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I just caught up to chapter 13, and I’m really enjoying it so far. English is not my first language, and I think I might be missing a reference. Is “Pip and Emma” a reference to something? An expression, or popular characters? Some passages of chapter 10 seemed odd to me, and I’m afraid of finding spoilers if I google it.
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Dec 30, 2012 18:41
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Zola posted:I'm not going to spoiler this clue because it has already come up a couple of times in earlier chapters, but Dora is upset that someone apparently left a lit cigarette on one of the tables and burned it. I don't remember if anyone was smoking in that scene, I'm going to go back and look. I don’t think there’s anything about smoking, but Colonel Easterbrook and Patrick had lighters with them. Also, Phillipa told Craddock she was looking for hers when the lights went out, and that Patrick and Edmund “switched on their lighters and they went out into the hall”, without mentioning Colonel Easterbrook. ProfessorProf posted:Some quick research suggests that "Pip Emma" is an old-fashioned (circa 1917) English military term for PM (as in after noon). I see, thank you. I thought “Pip and Emma” was a reference to something because Craddock and Bunch refer to them as brother and sister, even though Letitia doesn’t say anything about gender. If I recall correctly, Craddock mentions it once in chapter 10, and Bunch is very emphatic about it in chapter 13, saying that Pip and Emma could only be Patrick and Julia. Can’t Pip be Phillipa? Also, about Patrick and Julia Bunch says “they're the only ones who are the right age”. As far as I can tell, Laura and Phillipa could also be 25-30 years old. Hello Ketene fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 2, 2013 19:51
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Guy A. Person posted:Finished this afternoon but had to reread parts of chapter 13 since it confused me again: I just reread this part of chapter 13, and realized you’re right. Miss Marple describes 8 people, and Bunch names 7. Other than the person who stopped the bank robbery, the Dora-nurse association seems off to me, since Dora has (almost) nothing to gain with Letitia’s death. As for the waitress part, maybe it had more to do with the “naturally if you think someone's talking about you, it's only human nature to listen” part than the “Julia” part. It’s hard to tell how much of the conversation she had overheard. Maybe someone and asked her to do it? I'll read chapters 14-16 tonight.
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Jan 3, 2013 21:24
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Guy A. Person posted:Well, there is still the possibility that Dora is not who she says she is. There seems to be a recurring theme of people coming back after so many years that you wouldn't recognize them, and Dora would fit the bill. As far as I know, all we really know of her is that she went to school with Letitia and then showed up years later with health issues; fake-Dora could be the mother of Pip and Emma (for example) and just looked up someone who Letitia went to school with. Yeah, I don’t really trust Dora. It seems to me that she knows she’s supposed to be dumb. The thing is, even if she’s an impostor (which I don’t doubt), I think the only scenario where she would really benefit from Letitia’s death is if she’s actually Sonia, or somehow related to Pip and Emma. And she would most likely have to know the real Dora, her story, traits etc. otherwise she would raise suspicions. My guess is that if she’s an impostor, she’s not related to Pip and Emma or the murder, but somehow to the real Dora. If she’s somehow related to the murder attempt, though, I don’t think she’s the shooter, but someone’s accomplice. She’s already drawn attention to Patrick (oily cup) and Phillipa (made a big flower arrangement, put it on the table by the door and then suggested moving it), so she’s definitely not with them on it.
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Jan 3, 2013 22:56
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Guy A. Person posted:Well, based on this current section (chapters 14-16) she does get her own age wrong, so this "playing senile" thing could be a way to get around not knowing much about the real Dora. Of course, at the end of Chapter 16 she dies so that kind of takes her out of the running for the murderer, but I still think there is (was) something up with her. I agree, lots of new information, but nothing concrete. Concerning Dora, when she said she was 59, I couldn't tell if she was playing senile (or actually senile), or jokingly lying about her age. Anyway, she's gone, and apparently she wasn't the intended victim. I’m especially intrigued by Letitia’s decision to change her will in chapter 15. Before that, I assume all of Goedler’s money would go to Patrick and Julia if Bella died before Letitia, right? I don’t think Letitia had any reason to take them off her will (other than one of her conversations with Miss Marple). One passage of her conversation with Phillipa especially caught my attention: "I know what I'm doing, Phillipa. I've become fond of you - and there's the - boy... You won't get very much if I should die now - but in a few weeks' time it might be different." Her eyes met Phillipa's steadily. "But you're not going to die!" Phillipa protested. To me it looks like Letitia said that specifically to see her reaction, i.e. if she knows anything about the whole Goedler thing. It may be because I’m biased against Phillipa, but I think Letitia suspects Phillipa. Maybe she’s (allegedly) changing her will to confirm her suspicions, and possibly to postpone being killed? (I mean, if Phillipa is the culprit, that partially removes her motive) Hello Ketene fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Jan 11, 2013 |
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Jan 5, 2013 02:26
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Letitia being responsible for the whole thing hadn't crossed my mind before reading your posts, now I'm kind of  about it. I wonder what would her motive be, though.Concerning the Murgatroyd part of chapter 19: my guess is that if emphasis is on "she", it means Murgatroyd was going through with the "constructive thinking", and remembered someone she didn't see at the time; if the emphasis is on either "wasn't" or "there" (which seems to be the case), it feels like she's sort of correcting something that was said before. What I'm saying is, if Miss Marple is correct, Murgatroyd could be talking about Dora, Bunch or Phillipa. Earlier in chapter 19, she said she had seen both Dora and Bunch, so she could have realized she mistook someone else for Bunch (since Dora is pretty much out of the list of suspects by now). Also, Hinch mentioned seeing Phillipa right before the lights went out, so Murgatroyd could be saying that Phillipa wasn't near Patrick after the lights went out. One other thing that comes up in the beginning of chapters 17 and 19, and seems to be important, is the lamp. I'll reread chapter 3 tomorrow, but from what I can tell the culprit must have poured some liquid over a frayed part of the shepherdess lamp's cord, and switched the lamps the next day (so he/she knew there were two similar lamps beforehand). One last thing: so far Bunch is the only person who mentioned Easterbrook's gun.
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Jan 11, 2013 07:21
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 14:23 |
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Guy A. Person posted:I think there is definitely more evidence hidden in that letter that the Inspector confiscated. Marple was interesting in some of the wording, and the Inspector made the comment that the description of Sonia Goedler "opening and closing her hands like a cat" reminded him of someone. In my last post I was going to mention that Letitia's arthritis could have some relevance to the case, but I couldn't tell why. Now that you mention it, something just clicked in my head. I have neuropathic pain, which is made worse by stress, so I guess same might happen for arthitis pain. So "opening and closing her hands like a cat" after a stressful situation could be a sign of her arthritis in an early stage. I still think something is wrong with Phillipa, but Letitia being Sonia Goedler could be plausible. Guy A. Person posted:I also just remembered while typing this up that Dora made the comment that she thought Letitia was holding the flower vase before the lights went out, but someone (Letitia herself or an accomplice? I'll have to go back over that section) corrected her and said it was the silver cigarette case. Yeah, it was Letitia herself who said she was holding the cigarette case. drat, there are several small pieces of evidence pointing to her being the killer right now... I agree with you about Murgatroyd, especially now that the vase seems relevant. Initially I was thinking someone might have dropped some sherry over the cord, but the flower vase fits it perfectly. Also, Dora was (unknowingly) being very inconvenient (the vase, the door, the lamps etc.), and Letitia seemed irritated with her. Getting rid of Dora would be a priority for her at this point. If Letitia is actually Sonia, Rudi being the real intended victim would also make sense, since he knew (the real) Letitia from Switzerland. Maybe he was blackmailing her?
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Jan 11, 2013 19:49
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