#mysterious mr. quin

[origami-trust]

get yourself a mysterious man in motley who shows up to guide you to romantic mysteries that need solving Rereading some Agatha Christie and I was really struck by the intensity of this conversation - Mr. Quin is such a unique character in Christie's work. Her detectives are wonderful characters that answer questions. Mr. Quin...is a wonderful character that raises a lot of questions!

[presumenothing]

random thought: the novel-drama changes in fdb's whole personality aside from making much more adorable television almost become a necessary corollary/consequence(?) considered in light of the differences in llh himself. in the novel it's never shown how they first met – the story already starts with them having known each other for six years (literally as long as llh has been out in the jianghu) and being comfortable around each other. and while llh does in fact just vanish with his whole damn house whenever he likes (fdb is described to be 破口大骂ing at this tortoise tendency for fifteen minutes at least once) it's never shown to be an active evasion like in the drama – the guy just can only be found when he wants to let you find him, as fdb himself notes after said episode of Old Man Yells At Cloud Empty Real Estate

which is fine! they have separate lives and everything! which is also to say that novel!llh specifically has an actual life and existence of his own that is not Revenge Quest 2.0™ since that doesn't exist here to start with, and also also to say that this fdb, with his notably non-loyal-wideeyed-puppy stickier-than-glutinous-rice tendencies, would likely never have become friends or even familiar acquaintances with drama!llh's avoidant ass

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

[darchildre]

On a whim today, I bought a wee linocut kit to try and play with. Turns out, carving linoleum is extremely fun and the results can be striking even if you (like me) aren't great at drawing.

This little guy has many obvious flaws, but I am really very pleased with and proud of him.

[ibrithir-was-here]

I don't think we talk enough about how the supernatural canonically exists within the world of Poriot. Everyone always crossing my boy Sherlock with Dracula (as they should) but Hercule here straight up is friends with a guy who constantly runs into a ghost and has adventures with him.

[mysteriousmrquinbrainrot]

Not Mr. Satterthwaite thinking Mr. Quin has an attractive back in the Harley Quin Tea Set💀💀

[v-thinks-on]

At centre stage stands Harlequin patterned in diamonds like panes of glass stained in brilliant hues, a dark mask over his eyes, and baton in hand. His gestures are broad; wave of stick, turn of head, pirouette of legs. Yet, his movement is fleet, dodging and taunting the bumbling Pierrot, and dancing with the lovely Columbine.

With his baton, he transforms the scene from parlour to avenue to sprightly woods, and the players from maids and gentlemen to lords and ladies or even to birds and beasts. He traipses through walls and weaves in and out of sight in impossible leaps and bounds.

Yet, for all his trickery, his face remains impassive, except perhaps a knowing look in his shadowed eyes. Each movement is deliberate without hesitation, each step lighter than air. He is a man of mystery, yet in familiar form. His lips hide countless secrets, yet he will never say a word.

(Read More on AO3)

[thelastofthebookworms]

And that should be the last poll about my Christie's works' series... but hopefully not my last about Christie stuff.

Previous polls in this series :

- Poll 1 : popular titles

- Poll 2

- Poll 3

- Poll 4

- Poll 5

- Poll 6

[harlequinartiste]

The Dead Harlequin, Agatha Christie

[incognito-insomniac]

The tops of things are always nice and shiny and smooth. I respect you, Duchess; you've got force; you've met life fair and square and you've come out on top. But the people who are underneath see the under side of things. And that's interesting in a way.

Naomi Carlton-Smith, "The World's End" The Mysterious Mr. Quin, Agatha Christie

[moirailsupport]

Gaygaygay

[quotesfromall]

Mr. Sattherwaite was never quite sure what took him to stay with the Denmans. They were not of his kind - that is to say, they belonged neither to the great world, nor to the more interesting artistic circles. They were Philistines, and dull Philistines at that. Mr.Sattherwaite had met them first at Biarritz, had accepted an invitation to stay with them, had come, had been bored, and strangely enough had come again and yet again.

Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Mr.Quin

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

[readingoals]

The Mysterious Mr Quin was....strange. In a good way. It's another of Christie's short story collections but definitely had a different vibe to her others. Each story is connected through the amateur sleuth Mr Satterthwaite and the titular Mr Quin who pops up mysteriously to offer advice or encouragement as needed. But things get weirder as they go. Not so much the stories which, in true Christie style, sometimes skew a little silly, but Mr Quin himself and the vibes he brings. He ends up feeling a little sinister and otherworldly which isn't really what I was expecting when I went in, but meant I found it very hard to put the book down. The last story was kind of bonkers. I think this might be, at least from what I've read, the closest Christie comes to fantasy writing. Definitely one of the more interesting of her short story collections.

[richardgarfinkle]

Agatha Christie and the Mysterious Mr. Quin

Along with her most famous detectives, Hercule Poirot and (Miss) Jane Marple, Agatha Christie wrote stories starring several less well-known detectives. One such set of short stories deserves more attention than it’s usually given because of the character(s) of the detective(s) and the sometimes explicit supernatural elements in the stories.

The mysteries themselves are never supernatural. They always have human causes and solutions. The supernatural is in the detective(s) and in the impetus for the solving of the crimes.

The main detective / viewpoint character is Mr. Satterthwaite, who is a man in his 60s. A self-described observer of life, he enjoys drama but does not take part. He is insightful. He makes friends easily. He is a connoisseur of various arts. He knows everyone (if one defines everyone as upper- and middle-class Europeans in the early to mid 20th century). He travels widely and he understands people and their motivations. When introduced he sees himself as a member of the audience of humanity, not a participant in it.

Mr. Satterthwaite is queer-coded. Agatha Christie was very bad at queer coding. Her gay male characters are stereotypes and considered untrustworthy. Her lesbian characters are the the “we’re roommates” kind of lesbians, usually with a stereotypical pairing. She had one lesbian-coded murderer who was pretty creepy.

Mr. Satterthwaite is described as having a strong feminine spirit within him and as knowing more about women and what they do than is good for any man to know. He had a few romances when young which did not go anywhere but provide vital clues in at least one mystery. He would not be easy to classify by our evolving sense of queerness, largely because Agatha Christie didn’t really understand any of it.

Mr. Satterthwaite’s passive audience character changes whenever he is in the presence of his friend, Mr. Harley Quin.

This Harley Quin does not have a hammer and doesn’t do crime. He shows up occasionally and is always an English gentleman. He has no fixed abode. “He comes and goes.” When he shows up he asks pointed questions and proposes different perspectives on things.

In his first story Mr. Quin opines that it is easier to solve a crime by looking at it backwards in historical context. In one story it is proposed that one should imagine oneself one hundred years in the future, in 2025, looking back at the events of the tale from that distant unknown era.

Mr. Quin never solves the crimes. He inspires Mr. Satterthwaite, whose passive audiencing transforms into active on-stage detecting. Without Mr. Quin, Mr. Satterthwaite is an observer but not a detective. But without Mr. Satterthwaite, Mr. Quin isn’t a detective either. Only together in their roles as inspired and inspirer can they solve and prevent crimes.

In most of the stories Mr. Satterthwaite credits Mr. Quin with solving the mystery and Mr. Quin always credits Mr. Satterthwaite.

The one other factor that is common to nearly all these short stories is that if the crime is not solved some young couple will not be able to get or stay together.

After a few stories it becomes quite blatant that Mr. Harley Quin is the Harlequin of the Commedia Del’Arte as a supernatural being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin

The theme of life as drama is made more blatant and the utility for a detective of seeing that view gives Mr. Satterthwaite a preternatural sense for when something dramatic is going to happen. The presence of Mr. Quin makes this definite. Mr. Satterthwaite in the later stories is able to use this dramatic awareness to prevent murders from happening.

The supernatural elements are almost always oblique and indefinite, except for one story.

In “The Bird with the Broken Wing” Mr. Satterthwaite has turned down an invitation to visit a particular place. Instead, he is staying at a house party where some of the guests pull out an Ouija board and proceed to ask questions. They find that a spirit has a message for Mr. Satterthwaite. When asked who the message is from the board spells out Quin and the message is the name of the place Mr. Satterthwaite had decided not to go to. He changes his mind and prevents a tragedy.

The question of whether Agatha Christie’s mysteries take place in one or several worlds can be answered by crossovers. The mysteries above definitely take place in the same world as Poirot because Mr. Satterthwaite is a supporting character in the Poirot mystery “Three Act Tragedy”. Mr. Quin does not appear in this book so Mr. Satterthwaite is not a detective. There is a running gag in the book that he keeps trying to tell Poirot about his own detecting adventures, but keeps being interrupted.

The question of whether this overlaps with Miss Marple depends on whether there are more than one Chief Constable named Colonel Melrose. The Agatha Christie Wiki insists that the two Colonels Melrose are distinct characters, but they’re very alike. Colonel Melrose shows up in the Poirot novel “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”, the Miss Marple novel “Sleeping Murder” and the Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin short story “The Love Detectives.”

Agatha Christie seems to have had an interesting attitude to these stories and to Harlequin. She dedicated the collection, “The Mysterious Mr, Quin” to “Harlequin The Invisible” as if these stories were in some different category in her own mind from the rest of her works. They have their own unique perspective and aesthetics while still being mysteries that play fair with the audience. The supernatural is always inspiration, never explanation. They deserve a look from those interested in Mysteries.

[mysteriousmrquinbrainrot]

Okay but the Mr. Quin and Mr. Satterthwaite bromance is 10/10 tho