http://www.njkinnysblog.com/2015/06/b...“Six people were thinking of Rosemary Barton who had died nearly a year ago...” Rosemary Barton, a most beautiful, charming albeit wool headed wealthy woman dies mysteriously by cyanide poisoning on her birthday. Police determine her death to be suicide and the case is closed but did Rosemary committed suicide or was she killed?Supposedly always around, Rosemary is dead but not forgotten and when her husband starts to doubt the police verdict, it's like everything is happening all over again. Secrets are revealed, new revelations made to shock everyone and then people start dying all over again!It is just like Agatha Christie to go and make a simple suicide into a murder mystery that will keep your eyes glued to the book and your mouth open in astonishment. Initially published as a short story named Yellow Iris, I have read Sparkling Cyanide numerous times but the jolt that comes when the mystery is solved is still there even after so many readings. The intense human study and the shocking revelations that she makes in her book about people is enlightening and definitely an eye opener.Do we really know anyone? Even the people we love and whose presence we take for granted like our parents, siblings etc.?“How little you might know of a person after living in the same house with them!” is so true. Just like the new revelations about Rosemary after her death shocked Iris, her younger sister, I was also hard pressed to re-evaluate how much I really know about my loved ones or even myself!The mystery is expertly sketched to keep the reader biting his nails and stressing his mind to determine the solution. I did get a hint about the killer but then was skillfully thrown off track by the author. Proving that she is indeed the Queen of Crime, this murder mystery is one of my favourites and a must-read.The characters take the story forward. Not the events, not the settings but the people. Different personas are sketched and developed and the author shows a varied personality set in this book. Each has a motive to kill and a secret to hide but ultimately who did kill is left for the reader to determine.Colonel Race makes an appearance in this book and while not the only man to solve the case, his assuring presence and intuitive mind had me reliving my adventure with him in The Man In The Brown Suit mystery by Agatha Christie where he made his first appearance. Here the Colonel is mostly in the background but still an important part in solving the case. Rosemary Barton is dead but her character is brought alive by the various narratives by the characters in the book and a new glimpse shed on her character through the clues that come to light. A certain supernatural element is associated with her which is handled so beautifully that it made this murder mystery a step above the other mystery classics.All in all, I absolutely love Sparkling Cyanide and can re-read it any number of times. A full 5 on 5 from me and strongly recommended to everyone. Go read this book. It is not to be missed!
Beautiful, vivacious, wealthy Rosemary Barton died during her 24th birthday party at the upscale restaurant, the Luxembourg, by drinking potassium cyanide in her glass of champagne. It was ruled a suicide due to depression following a bout of flu. Everyone accepted the verdict, though no one would have ever thought she would kill herself. And then her husband George receives two anonymous notes that state that Rosemary did not commit suicide; she was murdered!But who would have killed her? Her cuckolded husband, George? Or how about her younger sister, Iris Marle, who stood to gain Rosemary's fortune should Rosemary die childless? And then there were the two other men in Rosemary's life; the mysterious Anthony Browne, and the up-and-coming MP, Stephen Farraday. One of them had been her lover, and maybe murder was his way of breaking off an affair with a woman who did not want to let go. Or perhaps it had been Stephen's aristocratic wife, Alexandra. Lastly, there was George's ever faithful secretary, Ruth Lessing, who perhaps had hopes of marrying the boss should Rosemary no longer be in the picture. If Rosemary had not committed suicide, it had to have been one of these people who had been at the birthday party, and who all had reasons to want Rosemary dead.For the most part, I really enjoyed this book, originally published in 1945 (in the U.S. as Remembered Death) . Told from shifting POVs, we learn about these six people who are all suspects in Rosemary's murder, for Rosemary had indeed been murdered. We learn that Rosemary was selfish and vacuous, and really not very likable for all that she had been loved. However, I had to take two stars away from my rating of this book because of the solution to the mystery of the second murder in the book. It seemed to me to have a huge gaping hole in it, and so I just didn't buy it. But except for this, an otherwise enjoyable book.
What do You think about Sparkling Cyanide (2015)?
In 1939, Agatha Christie published a short story featuring Hercule Poirot, entitled "Yellow Iris." A few years later, she expanded the story into this excellent novel, changing the detective to Colonel Race. Having read the story before the novel, I immediately recognized the similarity of the setup (right down to the name Iris). I assumed, therefore, that I knew how the murder was done, and in fact that aspect remains the same. However, if you think that reading the story will make it pointless to read the novel, think again! The murderer is someone completely different, and I was wrong in my suspicions and shocked at the ending. I know it's a 5-star Agatha when she reveals the murderer and I smack myself on the forehead and yell, "Holy crap!" out loud. Sparkling Cyanide is such a novel. I was blindsided by the ending, immediately kicked myself for not seeing it, and went back to re-read earlier passages that contained clues--or significant omissions, for there is a touch of Roger Ackroyd-style omission here. Sparkling Cyanide is one of my favorite Christie titles, by the way: it suggests the glamour of the elegant 1930s nightclub where the murder takes place, and certainly the idea of cyanide in the Champagne is a dramatic and memorable one. I also have to give Dame Agatha credit for introducing me to the verb "cyanosed" (i.e., killed via cyanide), which I now want to work into a conversation sometime. I think it might supersede "defenestrate" as my new favorite violent verb. This is one of the novels I will keep and re-read, as knowing the solution does not diminish its style and the bravado with which Dame Agatha carries it off.
—Laurel Young
Sparkling Cyanide begins with 18-year-old Iris Marle reminiscing about the suicide of her sister Rosemary at a dinner party. Because this is Agatha Christie, the suicide is really a murder in disguise. When Iris reminiscence about the different dinner guests and how ghastly it all was, what she is doing is introducing the suspects. The narrative then switches the point-of-view of another of the party guests. Each one remembers Rosemary, and the scene is set for the solving of a murder.This is not a Poirot or Miss Marple, so there is no regular detective to unravel the clues. Instead, investigating is headed by Colonel Race (a minor character from other books) and it is nice to see him again. The sudden appearance of an intelligence agent is a bit of a coincidence, but I’ll give it a pass because I like the character. I especially liked the minor character Lord Kiddenmeister. As usual, the mystery is good and the characters sympathetic and believable.
—Caroline
I believe it was Ogden Nash who wrote "One Christie book is as good as a lib'ry," and I have to concur. I'm sure I've read all the books Agatha Christie published under that name (skipping the Mary Westmacott titles) and yet I can only remember the plots and the culprits in a few obvious ones. So I didn't mind rereading this book (which has two titles) for an online book discussion. Remembered Death (or Sparkling Cyanide opens almost a year after the shocking death of Rosemary Barton at her birthday party in a posh London restaurant. Various people in her life -- her sister, her husband, her husband's secretary, and two men, one of whom may have been her lover -- were present at the death and are now remembering Rosemary. Her husband, in particular, has come to question whether her death really was the suicide that the inquest decided.There is not really a detective as such in this book. Colonel Race, a character who appears in a few other Christie novels, does put in an appearance, but he really doesn't solve the crimes -- for there will be another death in the story. (By the way, this book was remade into a Poirot for the British TV series.)The plot, and especially the murder method, may seem a bit farfetched or even incredible to many readers. Christie does make use of a favorite device, having the murdered be an overlooked person. The descriptions of upper- and upper-middle-class England between the wars are those we have come to expect from Christie. The strength of this book is in the characters, and especially in how, through their interior monologues, Christie is able to make us suspect each one in turn and believe each of them capable of murder under the right circumstances. For this reason alone, I felt it was worth the re-reading and, as usual, Christie surprised me again when the culprit was revealed.
—Nikki
