Hello crime readers and food lovers!  This month’s read is Murder Is Easy, and I have a LOT to say about it!  Starting with a rant about how I ended up choosing a Pineapple and Spice Financier (which does not appear in the story at all) to represent the novel.  Murder is Easy contains very few food references.   This really annoyed me!   I kind of get it when AC doesn’t mention food in the novels set in foreign climes.  Back in the day, there would likely have been some good old-fashioned British reserve (ie thinly veiled racism) against foreign food.  But Murder is Easy is set in an English village and features multiple old ladies!  Where are the scones?  Where are the high teas and finger sandwiches?   The village fete with cake stalls galore?

Murder Might be Easy but Menu Decisions Aren’t!

So, what do you do when there is no food mentioned in the novel? My first thought always goes to puns.  Murder is greasy?  Murder is cheesy?  Chowder is Easy?  Humlebeetroot Salad?  I dismissed all of these as cornier than the chowder! I was very nearly set on the idea of making Olivia De Havilland’s Salad Niçoise.  (She played Honoria Waynfleet in the 1982 version of Murder is Easy).  However, when I looked more closely at the recipe on Silver Screen Suppers I saw that it contained both red and green capsicums.  Long-time readers will know that these do not agree with me at all.  I thought about inventing a Hit and Rum cocktail, which was going to be my take on a pineapple mojito, and spoke to two of the murders in the novel.  However, I felt there have been a lot of cocktails in my recent Dining with the Dame posts so I wanted to shy away from them.

Finally, I decided I wanted to use pineapple which, features as a murder weapon, in the story combined with the country feel of a freshly baked cake.  I chose the  Pineapple and Spice Financier as I  felt that the spices (cardamom and ginger) were a nod to Luke Fitzwilliam’s time in the Mayang Straits.  Whilst this is an entirely made-up place in my mind it is a reference to Malaysia which was still under British rule in 1939 when this book was written.

Phew…that was a long intro!  So let’s get into Murder is Easy!

Murder is Easy- The Plot

Luke Fitzwilliam is home to England from his work as a policeman in the Mayang Straits.  On his way to London, he meets an elderly lady called Lavinia Pinkerton on the train.  They get to talking and Ms Pinkerton confides to him that she is on her way to Scotland Yard to warn them that there is a serial killer operating in her small country village.  She names several people who have already been a victim of said killer and also names who she thinks will be next.

Now, if you want my honest opinion of Luke Fitzwilliam?  To put it nicely, he’s no Hercule Poirot.  He’s not even a Miss Marple.  In the words of Smashmouth he “ain’t the smartest tool in the shed”.  However, his lack of perspicacity comes later.  Right now, we can’t really fault him for thinking he has sat down next to some batty old lady and so he doesn’t really take her seriously.

Until, the next day, he reads in the paper that she was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

And a week later, he reads that Doctor Humbleby who Miss Pinkerton said was the next victim, has also died.  Luke’s spidey senses start tingling and he heads down to Wychwood under Ashe to do some investigating.

We have:

• Several mysterious deaths in the town Wychwood-Under-Ashe
• A chauffeur killed by a stone pineapple
• Dirty deeds going on with the local antique dealer
• A cat called Wonky Poo who becomes involved in the murders in a totally disgusting way.
• One of the suspects strangling a canary
• Inspector Battle who we last saw in Cards on The Table (also in The Secret of Chimneys and The Seven Dials Mystery) making an appearance!

Unfortunately,  we don’t have Poirot around to solve the mystery.  Instead, we have Luke Fitzwilliam (cue Smashmouth quote above in your head) making what seems like interminable lists of suspects and motives and still not honing in on the killer faster than his new girlfriend Bridget.  Oh, and if we’re going to cue Smashmouth whenever Luke is mentioned, then the signature tune for Bridget is The Eagles Witchy Woman!  So many references to Bridget being witch-like.  All of which come to nothing.

Murder is Easy – The Covers

The Recipe – Pineapple and Spice Financier

My recipe comes from the November 2022 issue of Delicious Magazine.

“Luke – Luke – what’s that…?”

The moon had come out from the clouds.  Luke looked down to where Bridget’s shoe trembled by a huddled mass.

With a startled exclamation he dragged his arm free and knelt down.  He looked from the shapeless heap to the gate post above.  The pine-apple was gone. “

Murder is Easy – Agatha Christie

Links to The Christieverse

• As mentioned above Inspector Battle makes an appearance in Murder is Easy.
• The Bells and Motley. is a pub in Wychwood under Ashe.   A pub by the same name features in the Harley Quin short story called “At The Bells and Motley”.

Other Food & Drinks Mentioned in Murder is Easy

• Plum Pudding
• Tea (multiple times)
• Coffee (multiple times)
• Bacon and eggs  (I will make these one day!)
• Kidneys (I will never make these)
• Liqueur Brandy
• Beer
• Sherry

Other Related News

• A boomslang features in the  Bullet Train. We, of course, know all about that particular snake from Death in The Clouds.
• The BBC has announced a new adaptation of l Murder is Easy.   (The Olivia de Haviland / Bill Bixby version is available on You Tube.  The Miss Marple version is not great and I would not recommend it, except Benedict Cumberbatch plays Luke).)
• This month marks the 100th anniversary of Murder on The Links…why not celebrate by making an Omelette Berrichonne?

April’s read is Sad Cypress.

Have a great week!