#after the funeral

[an-au-blog]

Hello again shuggy peeps, todays matching quote -

Buggy: I don't know what to do with it.

Shanks: with what?

Buggy: with all the love I have for him (Roger). I don't know where to... put it now.

Shanks: I'll take it.

they both laugh through tears

Shanks: No, I'm serious. It sounds lovely.

Shanks: I'll have it. You've got to give it to me.

Buggy (softly): okay.

Shanks: It's got to go somewhere...

#this is also from fleabag btw... #after the funeral #shuggy #shanks x buggy #one piece shuggy

[oldshrewsburyian]

Your personal top 5 Agatha Christie mysteries? I'm considering to start a reread and got curious as to which of her stories others prefer.

What a great question! I don't keep such a mental list, so this will be unscientific. In no particular order:

After the Funeral. I particularly enjoy rereading this one for the way that the clues are layered and the characterization is done.

Murder in Mesopotamia. This one I like partly because we have a no-nonsense, unsentimental, and somewhat less than perceptive narrator to introduce us to all the wild personalities.

The Hollow. A pattern is emerging here, which is that I like claustrophobic dramas with lots of detail about interpersonal relationships. I particularly enjoy the subplot about Midge, for whom murder takes a back seat to worries about love and money.

The Man in the Brown Suit. This one I enjoy simply because it is Agatha Christie having fun with an unhinged 1920s adventure story.

The Tuesday Night Club. This may be cheating because it's a short story collection, but I enjoy it: a smart, atmospheric collection that shows both a range of micro-genres and a range of interesting characters gathered around Miss Marple's fireplace.

#agatha christie #my detection obsession #books #asks and answers #mystery novel #after the funeral #murder in mesopotamia #the hollow #the man in the brown suit #the tuesday night club murders

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

"After the Funeral" is available to read here

#short stories #short story #after the funeral #yves. #yves #american literature #jewish literature #jewish american literature #english language literature #21st century literature #have you read this short fiction? #book polls #completed polls #links to text

[spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub]

Reading Agatha Christie: After the Funeral

After The Funeral might be Christie's last good Poirot novel before the last one. I guess we'll have to see... The thing I remember most about reading this the first time was that it was one of my first ones when I first started reading her. There's a family tree in the front, and I think that captivated me as a kid.

I feel like we should be used to these same kinds of set ups in Christies now. There's a funeral for the eldest son in the Abernethie family, and all the relatives gather, including an estranged younger sister that no one has seen in twenty years. Of course, she's hacked to death after she questions whether or not her older brother was murdered or not. And family hijinks ensue.

The thing this story has going for it is that there's a rich family dynamic going on. It's reminiscent of Hercule Poirot's Christmas and Appointment with Death (both of which, admittedly, I did like better) in that everyone has a secret up their sleeve and the whole book is unwinding what those secrets are. The characters are well drawn and intriguing and the family dynamics are, more so, the highlight of the novel -- more so than the mystery itself.

As an aside, I think it's kind of fascinating that every male in the household is kind of terrible. It makes me kind of wonder if Christie was doing it purposely or if it kind of just came together like that.

Meanwhile, they mystery portion is fine. I think it's an interesting twist, but since I remembered the who, I don't think I was as invested. I do think it's an interesting twist, though.

Also unfortunately is that Poirot just isn't around all that much. It takes a long while for him to show up at all and it isn't until the end that he really interacts with the characters. The mystery is kind of secondary to the intricate web of family dynamics, and of course, this is the point where Christie was growing tired of writing Poirot, and I feel like that begins to really show here. It makes me think, though, that the thing I really enjoy about Poirot is that he's so often an outsider who comes into these dynamics. I can understand Christie's weariness of him, but I suppose I'm like the general audience who always enjoys him.

Also, we continue on to our post-war Brittan. It's not as prominent as it was the past few books, but that dark cloud that WW2 left over the UK fifties is still on display in the book.

Overall, it is a solid book even if I wished there was more going on with the mystery aspect of it. I don't think we get a whole lot of stellar books going forward, so I'll take what I can get.

#agatha christie #book review #books #so reads agatha christie #sbc bookclub #after the funeral

[living400lbs]

"For over sixty years after their original appearance, Coral Cornplasters and the allied “Coral” foot preparations still held their own. Whether there had ever been anything outstanding about Coral Cornplasters nobody could say—but they had appealed to the public fancy. On a foundation of Coral Cornplasters there had arisen this neo-Gothic palace, its acres of gardens, and the money that had paid out an income to seven sons and daughters and had allowed Richard Abernethie to die three days ago a very rich man."

From After The Funeral by Agatha Christie

#agatha christie #after the funeral

[thelastofthebookworms]

Previous polls in this series :

- Poll 1 - popular edition

- Poll 2

- Poll 3

#polls #agatha christie #hercule poirot #jane marple #tommy and tuppence #towards zero #mrs mcginty's dead #the pale horse #cat among the pigeons #by the prickling of my thumbs #after the funeral #the big four #why didn't they ask evans? #the mystery of the blue train #hickory dickory dock

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2022 📖 no. 125

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

“It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever! sooner or later they will give themselves away.”

#books #2022 reads #after the funeral #hercule poirot #agatha christie #booklr #lit edit

[readingoals]

I read these two Christie's back to back and LOVED them both.

I'd intended After the Funeral to be the final book in the Game of Tomes readathon but I ran out of time during the month. It was full of so many fun characters and I think one of the most gruesome deaths in any of the Christie's I've read so far (though ofc the murder happens off page).

Why Didn't They Ask Evans was one I've been putting off basically since I started trying to read all Agatha Christie's books. Multiple people have told me it's their fave of all her works so I didn't want to read it too soon and I probs wouldn't have yet except that Hugh Laurie did an adaptation and I was determined to read the book before I watched it. Either way I loved it so much, Frankie and Bobby were instant favourite characters (and I think one of the best written romances in any Christie I've read). I do have a soft spot for non-Poirot or Marple stories though.

#booklr #after the funeral #why didn't they ask evans #agatha christie #books #brigid speaks #read in 2022 #book update #(ngl hugh laurie was only a v small part of why i was so keen for the adaptation #mostly its that lucy boynton stars in it as frankie and im very love her #lmao i still havent watched it yet tho fkfkjdkss)

[collinsportmaine]

“Murder at the Gallop” (1963) was the second of Margaret Rutherford’s Miss Marple movies. It was based on “After the Funeral”, one of Agatha Christie’s Poirot mysteries.

#Margaret Rutherford #miss marple #hercule Poirot #agatha christie #murder at a gallop #After the Funeral

[blackramhall]

Agatha Christie's After the Funeral

Manor Murder Mystery

#After the Funeral #Agatha Christie #hercule poirot #Audiobook

[kattahj]

My Agatha Christe Re-Reading Project, #44: After the Funeral

Sometimes, reading the books in chronological order like this, I get the feeling that Christie didn't quite feel finished with the concepts of one book when she proceeded to the next one. You can see it in Hercule Poirot's Christmas following Appointment with Death, and you can see it in this book following They Do It with Mirrors.

Most importantly, in this book, they ACTUALLY do it with mirrors. :-)

It is (or appears to be) another Christie family drama, but the family here is more vibrant. We get the recently dead patriarch, and all of the siblings and niblings desperate for a bit of his money. My favourite is probably Rosamund, a self-absorbed (bad) actress who's a bit sharper than she comes off – but that's not saying much! Poirot himself brings up her resemblance to Jane Wilkinson in Lord Edgware Dies, though I may actually enjoy Rosamund a bit more.

Her headstrong cousin Susan is a classic Christie staple, but always an enjoyable one!

I also liked the characterisation of Miss Gilchrist, the meek ladies' companion with a humble yet over-encompassing Dream.

It's also another case of having to look at what HAPPENS, rather than what APPEARS to be happening. Again, the murder is rather complicated and requires some rather large risks, but I still find it easier to buy than in They Do It with Mirrors. Though as they pointed out in the All About Agatha podcast, it's rather hard to pull off in an adaptation!

Altogether, a bunch of classic Christie elements go together well here, and while it is perhaps a tad too generous, my verdict lands at 4/5.

#agatha christie #after the funeral #funerals are fatal #my agatha christie rereading project #my agatha christie re-reading project

[hitchell-mope]

Ah well. At least the perp didn’t try to run away this time. That makes a nice change.

#agatha christie’s poirot #after the funeral

[fregolicotard]

15.05.2023

It rained all day, before, during and after the funeral.

#135of365

#rain #365 project #rainy day #after the funeral

[rosepompadour]

Adore each other. Be fiendishly smitten. Be frantically in love. Can there be too many perfumes, too many rosebuds, too many nightingales? Can lovers love each other too much, be too enchanting, too beguiling, too charming? Is it possible to be too much alive, too happy? Adore each other, and never mind the rest.

— Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862)

#also hugo: i'm gonna keep my mistress locked up for half a century after she follows me into exile 😊 #and then i'm not going to attend her funeral 😊 #adore each other 😊 #les miserables #victor hugo #literature

[goodshipsmulder]

The Tide

Post episode fic for Home Again. Mulder's silence at the end scene bugged me so I made a headcanon out of it, as always ;) My first ever fanfic by the way, I shall try and tag correctly. ****

‘Of course we didn’t treat William like trash. Anything but. We did everything we could to protect him.’ I want to say this to her out loud but as with almost everything I’ve wanted to say to her today, the words get stuck in my throat, so all I can do is squeeze her shoulder as she leans into me and hope she knows.

I didn’t go to the funeral, and one week on I still feel like trash myself for not being there for her despite that being at Scully’s request. When we’d discussed it, she was worried I’d get into a fight with Bill again and I had to grudgingly admit, based off of the last time he and I tried to attend the same Scully family get together, that this was for the best. So we’d agreed I’d pick her up after the wake and the two of us would go down to the coast, to a favorite spot of her parents’, and sprinkle some of Margaret’s ashes into the sea there. Bill doesn’t like the sentiment of spreading ashes, claiming the spirit is more important than the body or something, and Charlie as usual couldn’t stick around.

She feels soft and light as she leans into me, and I can’t help but enjoy how tactile she’s been since her mom’s last days in the hospital. Trying not to enjoy her touch *too* much, I keep my gaze on the shoreline in the middle distance.

Ever since we started back on the X Files, I’ve felt this gradual shift as if we’re getting back to how things used to be between us. It hasn’t been a linear, progressive change – things never have been that way for us. No, more like the tide of the sea, slowly edging inwards, the waves crashing forward then drawing back across the sand, imperceptibly moving in. A look here, a touch there, then we back off into the realms of cordiality and professionalism. Back and forth, ebb and flow. Sometimes I feel that she’s close to coming home to me for good, other times I feel like we’re back to square one like when she was first assigned to work with me and we were still learning to trust each other. I hope it doesn’t take another 7 years for her to let me in again…but I can wait.

The breeze lifts a lock of her hair and it brushes against my cheek. Although I still hate fire, I have always loved how her hair looks like a burning beacon of light. Here in the dwindling light and starkness of the beach, it seems to glow even more in contrast. If our relationship is the tide of the sea, Scully herself is a lighthouse. She’s been there to guide me to safer waters so many times and I know she needs the same from me today.

I’m silently reflecting on the metaphor and whether I can extend it any further without it becoming cloying - considering whether she views me as a riptide, pulling her out into danger, or more as a weighty anchor, dragging her downward with me whenever my depression hit - when suddenly she says my name.

“I think I’m ready now,” she says, pulling away from me and picking up the urn containing her mother’s ashes. I rise, trying not to wince at the stiffness in my knees, and help her to stand. Her smart black heels aren’t really suited to the sand, so I have an excuse to offer her my arm to help steady her, and she takes it without hesitation. We make our way down the beach toward the old wooden jetty, up onto the creaking weathered boards and slowly out towards the edge where the water is surprisingly deep and laps gently against the beams beneath.

She’s clutching the urn to her chest and I can see she’s starting to tremble as she struggles with the clasp, so I lay my hand over hers and murmur “We can do this another time if you want…”

“No, no I want to do this today…I need to. It’s what she wanted.”

That’s her ‘I need to work now’ tone so I take my hand away and let her continue. She tips a small pool of ash onto the palm of her hand and tremulously holds it out over the water. I know she’s already given enough speeches at the funeral and the wake, and her voice is already breaking so I’m not surprised when she keeps it brief:

“Mom, here you go, back to Ahab like you wanted. Wherever you are now, there will always be a part of you in the sea, just like dad. And there will always be a part of you with me, too. Love you.”

She turns her hand and lets the ashes sprinkle down into the water, the sea foam gently swirling around them until they sink down away from view.

I’m still gazing at the water when I realise she’s holding out the urn to me. “I’d like you to do this too, Mulder,”

I nod and accept the small heap of ashes she pours into my palm. I hold my hand out over the water and pause. I kinda knew she’d want me to say a few words and I’d been unsure what to say, but I decided to freestyle it, true Mulder fashion.

“Margaret…I know after my mother died you always said I could call you Mom and I never did. I always wanted you to know that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to, just that you always felt like so much more to me than that word had ever meant to me…you showed me so much love and acceptance. Thank you. And thank you for raising Dana into the wonderful, feisty, beautiful person she is today…” I can feel Scully reaching out to touch my arm and I start to falter again. Never one for too much schmaltz, I try for a bit of levity, “and thanks for all that delicious food you made for me, especially your Irish Stew, and for making sure I ate a vegetable now and then. I’ll try and keep that up.” I smile to myself and tip the ashes into the water, somewhat less gracefully than Scully had.

We stand there quietly for a while, then Scully says in barely more than a whisper “When did mom cook for you?”

Shit. I forgot she didn’t know.

“Oh…yeah that was after…after you moved out. She came over one day out of the blue, said you hadn’t mentioned seeing me in a while and she was getting worried about me. She noticed I was looking a little rough and I think she clocked the takeout containers in the kitchen. She came over again the next day with a big bag full of Tupperware homemade frozen dinners and a freshly baked lasagne. And then she came back a week later with more, to make sure I’d eaten.”

Scully lets out a tiny broken chuckle “That is so typically Mom,”

“Yeah, it happened a couple of times, actually. Just whilst you were…” I cut myself off, chiding myself for mentioning the breakup. “She was a very giving person, your mom.”

She reaches out and cups my cheek with her hand, her bottom lip quivering.

“I’m sorry I abandoned you like that, Fox. I should have checked in on you more,”

“It’s OK,” I shrug off the repeated use of my first name. “I was a difficult person to be around back then,”

“So was I…”

I scoff at the notion quietly, shaking my head. She pulls me in for a hug and I breathe her in, her perfume mingling with the faint smell of whiskey on her breath from the bottle she’d shared with her brothers that morning.

The breeze starts to pick up and I feel her shiver.

“It’s getting late. Want me to drive you back to your apartment now?”

She starts to say yes then changes her mind. “Actually…let’s go back to the house together. If we stop by the market on the way I can grab a few things…maybe make you some of Mom’s stew? I’m pretty sure I remember the recipe,”

I’ve gotten better at meal planning lately, and she’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the current contents of my fridge, but I can’t remember the last time we sat down for a home cooked meal together and can’t help but feel a flush of excitement at the thought of her coming home, if only for a few hours.

“Sounds good,” I say, turning to look back to the shore.

“I think the tide’s coming in…”

I turn back to her and smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah…I think it is.”

#x files #the x files #home again #s10e04 #mulder x scully #fox mulder #dana scully #x files revival #margaret scully #mild angst #after the funeral #fanfic #x files fanfic #death mention tw

[pyralart]

In which Luz gets isekai-ed another way

First part >> Next Part

Remember folks, look both ways before crossing the road or this might happen to YOU! This was an advert from the Road Safety Agency (it's not).

Oops, I just dropped the angst! I can reveal that it's inspired by this original post, although I'll put my own spin on it so don't think you know what's gonna happen!

#pyralart #the owl house #the owl house spoilers #toh #toh fanart #toh comic #luz noceda #And the most important: Truck-san <3 #Please don't be sad it's not the end of the comic #After all next up is her funeral!! (Sorry sorry sorry I'm joking) #I drew this entire ass truck with all the details before having to darken if for the atmosphere and effect I hate it here #A WHOLE ASS TRUCK #I also made the entire background and we see 10% of it #Back to the Human Realm #<-- Reminder this will be the tag for it #What if the comic just ended there lmao #I'm not that mean it's okay