple (although the recent television adaptation did recast it as one of Miss Marple’s cases), and it isn’t even a true whodunit, being instead a simple thriller, straight out of the John Buchan mould. Certainly all the key ingredients of a boisterous story are there – stolen jewels, beautiful but mysterious women, a stately home and quasi-Balkan intrigue (it was, after all, written just a few years after the end of the First World War when the map of Europe had been redrawn under the auspices of Versailles, and newly-minted states were strewn across the continent) and a handsome, intelligent and boundlessly gallant hero thrown in. Sadly, other clichés of the 1920s shocker are also to the fore, and the book is shot through with casual anti-Semitism manifested through a succession of throwaway remarks from most of the characters.The story does rattle along, and I could see why I enjoyed it so much at the age of thirteen. Forty years on I found it rather irritating. None of the characters displayed any vestige of realism. Of course, one doesn’t read Agatha Christie for her gritty verisimilitude, but this book also lacked her lightness of touch with regard both to characters and plot. It was one of her ealier books, and she was clearly still getting to grips with the genre.
    • 4/5
      Anthony meets an old friend and agrees to deliver an important manuscript to London. He becomes involved in several people's lives and attempts to solve a mystery. Excellent plot, with the usual Agatha Christie surprises.
    • 4/5
      What can I say? I adore Agatha Christie novels and this one was a good story. This is the first Christie novel that I have purchased as an audiobook and I rather enjoyed the story and the narrating was superb. Can't wait to listen to more of her novels.
    • 2/5
      I've been rereading some Agatha Christies, and while some of them are still fun, some are real duds to the eye of the modern reader. This one was made into part of a TV series, with Miss Marple added in, and the plot twisted and rearranged almost beyond recognition. And a good thing, too. This one has the usual upper crust British nobs in a country house, but with lots more xenophobia and racism than Christie usually showed. Cliched Eastern Europeans ("Herzoslovakians") with names too full of consonants, princes and presidents being assassinated, international jewel thieves, shady greasy foreigners of various stripes, deepest darkest Africa, implausible political machinations, incompetent conspirators, etc etc. And oh yeah, there's a murder.It's just too much. One or two of those elements can be quaint; all of them makes an annoying mishmash.
    • 4/5
      This is a fun frothy novel and is everything that The Secret Adversary wasn't. It is very much a novel of its time and is a reworking of the country house murder with romantic overtones. This is a novelist having fun with characters and story and it shows.
    • 5/5
      I liked the story, I liked the characters.... Really liked Lord Caterham, his daughter Bundle, & Inspector Battle. In fact I like Inspector Battell much better than M. Poirot & Miss Marple combines. He's intelligent, quiet (not boastful or misleading), and he has a sense of humor.

      There are three stories here: a jewel thief just out of French prison looking for the original Koh I-noor diamond that is said to be hidden 2 the Chimneys; the infamous manuscript of a well known count that is on its way to publication (but has been stolen), and the death/murder of the next crown prince and his "dead" brother....

      All involved are gathered at the Chimneys, a traditional meeting place of Royalty & political power, much to the consternation of the current Lord Caterham. There are people who are not who the seem, and all except the family have something to hide & gain.

      A very delightful mystery, definitely one of Christie's better books.