Month: January 2023

Currently Reading: Agatha Christie’s “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”

Dawn

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie is currently sitting next to my bed (finished).

Agatha Christie wrote and published The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920. The novel is a mystery set in England during World War I. Hercule Poirot, the novel’s protagonist, is a Belgian refugee living in London. Poirot is assigned to investigate the murder of Emily Inglethorpe, a wealthy woman. To solve the case, Poirot must employ his detective skills. The novel is one of Christie’s most well-known works, and it has been adapted for film and television numerous times.

The title of the novel refers to the mysterious events surrounding Emily Inglethorpe’s death.

When The Mysterious Affair at Styles was first published, it received rave reviews. It was lauded for its masterful plotting and Christie’s use of the detective genre to craft a suspenseful and thrilling story. The book was also hailed for its portrayal of Poirot, who was regarded as a distinct and intriguing detective.

Currently Reading: Agatha Christie’s “The Murder at the Vicarage”

Dawn

“The Murder at the Vicarage” by Agatha Christie is the first in her series of mysteries featuring her famed sleuth Miss Marple. The story opens on a quiet morning in St. Mary Mead, an English village, in which nothing exciting ever happens… until … Colonel Protheroe is shot dead while visiting the vicarage on this particular morning, which is far from calm.

As the police investigate, they immediately discover that there are far too many suspects to go around. Everyone in the village where Miss Marple grew up appears to possess a motive, and no one is safe.

Miss Marple teams up with Scotland Yard’s Inspector Slack to figure out what happened and why. There are numerous speculations as to who may have done it, ranging from Protheroe’s wife to his mistress and everyone else who detested him. Throughout their inquiry, Miss Marple employs her keen abilities of observation and deduction to assist Slack in discovering the truth about what occurred that tragic day at the vicarage.

As with most of her books, I thoroughly enjoyed Agatha Christie’s “The Vicarage Murder.” The novel, which was first published in 1930, offers a look into the often quaint village life. Take that and place it in stark contrast with the vicar’s wife, Griselda’s murder’, and you have a recipe for mystery. The plot is very well-developed, and I had fun figuring out whodunit. I would strongly recommend this novel to Christie fans.

Christie expertly weaves clues and red herrings together, keeping readers guessing until the very end. The Murder at the Vicarage is a classic mystery novel that will appeal to Agatha Christie fans as well as newcomers.

The novel was a huge success upon its initial release and has since gone on to become one of Agatha Christie’s most recognized works. It has been adapted for television multiple times, notably a 1986 version featuring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.

Conditioning Your Old Fimo Until It’s Like New

Dawn

We know that MixQuick belongs in every Fimo artist’s toolbox. But why? If you have ever worked with polymer clay you know that old clay can get hard. Never fear, you can actually save even hardest clay. I had a block I used for a necklace almost six years ago and I got it back to an almost new state.

Here I would like to show you how I do it with the slightly harder Fimo and their MixQuick conditioner.

Like I say, life is too short to knead hard Fimo until it is soft, and you know me, I like to make things as simple as possible!

My favorite little helper when it comes to hard Fimo is my trusty carrot kitchen grater.

I start by laying out some Seran wrap over the counter to catch the crumbs and keep my kitchen safe since polymer clay will eat up certain types of plastic. Then I put the kitchen grater on it and begin grating the hard Fimo. The Seran wrap is important since the crumbs really will go everywhere, and nobody wants a Fimo sprinkle mess.

One disadvantage of the kitchen grater is that you can cut yourself if you aren’t careful like I have in the past. I usually don’t use them unless I have no other option.

Once I have it broken down into a sandy pile I place some chunks of MixQuick around so that it can soften the hard polymer clay. I then wrap it up nice and tight with the ceranwrap and leave it set for at least 24 hours.

Now that you have the hard part done you can begin with the fun part. Kneeding. I usually use a noodle machine for this process but if you Fimo is really hard you might need to work it by hand first until you get a workable mass. THis can be cumbersom and take a long time depending on how much clay you need to condition.

Still, I hope you do not have too much old / hard Fimo laying about because this can be a trying job. But if so just try to have fun with the processing stage, afterall, it is part of the sculpting process!

Oh one more thing when it comes to make your old clay usable again, do not save on the wrong end, buy the MixQuick. It is cheaper than a new block of clay. And do not, I repeat DO NOT come to the idea to use oil or whatever else you may put in there there is no alternative. Imagine how – haha, funny – it would be if you invested your precious time in your expensive Fimo and are too cheap for MixQuick and it just ruins everying. Don’t do that to your Fimo. And certainly do not do that to yourself.

One thing to note, never use more than a third of the overall weight of MQ when you do this, you will lower the quality of the Fimo if you do.

Currently Reading: Agatha Christie’s “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”

Dawn

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a classic Agatha Christie mystery that will keep readers wondering until the very last page. The plot revolves around the investigation into the murder of business tycoon Roger Ackroyd, which quickly becomes more complex than it appears. Christie’s writing is superb, and the novel is chock-full of red herrings and plot twists that will keep readers guessing. Finally, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a thrilling and well-crafted mystery that will appeal to Christie enthusiasts.

I recently finished Agatha Christie’s “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” which was originally published in 1926.

The novel is set in the fictional village of King’s Abbot, which is based on the actual settlement of Great Missenden in the English county of Buckinghamshire. The plot revolves around Roger Ackroyd, a wealthy widower who is assassinated in his study. Mrs. Ferrars, his housekeeper, admits to the murder, but she is subsequently discovered dead in her own home. Inspector Hercule Poirot suspects that there is much more to the matter than meets the eye.

Agatha Christie’s career took a significant turn once she published The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. It was her first major success and branded her as a mystery writer to be reckoned with. Hercule Poirot, Christie’s most famous detective, made his debut in this book as well, making it Christie’s first novel to feature him. Before this, Christie had built her reputation on writing humorous and cheerful love stories and comedies. She demonstrated to the world with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd that she was capable of penning intricate mysteries that were thrilling and kept readers wondering right up until the finale. Due in large part to the success of this novel, Agatha Christie is considered to be one of the best-selling authors of all time.

The novel is a classic murder mystery with numerous twists and turns. Christie does an excellent job at suspense-building and keeping the reader guessing until the end. This is a book I would recommend to everyone who appreciates a good mystery.