All About Agatha Christie

"Agatha Christie,
1890.09.15~1976/1/12,
Crime of Queen"

When we think of those famous crime novelists, we will never omit Agatha Christie, whose novels has been translated into at least 103 languages, and were adapted for so many movies. Since her sister read some stories of Sherlock Holmes for her when she was little, she had long been a fan of detective novels. And she was inspired by those detective novels to write her own ones. Although, her sister didn't back her up to write this kind of topic, however, this situation pushed Christie to write detective novels and she would never glance back.







The two main characters in her novels are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. 

David Suchet,
who was cast as Hercule Poirot in
television series since 1989 until
in June,2013. 

Poirot was a long-running character in many of Christie's works, and appeared in 33 novels and 54 short stories. Poirot was a retired policeman from Belgium. He came to United Kingdom as a refugee during WWI and started his second job: a private detective. He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he had a mustache which he is very proud of and take good care of. Also, he had green eyes that were repeatedly described as shining "like a cat's". The neatness of his attire was almost incredible and a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. In addition, among Poirot's most significant personal attributes is the sensitivity of his stomach. Poirot operated as a fairly conventional, clue-based and logical detective and it reflected in his vocabulary by two common phrases: his use of "the little grey cells" and "order and method".

Joan Hickson, 

who played the character in 

all twelve Miss Marple novels, 

and was nominated for 

two BAFTA awards for 

her accurate and charming portrayal

Miss (Jane) Marple was introduced in the short stories The Thirteen Problems in 1927 and was based on Christie's grandmother and her "Ealing cronies". Miss Marple appeared in 12 of Christie's novels. She was an elderly spinster who lived in the village of St.Mary Mead and acted as a consulting detective. The early version of Miss Marple was a gleeful gossip and not an especially nice woman. The citizens of St. Mary Mead liked her but were often tired by her nosy nature and how she seemed to expect the worst of everyone. In later books she became more modern and a kinder person.Miss Marple solved difficult crimes because of her shrewd intelligence, and St. Mary Mead, over her lifetime, has given her seemingly infinite examples of the negative side of human nature. She also has a remarkable ability to latch onto a casual comment and connect it to the case at hand. In several stories, she was able to rely on her acquaintance with Sir Henry Clithering, a retired commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, for official information when required. Miss Marple never married and has no close living relatives. 









The reason why I love her detective novels are that: the stories are very meticulous; you will never know who is the murderer if you don't read until the end. Among her detective novels, I like "And Then There Were None", also named "Ten Little Indians" the most. This novel is widely considered Christie's masterpiece and described by her as the most difficult of her books to have written. It was first published in the United Kingdom on 6 November 1939.


In the novel, ten people are enticed into coming to an island under different pretexts, for example offers of employment or to enjoy a late summer holiday, or to meet with old friends. All of them have been complicit in the death(s) of other human beings but either escaped justice or committed an act that was not subject to legal sanction. The guests are charged with their respective "crimes" by a gramophone recording after dinner the first night and informed that they have been brought to the island to pay for their actions. They are the only people on the island, and cannot escape due to the distance from the mainland and the inclement weather, yet gradually all ten are killed in turn, in a manner that seems to parallel the ten deaths in the nursery rhyme. Nobody else seems to be left alive on the island by the apparently last death. A confession in the form of a postscript to the novel, unveils how the killings took place and who was responsible.


This is the nursery rhyme, which sounds a little bit creepy:


Ten little Indian Boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Indian Boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Indian Boys travelling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.

Seven little Indian Boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.

Six little Indian Boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Indian Boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Indian Boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Indian Boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two little Indian Boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Indian Boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.






Read this novel and you will definitely be charmed into Christie's detective world! 

Galileo ガリレオ

This time, I want to introduce another Japanese television drama, which is named Galileo. This drama is based on a novel, Detective Galileo, which is written by a famous mystery writer,東野圭吾. There are two seasons of this drama and there were also two movies related to the story released in 2008 and 2013. I think this drama is a little bit different from the common detective dramas that we usually think. In this drama, there is no detective in it; in contrast, the two main characters are a rookie police, 岸谷美砂 and an associate professor in Physics Department, 湯川学.

Some interesting parts in season two of this drama.

The main character, 湯川学, is a handsome professor who teaches Physics in 帝都大学. He is a brilliant but eccentric person who is not interested in anything but Physics. He helps the police, 岸谷美砂, to solve the cases only when he thinks that there are somethings interesting. He has some pet phrases such as "さっぱり分からない", which means that it doesn't ring any bells; also "実におもしろい", which means that he thinks it is very interesting; the most important one is "現象には必ず理由がある", which means that everything comes for a reason. He doesn't believe there are supernatural phenomenon 
and impossible things in the world and he thinks that he can use his knowledge from Physics to solve all of them.








The heroine in this drama in season two is 岸谷美砂. She is a rookie police who is very confident in herself and she is sometimes very rude to seniors, such as the assistant of Professor 湯川, who is older than her. When she encounter some difficult and mysterious cases, she will come to Professor 湯川's laboratory to ask for help. However, Professor 湯川 is only interested in what the criminal tactic is, therefore 岸谷 always has to find who is the murderer by herself.









In this drama, there is one funny scene appearing in every episode. When Professor 湯川 thinks of the physical methods that can solve the case, he will gesture his left hand like Fleming's left-handed material in front of his face, and use anything he can get to write Physics formula somewhere around him.

His funny pose

The Physics formula

The reasons why I think this drama worth watching are that each episode talks about different and interesting topics; using Physical method to solve the cases which seem like supernatural
phenomenon at first is quite an innovative idea. In addition, because Professor 湯川 is an odd and rational person and 美砂 is quite perceptual and a little bit noisy, when they get along with each other, their conversations are always very interesting. It is really a great drama that you will totally fall in love with it.

名探偵コナン : ベイカーストリートの亡霊 Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street

The Poster

The second Conan movie that I want to introduce to you is Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street. This movie was released in 2002 and the main part of this movie was set in London in late 19th century. In late 19th century, it was the time when Sherlock Holmes and Jack The Ripper exist. You will know why these two characters are important later.








At the beginning of the movie, it briefly introduces a child prodigy,named 澤田弘樹, who is only ten years old and is able to develop artificial intelligence. After he finished the development of artificial intelligence, he commits suicide. The reason why he commits suicide is that he knows the big secret of his supporter, 湯瑪斯·辛多拉. 辛多拉 is afraid that 弘樹 will tell everyone that he is the descendant of Jack The Ripper and this scandal will have a big impact on his own business, so he keeps monitoring 弘樹. In the end, 弘樹 can't stand this kind of life, and then commits suicide.

After two years of 弘樹's death, 辛多拉's game company holds a demonstration of a virtual reality game, called Cocoon. Conan, 毛利蘭 and Detective Boys are also invited to the demonstration. Before the game starts, in another room, the inventor of Cocoon, 樫村忠彬, is killed by someone. When Conan tries to find some clues to help him know who is the murderer, he finds the dying message on the keyboard: J-T-R. Conan thinks these three letters is the abbreviation of Jack The Ripper. To understand what was the victim trying to convey, Conan decides to play the game and then gets some clues about the murder by going back to 19th century.








When the demonstration begins, 弘樹's artificial intelligence system, named Noah's Ark, takes control of the game system Cocoon. It tells the audience that if all fifty kids in the Cocoon lose the game, it will kill the kids with a large electromagnetic burst. Hence, every kid should chooses the stage that they can survive easily. Because Conan likes Sherlock Holmes very much and he wants to be in contact with him to know much more about Jack The Ripper, Conan,蘭 and Detective Boys all choose the stage of London in late 19th century. 









At first, they go to Baker Street 221B to find Sherlock Holmes, however, Sherlock Holmes and Dr.Watson are not in London by chance. So they just skim through some documents about Jack The Ripper that Sherlock Holmes had collected and then go to find Professor Moriarty. Moriarty tells them that he will request Jack The Ripper to kill someone at someday and he will post this information on the newspaper so that they can arrest Jack The Ripper at that place.

After they successfully save Irene Adler, whom Professor Moriarty planned to kill, they follow after Jack The Ripper onto the train. They have a fight with Jack The Ripper on the roof of the train. Before Conan is killed by Jack The Ripper, 蘭 saves his life by jumping off the cliff with Jack The Ripper. (because Jack The Ripper tied his leg together with her leg.) In the end, Conan successfully solves the case and saves everyone's life. In the meanwhile, his father, 工藤優作, 
also knows who murdered 樫村忠彬.

蘭 thinks of one words that 新一 had told her before she decides to jump off the cliff, which is "If I were assured of the former eventuality I would, in the interests of the public, cheerfully accept the latter." I was so touched when I saw this scene, and I so admired her courage.













Briefly introduce some important character:

湯瑪斯·辛多拉, who is 弘樹's foster father, indirectly leads to 弘樹's death and murders 樫村忠彬. He is the descendant of Jack The Ripper, and he tries to cover up this secret.

樫村忠彬, the designer of the virtual reality game, who is 弘樹's father. 

澤田弘樹, a talented ten-year-old boy, all he can do everyday is working and working, so he didn't have the opportunity to play with other kids. In addition, the main reason why he interferes in this game is that he wants those children who come from wealthy family to be more independently and to make Japan better.

Hope you will like this movie, too!

名探偵コナン 瞳の中の暗殺者 Detective Conan: Captured In Her Eyes

When someone asks of my favorite manga or animation, I will tell them that I love Detective Conan the most. Therefore, this time I am going to share one of my favorite Conan movies with you.

Detective Conan: Captured In Her Eyes is the fourth Conan movie and it was released in 2000. Although I didn’t have the chance to watch it in the movie theater, I borrowed the DVD from the video rental shop, and even watched it on television for several times. Before I introduce the story of this movie to you, I would like to talk about the title of this movie first. The title of this movie is “Capture in Her Eyes” which can be translate to “瞳孔中的暗殺者” in Chinese, and in this movie there is a special meaning of this title: The heroine is the only person who sees the assassin; as a result, the assassin is trying to kill her to keep her mouth shut.

The story is start from the death of two police officers in succession and both of them are related to a one-year-before case, which is about a doctor’s suicide. Besides the two policemen, one of the policewomen, named佐藤美和子also involved in it. Hence, she might be the next target to be killed.

During the wedding of one of the policemen’s sister, the murderer comes to the wedding and uses the device that he prepared in advance to turn off the light and comes into the toilet and to shoot佐藤刑警. In the same time the heroine, named毛利蘭, is also in the toilet, when she tries to use the flashlight to light up the room, unfortunately, it helps the murderer to shoot佐藤刑警easily. After佐藤刑警gets injured badly, 蘭thinks that it was all her fault and then falls unconscious. When蘭wakes up, everyone finds out that she accidentally lose her memory. She not only can’t remember who she is, but also can’t remember what had happened during the wedding. Because she saw the murderer’s face, the murderer tries to use any methods to kill her

When she is waiting for the train, she is pushed down to the rail by the assassin; when she goes to the amusement park that she has been to with her childhood sweetheart, 工藤新一, the assassin also comes to kill her. Fortunately, the main character, Conan, comes to save her and in the amusement park, he solved the case and successfully arrests the assassin. The truth of the doctor’s suicide was that he was killed by the murderer but be disguised as suicide. The murderer was informed from his policeman patient of the reinvestigation of the one-year-before case, so he plans to kill all the related police officers to cover up the crime.

Suspect 1 : 小田切 敏也
had racketeered the doctor

Suspect 2: 友成 真
his father was died of heart
 attack during on duty, 
his father's police colleagues
 didn't call the ambulance
 immediately

Suspect 3 : 仁野 環
the doctor's sister

Murderer : 風戶京介

Last but not least, I am going to introduce my favorite scene in this movie. When蘭 asks Conan the reason why he is desperate to save her life, Conan, whose actual identity is工藤新一, says that it is all because he likes her much more than anyone else in the world.

Because I like you.

much more than anyone else on earth.

No matter how many times I has watched this movie, I still can enjoy it very much. Please look forward to the next Conan movie that I am going to introduce to you.

金田一少年の事件簿N

In this summer, there are many difficult and mysterious cases waiting to be solved.

Japan is another country that abounds with nice detective dramas. 金田一少年の事件簿 N is one of them. This drama is adapted from the famous manga, “金田一少年の事件簿”. Because the manga has been a big hit in Japan, dramas which were based on the manga become so popular among people from all ages. The first episode of this drama came out on July 19th and then it will come out a new one per week. Every time when I finished one episode, I felt that it seemed taking too long to wait for the next episode coming out. :'( The last episode was played on September 20th. It is quite sad that this drama finished so fast, but someone says that it will come out the other drama called "金田一少年の事件簿 R"  in the near future. I hope that it will come out soon.

There are 9 episodes in this drama, and in every episode is talking about the murder which 金田一 一 and his friends meet, as well as how he solved every puzzle. Every story  in this drama is not always very serious all the time, instead, sometimes there are some funny scenes. For example, whenever 金田一 swears that he will find out the murderer and solve the puzzle, he always says the same line, which is "爺ちゃんの名にかけて！".  The line means in the name of his grandfather. 金田一's grandfather was a famous detective, as his grandson, 金田一 must use his wisdom to look for the clues, unriddle the puzzle and find out the murderer .

Next, I am going to introduce you my favorite episode in this drama. This title of this story is "薔薇十字館殺人事件". 

The man on the left is 高遠遙一, and the man on the right is 金田一 一.

This is the rose villa where the murder took place.

In this story, 金田一 was invited by his rival, 高遠遙一, to come to the rose villa to protect 高遠's unknown sibling. If 金田一 successfully protect his sibling from being killed and find out the murderer, 高遠 will agree to be arrested by the police. In the end, the murderer in fact is 高遠's younger sister. 高遠 is arrested as he promised before , but,unfortunately, he escapes again and he will keep helping others to commit a crime. In this story, the one thing that I think is very special is that the victims are all named after one kind of rose breeds. And many details in this story are all related to rose. I think this story is really worth seeing.


At the end of this article, I'll briefly introduce the main actors and actress in this drama.

金田一 一, the main character in this drama, which is acted by 山田涼介. 美雪 is his childhood sweetheart. One of his interest is to guess the size of women's cup. He is not good at homework,however, he is really good at logical reasoning.

七瀨美雪, who is acted by 川口春奈, is 金田一's childhood sweetheart.

劍持勇, acted by 山口智充, has a good relationship with 金田一. Whenever 金田一 encounters mysterious events, he will come and help him.

高遠遙一, acted by 成宮寬貴, is 金田一's rival. He is an expert in committing a crime.

Television series: Sherlock produced by BBC

Since my high school teacher showed this television series to the whole class, I have totally fallen in love with the stories and the main characters. I just remember the days, as I was a high school student, everyone in my class was so excited to watch this series during lunch time.

I love this series is not only because I am fascinated by the cases that Sherlock and Doctor John Watson solved together but also because I am impressed by how clever Sherlock Holmes is. In addition, I like the way how Doctor Watson interacts with Sherlock Holmes. Although Sherlock always says that he has antisocial personality and he is not good at expressing his feeling, however, he cherishes Doctor Watson, Molly, his brother, Greg, etc. very much.  

BBC has already played Sherlock from season one to season three and each of them I have watched twice. Among them, I love season three the most. At the end of season two, Sherlock was dead and everyone was very depressed to know his death, especially Doctor Watson. Therefore, I was so curious about what will happen after Sherlock’s death and what was the trick that Sherlock made to deceive everyone. Then, when season three came out, it was so great that I watched three episodes in one day. I like Doctor Watson's reaction when he found out actually Sherlock wasn't dead and Sherlock felt a little bit lonely when John got married. These two characters are so cute that I love them so much. At the end of season three, Sherlock's nemesis Moriarty came back again. The story seems that it will become very exciting. I am so looking forward to season four!

                                                   

    

                                      The two main charaters