Harley Quin was perhaps Agatha Christie's favorite character among all her creations.  Unlike Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Harley Quin is not a detective.  Rather he is an ephemeral being, arriving at the scene of mysterious circumstances (often involving romantic entanglements) to guide Mr. Sattherthwaite, who could be considered the detective in stories involving Mr. Quin, to the truth about the situations.  Although he wears a typical dark suit, it is often described that the light hits him in certain ways to produce effects of a colorful motley or black domino mask.

The character of Harley Quin only appeared in 14 stories, assembled into one collection (The Mysterious Mr. Quin) and as part of other collections (The Harlequin Tea Set and Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories).  Apart from a silent movie in 1928, there has never been a cinematic or television adaptation of the works, and Harley Quin remains one of Christie’s lesser known characters.

This episode explores the character of Harley Quin as well as the recurrent Harlequinade iconography in the works of Agatha Christie.  Also discussed are The Affair at the Victory Ball, cocaine toxicity, rigor mortis, and harlequin-associated medical disorders.

For the full blog post and resources, visit www.christiesmysteries.com.

Resources:

• Glick, Jaimie B, et al.  Improved management of harlequin ichthyosis with advances in neonatal intensive care.  Pediatrics.  2017;139(1):e20161003; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1003
• Heard, Kennon, et al.  Mechanisms of acute cocaine toxicity.  The Open Pharmacology Journal.  2008;2(9):70-78.
• Hovnanian, Alain.  Harlequin ichthyosis unmasked: a defect of lipid transport.  The Journal of Clinical Investigation.  2005;115(7): 1708-1710.
• Kelsell, David P., et al.  Mutations in ABCA12 underlie the severe congenital skin disease harlequin ichthyosis.  The American Journal of Human Genetics.  2005;76:784-803.
• Neitz, Jay and Maureen Neitz.  The genetics of normal and defective color vision.  Vision Research.  2011;51(7):633-651.
• O’Leary, Michael E. and Jules C. Hancox.  Role of voltage-gated sodium, potassium, and calcium channels in the development of cocaine-associated cardiac arrhythmias.  British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.  2009;65(5):427-442.
• Rajpopat, Shefali, et al.  Harlequin ichthyosis: a review of clinical and molecular findings in 45 cases.  Archives of Dermatology.  2011;147(6):681-686.
• Tang, Judy, et al.  Harlequin colour change: unilateral erythema in a newborn.  Canadian Medical Association Journal.  2010;182(17):E801.
• “The Billie Carleton Exhibition.”  The Museum of Drugs.  Accessed February 12, 2021.  http://www.museumofdrugs.com/billiecarleton.html
• Wakim, Suzanne and Mandeep Grewal.  “Muscle Contraction.”  LibreTexts.  Accessed February 28, 2021.  https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Human_Biology/Book%3A_Human_Biology_(Wakim_and_Grewal)/15%3A_Muscular_System/15.4%3A_Muscle_Contraction
• Widmaier, Eric, et al.  Vander’s Human Physiology, Eleventh Edition.  Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008.

Music:

• The Missourians Vine Street Drag, 1929
• The Varsity Drag, 1927
• Grapes by I Dunno, 2008

Although the first full-length novel with Miss Jane Marple as the detective was published in 1930 (Murder at the Vicarage), the character initially appeared in print in a series of 6 short stories Christie wrote for a magazine in 1928.  In 1932, an additional 6 stories were added, and the compilation was published as The Thirteen Problems (UK) or The Tuesday Club Murders (US).

This episode focuses on two stories within the collection: The Thumb Mark of St. Peter and The Blue Geranium.  Both stories involve poisoning and have been mimicked or reproduced in some interesting true crime cases.

For the full blog post, visit www.christiesmysteries.com.

Resources:

• Christie, Agatha.  An Autobiography.  New York: HarperCollins, 1977.
• Christie, Agatha.  The Thirteen Problems.  London: HarperCollins Publishers, 1932.
• Harkup, Kathryn.  A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie.  Bloomsbury Sigma, 2015.
• “Cyanide, inability to smell.”  Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man.  Accessed September 2, 2020.
• Egan, Timothy.  “Woman convicted of killing 2 in drug tampering.”  The New York Times.  Accessed September 2, 2020.  https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/10/us/woman-convicted-of-killing-2-in-drug-tampering.html
• “Find an inmate.”  Federal Bureau of Prisons.  Accessed September 2, 2020.  https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/
• Giles, Eugene, et al.  “Hydrogen cyanide and phenylthiocarbamide sensitivity, mid-phalangeal hair and color blindness in Yucatan, Mexico.”  American Journal of Physical Anthropology.  1968;28(2):203-12.
• Harkup, Kathryn. “The Christmas poisoner who murdered by the book…”  The Guardian.  Accessed September 2, 2020.  https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/dec/24/agatha-christie-christmas-poisoner-murdered-by-the-book 
• “How does litmus paper work?”  Indigo Instruments.  Accessed September 2, 2020.  https://blog.indigoinstruments.com/litmus-paper-test/
• McFadden, Robert.  “Poison deaths bring U.S warning on Tylenol use.”  The New York Times.  Accessed September 2, 2020.  https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/02/us/poison-deaths-bring-us-warning-on-tylenol-use.html
• “Stella Maudine Nickell.”  Murderpedia.  Accessed September 2, 2020.  https://murderpedia.org/female.N/n/nickell-stella.htm
• Young Kelly, et al. Anatomy & physiology.  XanEdu Publishing Inc, 2013.

Music:

• The Missourians Vine Street Drag, 1929
• The Varsity Drag, 1927
• Grapes by I Dunno, 2008
• St. James Infirmary by Alex Hill and his Orchestra, circa 1930

Murder on the Orient Express, written by Agatha Christie in 1933 and published the following year, is perhaps her seminal work.  It is also possibly the work most directly inspired by a true crime case, the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby.  This episode explores the novel and several related true crime cases as well as the use of forensic xylotomy in the original Case of the Century.

For the full blog post, visit www.christiesmysteries.com.

Resources:

• Christie, Agatha.  An Autobiography.  New York: HarperCollins, 1977.
• Christie, Agatha.  Murder on the Orient Express.  London: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1934. 
• Holgate, Mike.  Agatha Christie’s True Crime Inspirations. Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2010.
• Morgan, Janet.  Agatha Christie: A Biography.  London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2017.
• Osborne, Charles.  The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie.  London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1999.
• Thompson, Laura.  Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life.  New York: Pegasus Books, 2018.
• Cahill Jr., Richard T.  Hauptmann’s Ladder: A Step-by-Step Analysis of the Lindbergh Kidnapping.  Kent: The Kent State University Press, 2014.
• Cornett, Doug.  “Big Picture, Small Picture: Context for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.”  Ploughshares at Emerson College.  Accessed November 04, 2019.  http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/big-picture-small-picture-context-for-agatha-christies-murder-on-the-orient-express/
• Donnelly, Marea.  “Real-life mystery behind Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.”  The Daily Telegraph.  Accessed November 04, 2019.  https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/reallife-mystery-behind-agatha-christies-murder-on-the-orient-express/news-story/32ca22fb0467c9a5e27d612a3a7ae763
• Escobar, Natalie.  “What Was the Inspiration for ‘The Murder on the Orient Express’?”  Smithsonian Magazine.  Accessed November 04, 2019.  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-was-inspiration-murder-orient-express-180967305/
• Milton, Joyce.  Loss of Eden: A Biography of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  Open Road Integrated Media, 2014.
• Schrager, Adam J.  The Sixteenth Rail.  Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum, 2013.

Music:

• The Missourians Vine Street Drag, 1929
• The Varsity Drag, 1927
• Grapes by I Dunno, 2008