Towards Zero by Agatha Christie

The recent BBC series Towards Zero is not the story by Agatha Christie. You cannot write a better mystery than Christie, so why not film what she wrote?

Handsome and wealthy Nevile Strange is an all-around athlete; a prime example of a lucky Englishman with nothing to wish for. His exotic second wife Kay pursued him like a gold digger, never resting until he divorced his wife Audrey. Drab and wan, Audrey was very much in love with Nevile and had a breakdown when he left her. In a misguided attempt to make peace, Nevile brings the two women together for a fortnight at the cliffside manor house of his guardian, Lady Camilla Tressilian. The home overlooks the River Tern and the Easterhead Bay Hotel, where Kay's "theatrical" South American friend Ted is staying. He follows her everywhere, secretly very much in love. Bedridden Lady Tressilian is tended by her distant cousin Mary, who agrees Kay is uncouth and is afraid of what Audrey might do. Into the mix, we welcome a thickset cousin of Audrey's, Thomas Royde, and Mr. Treves, an elderly solicitor vacationing at a nearby hotel, who is invited to entertain Lady Tressilian.

There is the specter of death as Adrian (the brother of Thomas) died years ago in a car accident. Death itself arrives when Mr. Treves has a heart attack at his hotel, and the next morning Lady Tressilian is found bludgeoned to death.

Who could do such a thing? Superintendent Battle and Inspector Leach investigate to find all evidence points to Nevile, who has a solid alibi. The suspicion of a frame-up points to a woman: Kay is a planner, and Audrey aches from the divorce.

Perhaps they should ask Angus MacWhirter, a man nursing a broken heart at the Easterhead Bay Hotel, who happened to look up at the manor house one dark rainy night.

Christie's ingenious idea is that mysteries begin with the murder, but that event is actually the end. Years of circumstances have converged to that zero hour. Towards Zero explores the cunning plan of a murderer, which has little to do with Lady Tressilian, the investigation itself laying the groundwork for the intended victim to be killed.

Superintendent Battle appears in four Christie mysteries: The Secret of Chimneys, The Seven Dials Mystery, Murder Is Easy, and Towards Zero. Why BBC created a new detective for their series is the biggest mystery of all. Endorsed by the Christie estate, they chose to combine characters and invent new ones—in fact, writing a new plot - which I feel does a disservice to the work.

Do yourself a favour and read the entertaining and complex original work, as all Christie mysteries are winners.

1944 / Tradeback / 256 pages