The Secret of Chimneys


The Secret of Chimneys is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in June 1925 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. It introduces the characters of Superintendent Battle and Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.
At the request of George Lomax, Lord Caterham reluctantly agrees to host a weekend party at his home, Chimneys. A murder occurs in the house, beginning a week of fast-paced events with police among the guests.
The novel was well received at first publication, described as more than a murder mystery, as it is a treasure hunt. Later reviews found it a first-class romp and one of the author's best early thrillers.

Plot summary

When they meet up in Bulawayo, Anthony Cade agrees to take on two jobs for his friend James McGrath. Anthony heads for London to deliver the draft of a memoir to a publisher, who has pledged to pay £1000 if it is delivered by a certain date; and to return a packet of compromising letters to the woman who wrote them. In England, politician George Lomax persuades Lord Caterham to host a house party at Chimneys. George's cousin Virginia Revel is invited, as is Hiram Fish, a collector of first edition books, along with the principals in a political scheme to restore the monarchy in Herzoslovakia – while assuring that newly discovered oil there will be handled by a British syndicate.
On Cade's first day in London, he is approached by two Herzoslovakian men who try to acquire the manuscript. The first, a Count supporting the Royalist faction, tries to buy the manuscript, offering to outbid the publisher, to suppress any embarrassing information it might contain; Cade politely but firmly refuses. The second, a member of a violent revolutionary group, demands Cade hand it over at gunpoint; Cade disarms the man and sends him away. Later that night, Cade discovers his waiter sneaking into his hotel room; the waiter escapes with the packet of letters. The publisher calls Cade the next day, telling him that their employee Mr Holmes will arrive to pick up the memoir. This was written by the late Count Stylptitch of Herzoslovakia; now that oil has been discovered, the nation is in turmoil between republicans and royalists. On advice, Cade puts a dummy package in the hotel safe.
The thief brings one letter to Virginia Revel at her home, as it is her name signed to each letter. Unaware she did not write the letters, and that her husband is dead, he attempts to blackmail her. On a whim, she pays some money, and promises more the next day. When she arrives home the next day, she finds him shot dead in her house, and Anthony Cade on her door step. Cade removes the body, dumping it along a road in the country and hiding the gun up a tree, to avoid a scandal and allow Virginia to proceed to Chimneys.
At Chimneys, Prince Michael, heir apparent to the vacant throne of Herzoslovakia, is killed the night of his arrival. Cade was at Chimneys that same evening, leaving footprints outdoors but not indoors. He boldly introduces himself to Superintendent Battle, explaining the story of the memoirs, and persuading Battle of his innocence in the murder. After seeing that the dead prince is the same man as "Mr Holmes", Cade pursues his own ideas in finding the murderer, while Battle leads the main investigation. The next heir to the throne, Nicholas, cousin to Michael, was raising money on his expectations in America. Cade checks out the governess, a recent addition to the household; he travels to France to speak with her prior employer.
The Koh-i-Noor diamond had been stolen from the Tower of London and replaced by a paste copy some years earlier, by a French jewel thief named King Victor. Chimneys is one place where it may be hidden, though many searches have not found it. King Victor was released from prison in France a few months earlier, so Battle expects he will seek to recover it. The night Cade is in France, there is a break-in at Chimneys. Virginia Revel hears the noise, and sees one or two men taking old armour apart. She and Bill Eversleigh do not catch the thief. The next night, the three wait for a second attempt; they catch M. Lemoine of the Sûreté, on the track of King Victor. Battle has been waiting for him. The stolen letters reappear in Cade's room. It is revealed the letters were coded messages written to King Victor by an accomplice. Battle realizes the thieves want him to decode the letter that points to the location of the stolen gem. This is done, revealing the clue: "Richmond seven straight eight left three right". Battle follows the Richmond clue to a brick in a hidden passage, which in turn reveals a puzzling conundrum. Cade slips out to Dover, to find an address on a slip of paper given him by Boris Anchoukoff, valet to the late prince. He finds the meeting of King Victor's gang; Hiram Fish, really a Pinkerton detective on the thief's trail for his crimes in America; and the real M Lemoine tied up as a hostage.
At Chimneys, all are gathered to hear the mysteries explained. In the library, Boris finds Miss Brun with a pistol, attempting to get the jewel. They struggle; the gun goes off in her hand, killing her. Miss Brun had killed Prince Michael, because he had recognized her as someone else. She was the last queen consort of Herzoslovakia, thought to have been murdered with her husband in the revolution; but she escaped. She wrote the coded letters to Captain O'Neill, an alias of King Victor, and signed them with the name of Virginia Revel, who had been living in Herzoslovakia with her husband, a British diplomat. Cade introduces the real M Lemoine to the group, while Hiram Fish snares King Victor, who has been posing as the French detective and in America as Nicholas. Anthony Cade gave "Mr Holmes" the dummy package; he gives the real memoirs to Jimmy McGrath to earn his £1000. Cade and Fish solve the conundrum; it points to a rose bush on the grounds, where the Koh-i-Noor is subsequently recovered. Anthony presents himself as the missing Prince Nicholas, ready to ally with the British syndicate. He offers himself as Herzoslovakia's next king. Earlier that day, he married Virginia, who will be his queen.

Characters

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Inhabitants of "Chimneys" and guests at the house party
  • Clement Edward Alistair Brent, 9th Marquis of Caterham, Lord Caterham
  • Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent, eldest daughter of Lord Caterham
  • Virginia Revel, cousin of George Lomax, daughter of a peer, society beauty and young widow of Timothy Revel, former British envoy to Herzoslovakia; she is 27 years old.
  • Hiram P Fish, collector of first editions, invited to the house party by Lord Caterham
  • Herman Isaacstein, financier of a British oil syndicate
  • Tredwell, the butler
  • Miss Genevieve Brun, French governess for Lady Eileen's two younger sisters Dulcie and Daisy
Friends in South Africa
  • Anthony Cade, British-educated adventurer, down on his luck when the novel opens; 32 years old, and 14 years since he was last in England.
  • James McGrath, Canadian man always seeking gold, asked to deliver a package to London
British Government
  • The Honourable George Lomax, of the Foreign Office
  • Bill Eversleigh, works for George Lomax and is one of the house party
Herzoslovakians
  • Prince Michael Obolovitch of Herzoslovakia , second murder victim
  • Captain Andrassy, his equerry
  • Boris Anchoukoff, his valet
  • Baron Lolopretjzyl, London representative of the Loyalist Party of Herzoslovakia
  • Prince Nicholas Obolovitch of Herzoslovakia , raised and educated in England
  • Dutch Pedro, an agent of the "Comrades of the Red Hand"
Police and criminal investigators
  • Inspector Badgworthy, local police.
  • Colonel Melrose, Chief Constable.
  • Dr Cartwright, pathologist.
  • Constable Johnson, newest addition to the local police, brother of the local railway porter, thus aware of all arrivals and departures by train.
  • Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard, always on the spot.
  • Monsieur Lemoine of the Sûreté, French detective also in pursuit of King Victor.
  • Professor Wynwood, decoder.
Others
  • Giuseppe Manelli, Italian waiter at the Blitz Hotel, thief and blackmailer, first murder victim
  • King Victor, international jewel thief recently released from prison in France , a man quite proud of his skills in thievery and disguise, voiced in his role as M Lemoine; wanted by three nations
  • Angèle Mory, former dancer at the Folies Bergère, jewel thief with King Victor's gang, later Queen Varaga of Herzoslovakia . She murdered Prince Michael, and was killed by her own gun in the struggle with Boris.

    Literary significance and reception

The Times Literary Supplement reviewed the novel in its issue of 9 July 1925 and, after setting up the story, stated favourably that "there is... a thick fog of mystery, cross-purposes and romance, which leads up to a most unexpected and highly satisfactory ending".
The reviewer for The Observer wrote on 28 June 1925: "Mrs Christie plunges lightheartedly into a real welter of murders, innocently-implicated lookers-on, Balkan politics, impersonators, secret societies, ciphers, experts, secret hiding-places, detectives, and emerges triumphantly at the end, before her readers are too hopelessly befogged. Nobody is killed who matters much. The right people marry, after it all, having first endeared themselves to us by their frivolous attitude to the singularly animated doings around them." The reviewer concluded that Christie's "ingenuity and clear-headedness are really remarkable."
The review in The Scotsman of 16 July 1925 began, "Despite Herzoslovakian politics and a background of oil and finance, this new novel by Agatha Christie gets a grip of the reader when it comes down to the business of disposing of a corpse, innocently come by but not to be repudiated without danger of grave scandal" and went on to say, "It is an exciting story with a bewildering array of potential murderers and a curious collection of detectives, amateur and professional, and with a crook of international importance and consummate ability." The review concluded: "There is more than murder in this story; there is a treasure hunt in it, not for gold but a diamond, and the story is suitably staged for the main part at Chimneys, that historic mansion whose secret will be found in Chapter XXIX, though the wise in these matters may have discovered it a little earlier".
Robert Barnard said it is important to remember when this novel was written "If you can take all of the racialist remarks, which are very much of their time, this is a first-class romp, all the better for not being of the 'plot to take over the world' variety. It concerns the throne and crown jewels of Herzoslovakia, and combines such Hope-ful elements with bright young things and some effective caricatures." His final decision on the novel overall was that it was "By far the least awful of the early thrillers."
Charles Osborne: "The Secret of Chimneys is one of the best of Agatha Christie's early thrillers. Her attitude to democracy is so unsympathetic, at least as expressed by a character of whom Mrs Christie evidently approves, that it reveals an unexpectedly authoritarian aspect of the author's nature".
In his analysis of Christie's Notebooks published in 2010 and 2012, Christie expert and archivist John Curran wrote that "a hefty suspension of disbelief is called for if some aspects of the plot are to be accepted." Curran considered the novel an "enjoyable but preposterous romp... littered with loose ends, unlikely motivations and unconvincing characters" and regarded Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit and The Seven Dials Mystery "if not more credible, at least far less incredible" than Chimneys.