Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The first of Christie’s Colonel Race series, The Man in the Brown Suit tells the story of Anne Beddingfeld, an intrepid budding adventuress investigating the mysterious death of a man in a train station and the apparently connected murder of a woman in a nearby home.

As you know if you’ve been following along with my reviews, I’ve been chronologically working through Christie’s writings, and have been enjoying myself quite a bit so far. Unfortunately, this one was definitely my least favorite. While it was hilarious in parts (possibly even funnier than it was intended to be, as some parts seemed a bit ridiculous), I found it long winded and confusing, and never really clicked with the narrator in the audio version. And, especially with a portion of the novel set in Africa, there were unfortunately some racist and sexist moments that are always disconcerting and problematic to see and definitely diminished my overall enjoyment level.

In the end, I was still shocked by the twist and enjoyed the characters, but if you’re looking for your next Christie this isn’t the one I’d rush to grab!

Recommended if you like: adventurous mysteries; tough heroines; humorous narration.

CW: Death/murder; kidnapping/confinement; some mentions of war.