Sparkling Cyanide

Infobox Book |
name = Sparkling Cyanide
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust-jacket illustration of the US (true first) edition. See "Publication history" (below) for UK first edition jacket image.
author = Agatha Christie
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Crime novel
publisher = Dodd, Mead and Company
release_date = February 1945
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 209 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Death Comes as the End
followed_by = The Hollow

"Sparkling Cyanide" is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1945 under the title of "Remembered Death" [http://home.insightbb.com/~jsmarcum/agatha45.htm American Tribute to Agatha Christie] ] and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the December of the same year under Christie's original titleChris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. "Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions". Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)] . The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at eight shillings and sixpence (8/6).

The book features the recurring character of Colonel Race and was an expansion of a Hercule Poirot short story entitled "Yellow Iris" which had previously been published in issue 559 of the "Strand Magazine" in July 1937 and in book form in "The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories" in the US in 1939. It was published in the UK in "Problem at Pollensa Bay" in 1991. The full-length novel omits the character of Poirot.

The novel uses the basics of the short story, including the method of the poisoning, but changes the identity of the culprit(s) - not for the first time, when Agatha Christie rewrote her own work.

Plot summary

One year ago on November 2, seven people sat down to dinner. One of them, Rosemary Barton, never got up. Now, the group gather again for dinner (Iris' birthday party) all suspicious, and one of them a murderer. This dinner has been planned by Rosemary's husband, George. He is suspicious and plans this repeat dinner to catch the criminal. However, the murderer cunningly poisons him.
The list of suspects is large, including Rosemary's sister, Iris whose possible motive is gaining Rosemary's fortune; a semi-important political figure, Stephen Farraday, with whom Rosemary was having an affair; his wife, Sandra, who knew of the love affair between Rosemary and her husband; Anthony Browne, another adorer of Rosemary; and Ruth Lessing, George's secretary, who loved George and disliked Mrs. Barton. After George is poisoned, Colonel Race, an acquaintance of George, looks into the case. Anthony Browne even helps. Finally, the murderers are revealed to be Ruth Lessing and Victor Drake, one of Rosemary's cousins.

Literary significance and reception

The book was not reviewed in "The Times Literary Supplement".

Maurice Richardson, in the January 13, 1946 issue of "The Observer" wrote, "Agatha Christie readers are divided into two groups: first, fans like me who will put up with any amount of bamboozling for the sake of the pricking suspense, the close finish, six abreast, of the suspect race, and the crashing chord of the trick solution; second, knockers who complain it isn't cricket and anyway there's nothing to it.
Fans, I guarantee will be quite happy with "Sparkling Cyanide", a high income group double murder, first of wayward smarty Rosemary, second of dull husband George at his lunatic reconstruction-of-the-crime party. It is too forced to rank with her best Number One form, but the suspect race is up to scratch and readability is high. Making allowances for six years of spam and cataclysm, quite a credible performance." ["The Observer" January 13, 1946 (Page 3)]

An unnamed reviewer in the "Toronto Daily Star" of February 24, 1945 said, "Suspense is well maintained and suspicion well divided. While this mystery lacks Hercule Poirot, it should nevertheless please all Agatha Christie fans, especially those who like the murders in the fast, sophisticated set." ["Toronto Daily Star" February 24, 1945 (Page 16)]

Robert Barnard: "Murder in the past, previously accepted as suicide. Upper-class tart gets her come-uppance in smart London restaurant, and husband later suffers the same fate. Compulsively told, the strategies of deception smart as a new pin, and generally well up to 'forties standard. But the solution takes more swallowing than cyanided champagne." [Barnard, Robert. "A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie" - Revised edition (Page 205). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0-00-637474-3]

Film, TV and theatrical adaptations

In 1983, CBS adapted the book for television, set in the modern day, and without Colonel Race.

In late 2003 it was loosely adapted for ITV1, again in a modern setting, and involving a football manager's wife's murder. In this adaptation Colonel Race was renamed Colonel Reece, and given a partner, Dr. Catherine Kendall. The byplay between Reece and Kendall was somewhat similar to Christie's characters Tommy and Tuppence.

Publication history

* 1945, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), February 1945, Hardback, 209 pp
* 1945, Collins Crime Club (London), December 1945, Hardback, 160 pp
* 1947, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback (Pocket number 451)
* 1955, Pan Books, Paperback, 159 pp (Pan number 345)
* 1955, Pan Books, Paperback, (Great Pan 156)
* 1960, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 160 pp
* 1978, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 358 pp ISBN 0708902235

The novel's first true publication was the serialisation in "The Saturday Evening Post" in eight instalments from July 15 (Volume 216, Number 3) to September 2, 1944 (Volume 217, Number 10) under the title "Remembered Death" with illustrations by Hy Rubin.

The novel was first serialised, heavily abridged, in the UK in the "Daily Express" starting on Monday, July 9, 1945 and running for eighteen instalments until Saturday, July 28. The first instalment carried an uncredited illustration [Holdings at the British Library (Newspapers - Colindale). Shelfmark: NPL LON LD3 and NPL LON MLD3.] .

References

External links

* [http://us.agathachristie.com/site/find_a_story/stories/Sparkling_Cyanide.php "Sparkling Cyanide"] at the official Agatha Christie website
*imdb title|id= 0086348|title=Sparkling Cyanide (1983)
*imdb title|id= 0382310|title=Sparkling Cyanide (2003)