{"id":21527,"date":"2023-02-24T16:42:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T21:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=21527"},"modified":"2024-01-21T18:43:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T23:43:51","slug":"by-the-pricking-of-my-thumbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21527","title":{"rendered":"By the Pricking of My Thumbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the Pricking of My Thumbs<\/a><\/em> (1968) Agatha Christie<\/a> (Tommy & Tuppence)<\/p>\n

\"By<\/a>We first met Tommy & Tuppence at the end of the Great War. <\/p>\n

Mr. Beresford had once had red hair. There were traces of the red still, but most of it had gone that sandy-cum-grey colour that red-headed people so often arrive at in middle life. Mrs. Beresford had once had black hair, a vigorous curling mop of it. Now the black was adulterated with streaks of grey laid on, apparently at random. It made a rather pleasant effect. Mrs. Beresford had once thought of dyeing her hair, but in the end she had decided that she liked herself better as nature had made her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They have had further adventures, but now Tommy is looking at retirement, and Tuppence is, well, somewhat bored when Tommy is away. <\/p>\n

However, Mr. and Mrs. Beresford had not yet arrived at the time of life when they thought of themselves as old.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A visit to Tommy’s elderly aunt leads to a conversation with another elderly lady, and Tuppence considering a new adventure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I wondered\u2014\u201d she leant forward and lowered her voice. \u201c\u2014 Excuse me, was it your poor child?\u201d <\/p>\n

Tuppence slightly taken aback, hesitated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I remembered absolutely nothing about this story except for that line, “was it your poor child?” except for this:<\/p>\n

By the pricking of my thumbs\u2014 Something evil this way comes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I’m not even sure I remember that line from this story.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was brought up in a country vicarage, after all. They date things by events, they don\u2019t date them by years. They don\u2019t say \u2018that happened in 1930\u2019 or \u2018that happened in 1925\u2019 or things like that. They say \u2018that happened the year after the old mill burned down\u2019 or \u2018that happened after the lightning struck the big oak and killed Farmer James\u2019 or \u2018that was the year we had the polio epidemic.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI daresay people have liked murderers,\u201d said Tuppence very reasonably. \u201cIt\u2019s like swindlers and confidence tricksmen who always look so honest and seem so honest. I daresay murderers all seem very nice and particularly softhearted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Publisher: William Morrow<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968) Agatha Christie (Tommy & Tuppence) We first met Tommy & Tuppence at the end of the Great War. Mr. Beresford had once had red hair. There were traces of the red still, but most of it had gone that sandy-cum-grey colour that red-headed people so often arrive at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,30,190,292,33,8,41],"tags":[732,228,662],"class_list":["post-21527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-british","category-cozy","category-ebook","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","tag-1960s","tag-agatha-christie","tag-tommy-tuppence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5Bd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21495,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21495","url_meta":{"origin":21527,"position":0},"title":"Partners in Crime","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Partners in Crime (1929) Agatha Christie (Tommy & Tuppence) A set of intertwined Tommy & Tuppence short stories. A Fairy in the Flat A Pot of Tea The Affair of the Pink Pearl The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger Finessing the King The Case of the Missing Lady Blindman\u2019s Buff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Partners in Crime","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Partners-in-Crime.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21504,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21504","url_meta":{"origin":21527,"position":1},"title":"N or M?","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"N or M? (1941) Agatha Christie (Tommy & Tuppence) It's 1940 and both Tommy & Tuppence feel useless. \"Well, come on, out with it. Nothing doing?\u201d \u201cNothing doing. They don\u2019t want me in any capacity. I tell you, Tuppence, it\u2019s pretty thick when a man of forty-six is made to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"N or M?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/N-or-M.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21473,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21473","url_meta":{"origin":21527,"position":2},"title":"The Secret Adversary","author":"Michelle","date":"January 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Secret Adversary (1922) Agatha Christie (Tommy & Tuppence) The Great War is over, but things aren't easy for those who served. I went out to France again, as you know. Then they sent me to Mesopotamia, and I got wounded for the second time, and went into hospital out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Secret Adversary","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/The-Secret-Adversary.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21396,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21396","url_meta":{"origin":21527,"position":3},"title":"The Secret of Chimneys","author":"Michelle","date":"December 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Secret of Chimneys (1925) Agatha Christie (Superintendent Battle) Honestly, I have absolutely no memory of this book. I read only a handful of the Poirot books, and I remember some of the Tommy & Tuppence books, but this? And Superintendent Battle? The only thing that was familiar was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Secret of Chimneys","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/The-Secret-of-Chimneys.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5319,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5319","url_meta":{"origin":21527,"position":4},"title":"Summer Campaign","author":"Michelle","date":"July 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Summer Campaign (2012) Carla Kelly Set in England in ~1813. Major Jack Beresford is returning home from four years of campaigning, much in Spain. He (like other soldiers) has seen and lived horrors, but he is now returning back to England, and to Yorkshire. Onyx Hamilton is about to make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"summer-campaign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/summer-campaign.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24681,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24681","url_meta":{"origin":21527,"position":5},"title":"4:50 from Paddington","author":"Michelle","date":"June 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"4:50 from Paddington (1957) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #8) \u201cYou\u2019re getting deaf, Jane.\u201d \u201cJust a little, perhaps. People do not seem to me to enunciate their words as clearly as they used to do. But it wasn\u2019t that I did not hear you. I\u2019m afraid I wasn\u2019t paying attention.\u201d The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"4.50 from Paddington","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/4.50-from-Paddington.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}