
Determining the perpetrator and his net is not an easy task even with the arrival of M. However, there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. But there is another murder and Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard arrives with his quiet yet penetrating demeanour prepared to solve the crime. Through a series of circumstances, Anthony finds himself rescuing a young woman, burying a dead body, hiding a murder weapon, and then as a guest at Chimneys, the famous country home of Lord Caterham, a man who is hosting a Balkan entourage from Herzoslovakia. To begin with, in Zimbabwe, Anthony Cade, a nomadic, restless, adventurous young man is trusted by his friend to take sensitive memoirs of an important Herzoslovakian political figure to a publisher in London, along with incriminating letters written by a woman named Virginia Revel.


The Secret of Chimneys is a hodge-podge of locations, crimes, characters, and expected behaviour, with a grande dose of a fictional country and political intrigue thrown into the mix. Being so used to Poirot and Miss Marple, I thought those types of mysteries comprised the majority of her works, but obviously during her earlier career she set sail on a different course and the focus on her two famous sleuths came later. Well, what an extraordinary silly book!! I must say I’ve been somewhat taken aback by the early works of Agatha Christie. Written at: during a trip to South Africa, etc.

Setting: Bulawayo Zimbabwe, London, Chimneys Detective: Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard
