Murder Most Cozy
Your Dames on Netflix's Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials and Its Antecedents
Darling Dames Nationals! Happy New Year!
Before Dames Sophie & Margaret dive into enthusiastic yapping about their obsession of the week, a quick note from Dame Karen: In an attempt to make my life a little more analog, to follow through on my resolution to actually start using the bevy of postcards I’ve been hoarding for years, to put something in your physical mailbox that isn’t garbage, to be friendly, and to say thank you to our kind, discerning, exquisitely perspicacious paid subscribers, I’m going to start sending out a postcard to you, every other month for the next year, starting this very month.
If you are, indeed, a paid subscriber and you want a postcard from me every other month, drop us a line at twobossydames@gmail.com with your name (just last initial ok) and mailing address.
What will be on the postcards? Maybe a paragraph from my junior high diary, maybe a little drawing, maybe a poem I like, maybe some stickers, maybe a report on my day, maybe a list of recommended search terms for finding weird and/or beautiful things on eBay, maybe a recipe. (Probably not a recipe.) And you know what, if you’re not a paid subscriber and you still REALLY want postcards, listen, drop a line…this is more for me than it is for you, I bet.
XOXOXO,
Dame Karen
Of Dials Several, Detective Amateur, and Murder Most Cozy
In a beautiful bit of serendipity, both Dames Margaret and Sophie have both been granted access to screeners for Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials, a 3-episode whodunnit full of international intrigue that will be available to Netflix subscribers in the U.S. and U.K. on Thursday, January 15th. (Other regions may have it, too, these two are simply the only ones we could find officially confirmed.)
We’ve watched it all, will be spoiling none of it, and are thrilled to our boots to say that it’s a twisty little charmer that is also respectful of the viewer’s time. Each of the episodes is under an hour long, none feature plot bloat, and there’s exactly as many episodes as there should be.
Sophie will be recapping it for Vulture and Dame Margaret will be sharing her thoughts on it on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, so please check out our work there on Wednesday if you want our complete thoughts, entirely ungirdled by advance access coverage restrictions. But for now, here’s a quick synopsis of the show:
It’s 1925, and Lady Eileen Brent— Bundle to her friends— is a temporarily embarrassed aristocrat, a titled It Girl whose stately home, Chimneys, is crumbling around her and her mother, Lady Caterham. Bundle’s brother Tommy died in battle somewhere in France, and her widowed mother is reduced to renting Chimneys out to a pair of wealthy but hideously gauche industrialists, Sir Oswald and Lady Coote, for the social season. (These parvenus thank the butler for bringing them fresh glasses of champagne; can you imagine?!!!)
Their coarse manners aside, the Cootes’ end-of-season bash is a roaring success, with a guest list combining landed gentry and a host of Foreign Office staffers, right up until the moment that one of the guests turns up dead the following morning. Police believe young Gerry Wade’s death is either accidental or a suicide, but Bundle will have none of it, instead launching her own intrepid investigation and finding herself in a thicket of secrets and lies with international consequences.
Chris Chibnall, of Doctor Who and Broadchurch fame, judiciously updates Christie’s text, preserving all the quaint period detail and suspense while excising some of its period appropriate racism and sexism. Moreover, the series’ first-rate cast make this limited series a genuine treat to watch. Mia McKenna-Bruce (Bundle) and Helena Bonham Carter (Lady Caterham) very capably anchor the ensemble while Edward Bluemel (Jimmy Thesiger) and Alex Macqueen (George Lomax) provide arch comic relief. The plot twists, winds, and digresses zippily along until Bundle gets to the very bottom of what happened to poor Gerry Wade, and why — you could easily watch the entire series in a single afternoon, and both Dame Sophie and Dame Margaret would strongly endorse that choice!
The moment the finale’s credits run, you’ll probably find yourself wishing for more— and that’s where we come in! We hope that our watchalike, readalike, and even playalike suggestions below will scratch the classic mystery itch this series raises.
Watchalikes: A Rogue’s Gallery of Television and Film
Murder She Said and Evil Under the Sun — If an Agatha Christie adaptation has brought you joy, what could be more logical than seeking out yet more Agatha Christie adaptations? The problem is there are a truly staggering number to choose from—thirteen seasons of Poirot alone!— and some of the most obvious options— we’re looking at you, Kenneth Branagh— are pretty dreadful. Therefore, I want to recommend two perfect adaptations that I feel are too little seen: 1961’s Murder She Said, a delightfully screwball adaptation of Christie’s Miss Marple classic 4:50 from Paddington, and 1982’s Evil Under the Sun, the second film in Peter Ustinov’s run as Hercule Poirot, featuring 1980s takes on 1930s fashions that you will not soon forget. — Dame Margaret
Knives Out-iverse (see also: Poker Face) — Rian Johnson’s work owes a great deal to Agatha Christie, from red herrings and actual clues hiding in plain sight to quirky investigative geniuses and quirky characters detangling mysteries in grand locations. (Knives Out can be rented or purchased all the usual places, but its sequels Glass Onion and Wake Up Dead Man are Netflix exclusives). Both seasons of Poker Face are streaming on Peacock) — Dame Sophie
Miss Scarlet, with or without The Duke — When you read the sentence “Eliza Scarlet, a headstrong young woman in Victorian London left penniless after her father’s unexpected death, resolves to take over his detective agency,” you know right away if you’re in for this ride or not. What I can tell you is that, if you’re in, you won’t be disappointed, it’s just as much fun as you’re hoping it will be— even if the titular Duke of Seasons 1-4 leaves somewhat abruptly. — DM
Gosford Park — I would love for someone to direct a season of The Gilded Age in the style of Robert Altman, but until that blessed day arrives, I will comfort myself with a rewatch of this 2000 minor masterpiece. My first Julian Fellowes experience, directed by the then-living and still sharp as a tack Altman, is another classic Murder At A Stately Home tale, given a bit of hybrid vigor with the inclusion of well-drawn and sympathetic characters among the servants. Downton Abbey’s DNA is all over this one, and the cast, including Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Helen Mirren, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Richard E. Grant, Kelly MacDonald, Clive Owen, and Bob Balaban really can’t be beat. (Available to rent or purchase on many services.) — DS
Miss Fisher’s Mysteries — a ride-or-die show for this newsletter! Picture it: Melbourne, Australia, early 1920s. The Right Honourable Phryne Fisher has returned home after serving as a battlefield nurse in The Great War bucking many conventions by declining to live out her remaining decades as a liberal-minded wealthy socialite. Instead she solves murders while drawing to her a found family consisting of a very upright but not rigid maid, two Communist cab drivers, a kind police constable, and one emotionally damaged yet deeply romantic police detective. (The entire series can be purchased digitally or streamed with a subscriptions to niche streaming service Acorn, but Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, the lone feature-length film featuring our intrepid lady detective, can be found on both PBS Passport and Hoopla, a media service you may be able to get for free through your local public library) — DS
Enola Holmes — Millie Bobby Brown stars as Sherlock and Mycroft’s precocious and plucky baby sister in two films where she’s solving mysteries on her own in the big bad city (to her much-older brothers’ unending consternation). I can’t say I recall much beyond those premise details, but that’s more about my brain than the movies themselves. (Both Enola Holmes films are streaming on Netflix. see also: Sherlock, obvs, and its many fellow adaptations such as Elementary and the forthcoming Young Sherlock) — DS
Outrageous — Ok, this is not a murder mystery show, but bear with me: like the fictional Bundle, the six very real Mitford Sisters are beautiful, brilliant, land-rich, cash-poor aristocrats. They were IT Girls, all doing things like divorcing an heir to the Guinness fortune to run off with Britain’s fascist-in-chief, Oswald Mosley (Diana); eloping with one of Churchill’s nephews and devoting her early life to Communist causes (Jessica); becoming one of England’s leading purveyors of comedies of manners (Nancy). The other three sisters did things like become the Duchess of Devonshire (Deborah) and befriend Hitler (Unity). As one apparently does when one is a Mitford! (Included with Britbox) — DS
The Traitors U.K. — Much like Outrageous, this recommendation is not precisely a mystery show, but bear with me: even if believe yourself allergic to reality television, I think watching a bunch of normal British people scheme and deduce amidst a lot of high camp decor and madcap challenges in a castle in the Scottish Highlands will delight you to no end. Some might point you towards the U.S.’s celebrity-laden version of the show, but I think you should start with the U.K. version, especially if you don’t usually traffic in reality TV. What it lacks in hosted-by-Alan-Cumming-and-his-dog-in-preposterous-Alexander-McQueen-outfits it gains in played-by-people-chosen-for-their-Traitors-aptitude-rather-than-their-incidental-minor-celebrity. — DM
Readalikes: A Body of Worthy Fictions in the Library
Agatha All Along, or Which Christies to Try — As with watchalikes, any list of readalikes for an Agatha Christie adaptation simply must include a few Agatha Christie novels. When it comes to the Queen of Crime, it’s easy to get overwhelmed— with 66 detective novels to choose from, knowing where to begin can be a challenge, especially if you’ve already sampled the really famous ones (which I’d say are And Then There Were None, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, and maybe Death on the Nile— all worthy reads). But, if Bundle in particular delighted you, here’s what I would recommend next:
The Secret Adversary and the rest of the Tommy and Tuppence novels except for Postern of Fate, which was the last book she wrote and is not particularly good — Much like Seven Dials, The Secret Adversary pits Bright Young Things against a Vast International Conspiracy in a delicious 1920s setting. But then, unlike any of Agatha Christie’s other recurring sleuths, Tommy and Tuppence age, and each book in the series sees them aiding British Intelligence at different stages of their lives— as young newlyweds (Partners in Crime), as 40-somethings eager to prove they still have what it takes to catch spies (N or M?), as later middle-aged folks contending with care for elderly relatives (By the Pricking of My Thumbs), and as an elderly couple themselves (Postern of Fate). In addition to being full of banter and larks, it’s just fun to watch a couple you like so much go through the stages of their life. — Dame Margaret
Crooked House — Another of Christie’s amateur detectives, romantically entangled with one of many suspects, and probably my favorite non-series Christie novel. The ending to this one really blew my mind the first time, it felt like the platonic idea of a murder mystery solution: I knew I’d been given all the necessary clues but never would have guessed the outcome until it was revealed. And my god, isn’t the Folio Society edition of it gorgeous? — DM
Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, beginning with Clouds of Witness — A lot of people will have you just read the Peter Wismey mysteries that feature Harriet Vane, the mystery author with whom he falls desperately in love, or begin with the book where they meet: Strong Poison. The four Harriet Vane books are insanely good, however reading only them puts you at a disadvantage with Lord Peter himself thereby undermining perhaps the greatest slow-burn love story ever written. Whose Body, the first book in the series, is worth reading, but it’s also front-loaded with enough period appropriate anti-Semitism that I feel it’s better revisited once you’re already sold on Lord Peter. And Clouds of Witness, when he must save his pig-headed elder brother from being hanged for the murder of their flighty younger sister’s unsavory fiancé, is a great way to become sold on Lord Peter. Just wait until he’s turning his gimlet eye upon the Soviet-espousing radicals of 1920s London, you’ll never recover. And you’ll eagerly go on to consume all the Peter Wimsey novels you can lay hands upon. I will never understand why we have only one screen adaptation of these novels— Matt Smith should have optioned them yesterday. — DM
Everything Ever Written by Josephine Tey, beginning with Miss Pym Disposes — This is another place where common recommendations will lead you astray. The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey’s fifth novel featuring her recurring sleuth Detective Inspector Alan Grant, is the only Tey novel that’s consistently in print, and it’s a fun one— a bed-bound police detective turns to historical research after looking at a portrait of the infamous Richard III and placing him “on the bench” (i.e. presiding over a trial as judge) rather than “in the dock” (i.e. as the accused criminal). The thing is, and I say this as someone who read it long before I even knew there were other Alan Grant novels, The Daughter of Time is so much more fun when you read it knowing Alan Grant and all his other recurring compatriots. But The Man in the Queue, Tey’s first outing featuring Inspector Grant, was a little hard for me to get into the first time I read it. In fact, all her Inspector Grant books are a little oddly paced, as mysteries. You’re lost for a long time in the middle and then the solutions can come upon you rather rapidly at the close. But Tey’s characters and dialogue and observation of people is just… the best. And the way I will make you a life-long adherent of her work is by pointing you towards Miss Pym Disposes, a standalone novel wherein an armchair psychologist must help solve a scandal at a girl’s college. Then you want to read Brat Farrar, her other standalone mystery and the best Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never made. After those, no amount of strange pacing in the Inspector Grant books will throw you, and you tear through them with the ravening hunger of a wild beast. Then go back and read them all again, because they’re even better the second and third time through. You’re welcome. — DM
Playalike: The Game’s Afoot!
Mysterium — Do you love the aesthetic suggestion of Clue the Board Game, but wish it wasn’t ultimately kind of boring to play? Then Mysterium is the game for you! As in Clue, you are one of many detectives visiting a rambling mansion where a murder occurred and you must determine who committed it, where in the house, and with what weapon. However, instead of finding out this information by rolling the dice and moving your piece somewhat aimlessly around the board, you are given cards bearing images that hint at the right answers that you must subjectively interpret to find the truth. It’s hard to describe the game, but so, so fun to play. — Dame Margaret
Listen Along: What’s a Detective Without a Trusty Side-Kick?
The Shedunnit podcast with Caroline Crampton — If you are a long-time fan of books from the Golden Age of British Mysteries (roughly 1920-1950) or if Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials has whet your appetite for more, I cannot recommend Caroline Crampton’s Shedunnit podcast highly enough. Focusing especially on the many female mystery writers of this time, Crampton produces tight 30-45 minute episodes on everything from the rules of writing detective fiction to the complex depictions of queer life these novels often contain. There are no bad episodes of Shedunnit and all stand independent of one another, so you can start at the beginning and work your way through without risking clunkers or pick and choose freely based on which episode descriptions pique your interest without diminishing your overall enjoyment of the show. The degree to which this show is Dames-coded is hard to overstate, so my confidence is high that you will enjoy its approach if its subject matter intrigues. — DM
We hope this lengthy but by no means exhaustive list contains some items you enjoy. Please share in the comments your favorite entries into this noble genre.
XOXO/ Dames Sophie and Margaret
Looking forward to postcards and a new Agatha Christie series! What a great January.
Excellent list! I have read/watched most of these. Another show that belongs on this list is Deadloch. If you have ever wondered why most bodies that wash up on shores belong to women, this show successfully flips that script. The men are in danger, and leading the investigation are two female detectives who are perfect foils for each other. It's hilarious and dark and VERY Australian.