Book Review: The Man in the Brown Suit
I had the firm conviction that, if I went about looking for adventure, adventure would meet me halfway. It is a theory of mine that one always gets what one wants
One of Agatha Christie’s stand-alone mysteries, at the time when the book was published, got a bad rep because Christie’s readers wanted another Poirot mystery and not a random tale of a young lady running all over Africa. That being said, I rather enjoyed this book; it's the first stand-alone that I have really liked. Granted, this book would never be published today, but some attitudes resound in the writing, which would not be acceptable in today’s society but are spoken about in the same tone as one would ask, “Would you like a cup of tea?”.
Our mystery is set by Anne, beautiful, witty but poor, who recently returned to England after her father died in Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe). Upon returning to England, she is embroiled in a murder and seemingly witnesses a man “fall” in front of a train. The man is pursued by the mysterious ‘man in the brown suit’ and accidentally drops coded messages that Anne finds. Next thing Anne knows, she is whisked away to South Africa hunting the mysterious man in the brown suit, but little does she realise her involvement puts her next on the killer's list!
However, as I have mentioned, this book is problematic, and I'm not just talking about the occasional racist remark where all the British white folk call practically everyone in the entire continent of Africa ‘Savages’. No, it's worse than that. It's just gross general ignorance and descriptions of the people who are originally from Africa. The tone of the book assumes that the locals and natives of South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) are to be pitied, for they are not as intellectually advanced as us superior white people. Ugh. Gross. There is a moment when the train with Anne and her fellow passengers stops to buy ‘trinkets’ and local ‘folk art’ -spoiler, it's just art- from the locals. These are wooden animal figures which cost next to nothing. The ladies, as well as Anne, treat them as curiosities of Africa. Now, one could argue that this is simply an emblem of the time and that Agatha Christie didn't know any better and wasn’t aware that her attitudes and assumptions were incorrect. That isn’t an excuse, though - I have often wondered why I haven't seen a modern adaptation of this book, as there have been so many, and I can see the problem as this book is problematic towards race and gender. Today’s film executives love blind casting - look at Bridgerton. So how will they tackle Agatha Christie? I’m sure it can be done, but I have no idea how.
The thing is, I do always love an Agatha Christian mystery - there are several merits to her work. Her mysteries are always well-built, and once you feel like she is falling into a formula, she will switch it up again. Just read ‘And Then There Were None’, and you’ll see what I mean. I love the adventure of Christite’s novels and while a lot of her works are problematic, they are still loved and film and television adaptations are churned out on a regular basis.