Tuesday

The Listerdale Mystery - Book Review


I am reading through the novels of Agatha Christie in the order in which they were written and writing a review on each one.








The Listerdale Mystery



1934



Description



A selection of mysteries, some light-hearted, some romantic, some very deadly…
Twelve tantalizing cases… the curious disappearance of Lord Listerdale; a newlywed’s fear of her ex-fiance; a strange encounter on a train; a domestic murder investigation; a wild man’s sudden personality change; a retired inspector’s hunt for a murderess; a young woman’s impersonation of a duchess; a necklace hidden in a basket of cherries; a mystery writer’s arrest for murder; an astonishing marriage proposal; a soprano’s hatred for a baritone; the case of the rajah’s emerald.
All of these short stories have one thing in common: the skilful hand of Agatha Christie.







My Thoughts



This is the 20th book by Agatha Christie and the 3rd Stand Alone Mystery

It has neither Miss Marple nor Hercule Poirot as the sleuth who solves the mystery.

It is another of Miss Christie's Short Story Complilations consisting of 12 mysteries but I do need to say straight away that I enjoyed this one much more than the last one The Hound of Death as this one is a brighter set of stories in which we have some happy endings and some not so happy endings but also with some humour.

Everyone jokes about how "The Butler did it" and in the first of these short stories there is indeed a butler but I'm not going to tell you if he is guilty or not.

Lot of locations involved here also with trains, cars, large houses, small homes, and lots of different levels of society with ladies, maids, butlers, husbands, wives and lawyers.

As is often the case in a Christie story there are twists and some small (and could be easily missed) things that may catch someone's eye and give the flash of inspiration needed to get to the solution.








A good book to start with if you have not read any Agatha Christie books before.



If you would like to know more about this book then click on the title or picture above.


 Here is a link to a list of her novels on Amazon
Books by Agatha Christie



If thinking of reading this book in the future why not pin this pic to go back to later.





















Monday

Do You Need More Good Kids Resources? - Coffee & Conversation


I have done a lot of children's work for churches over the years and one thing that I always found difficult was to get good resources especially pictures to illustrate the bible stories. 









Some years ago I found  Eikonbibleart  


I was living in Belgium at the time and trying to get more resources for the Sunday School of our church there. 







Finding this site was great as their powerpoint presentations could simply be downloaded instantly and their package deals were very good value. 



Plus the pictures are great.




Once back in Northern Ireland I was downloading again and I was still thrilled with the quality of the pictures and the fact that they were continuing to add more stories on a regular basis.  

If you are involved in children's work or you homeschool your kids then do have a look at this site.

Not only do you get the powerpoint presentations but they also have lesson notes, colouring sheets and puzzle sheets to go along with them.








To me another thing which is so good is that this is a British Company and in fact it is now owned by a guy from Northern Ireland and I think that is great.  


They are also on Facebook  and Twitter so check them out.


A few years ago they brought out a comic book based on the Titanic, it is great quality and very suitable to give to kids in your church, school, neighbourhood or family circle.



They now have other comics too and short films like Becky's Christmas





and not only Bible story visuals but also missionary stories meaning a good variety of illustrative resources to pick from.


For kids work at church or for homeschooling, check out this resource site.






Of course I've left the best to the end 

they even offer some free stuff so make sure you look into it soon.