The Man in The Brown Suit - Agatha Christie (1924)

I've read about twenty books of Agatha Christie and found out that her books usually has slow and rather boring plot. What's most thrilling is usually only on the last forty pages when the truth is being revealed. Well, The Man in The Brown Suit is different! It has been thrilling and exciting since the prologue. It spent me only two days to finish it, a brand new record for me finishing a book of Agatha Christie series.

The prologue is about a Russian dancer Nadina who is as well a spy works for someone called 'Colonel'. 'Colonel' is a dodgy man, he is involved in many crimes yet he is so cunning that nobody knows and can capture him. He has big influence and can make anybody his scapegoats to run away from his own responsibility. Nadina helps his boss in a diamond robbery in South Africa, and she now tries to trick and backmail him back with the help of her husband.

The story is then centered on Anne Beddingfield, a stubborn, hard-boiled and strongwilled young girl whose archaelogist father has just died of lung disease. His father is her only family left and from now on she has to live her own life. She accidentaly suspects an accident which makes a man with smell of camphor died crushed by a subway. Then a doctor comes to check him, concludes that he has died and left away. An agreement letter to see a house in Marlow is found in his pocket. But our Anne has another evidence from this man, a piece of paper with a writing on it. Not long after this incident, a beautiful young woman is found murdered in a house in Marlow, a place this man ought to be seeing. The caretaker witnesses that not long after the woman comes into the house, there is a young man comes in and then leave with pale face.

Triggered by a curiosity and thirst of a life full of freedom and adventures, Anne tries to solve this case, by following the note, going to place written on it. A voyage journey to South Africa using Kilmorden Castle awaits her.

She meets some people on the ship, suspecting everybody, making friends, falling in love, and endangering herself by deeply involved in the case, confronting with Colonel, and all this case is started by a diamond robbery in South Africa not long ago...

I think the type of the story is pretty similar to "The Big Four". But honestly I like this one, more. It's thrilling and makes you wonder what will happen next. I am amazed by how brave and reckless Anne is, daring to involve herself in such a danger.

This book containts quite much romance, and my conclusion is, everybody has their own matching matte. Wild woman like Anne deserves another wild man after all.

However, I found some irrelevant hints in this book which rather bothers me. Anne Beddingfield's background as a daughter of a professor of archaeology isn't related at all with her upcoming adventures. Her past is interesting but has no use.