[background murmurs; loud beeping sound] Kathy: That's an excellent sound to start
a video with.
Both: [laughter] Peter: It's fine.
Kathy: I love it.
Peter: It simulates real life.
Kathy: Yeah, exactly.
Hi, YouTube.
It's Kathy, and this fine fellow is...
Peter: Also Kathy.
I'm just kidding; my name's Peter.
Kathy: Hi, Peter.
How did we meet, Peter?
Peter: We... how did we meet?
There was something to do with the internet, and then libraries...
Kathy: It was Road to Nerdfighteria.
Peter: Oh, that's right, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kathy: When you posted your video, I was like, "Hey, you're really close to where I am".
Peter: That's right.
I remember now.
Kathy: So we decided that since we knew we were taking the same flight down to VidCon,
we would both read a short book and then talk about it, in an airport, which seems like
a very YouTube/VidCon type thing to do.
Good morning, Kathy; it's Tuesday.
Kathy: Exactly! It is Tuesday!
Good job, Peter!
Peter: Yes!
[laughter] Kathy: And if all goes well, this will be
up by the end of the day, so hurray!
Peter: Yes!
Kathy: We decided to read "The Body in the Library" by Agatha Christie, which was a choice
that I have mixed feelings about.
[laughter] Peter: Well, I've never read mystery books,
and I certainly have never read Miss Marple- Kathy: Okay.
Peter: Um, or Agatha Christie, rather, um, but I had dated a gal who was really into,
like, Poirot, so I kind of knew what to expect... almost?
Kathy: So, I've read a fair amount of mystery, but I hadn't read any Agatha Christie yet,
and it was very different from the type of mysteries that I have read in the past.
Like, I read a lot of Nancy Drew as a kid.
And then I've read, like, Kathy Reichs, and like all of the main mystery type of
people - well, not all of them, that would be silly.
Peter: But a lot.
Kathy: Yeah, a lot of them.
Enough to understand the genre, and they were really big differences between what I know
from other mystery type things, and this.
First off, did you think it was going to be in a public library?
Because I thought was.
Peter: I was hoping.
I was really hoping.
Kathy: Yeah, I thought - because I forget that, like, people are rich enough to have
whole rooms of books, that, because I don't.
[laugh] Peter: Right?!
I call that the office.
So, before I started reading it, I had read up on Agatha Christie, and like her style,
and I was surprised because a lot of people where like, they were panning it, and they
were like, "oh, man, it's so predictable and blah blah blah"
and I was like, well...
Okay, we'll see.
Um, when I was reading it, I found myself not liking it but for totally different reasons
than everyone else was saying.
Kathy: [laughs] What were your reasons?
Because I definitely have some, so let's see if they're the same.
Peter: Yeah, so, for me, it was, so the whole concept of Miss Marple from this one small
sample size - apparently she solves mysteries from, like, the people she's met in her life.
Kathy: Yeah.
Peter: And looking at how that was portrayed, it felt like a deus ex machina around every corner.
It was like, oh, I'm not really going to introduce a reason, like, I'm just going to say, "ah!
Because I knew someone who looked like this, and acted like this.
Dear Mr. Old Pennywise-" Kathy: [laughs] Yeah!
Peter: "-had a farm down the street, did the same things."
And, like to, everyone.
Kathy: Yeah, I had a big problem with the fact that she didn't do any of her own work
to try to figure things out.
Like, it was- half the book, she wasn't even in it.
Peter: Right.
Kathy: So you were following police officers, who were actually solving the crime, and like
everything else I've read with a protagonist who is solving crime is actually a part of
solving it.
Like, Nancy Drew goes out and does her detective thing-
Peter: Right.
Kathy -or, like, Temperence Brennan is doing the forensics, that type of thing.
So, like, it was weird to have this person, like, just kind of sitting on the sidelines,
doesn't get her hands dirty.
Is just sitting there, prime and proper and very hoity-toity, and yeah, that.
Peter: Eating cucumber sandwiches.
Kathy: Oh, god, yes.
Exactly, like, this should have been The Importance of Being Earnest, really.
Peter: Yeah, and it's funny because after I finished the book, I flipped it over, and
I read it... like, one of the critique's reviews was like, "Agatha Christie is such a good
writer; you'll never guess who the real criminal was at the end".
And, I'm like, well, yes, I won't.
Because none of the book has anything to do, like, they put all of these things out throughout
the course of the book and then at the end Miss Marple comes in and is like, "Oh, here's
exactly what happened".
Kathy: Yeah, and like, no way to figure it out because there were never any clues in there
There was never any deductions skills used besides her being like, "I used to have a
friend that was kind of like this, and this is why this person is murderer".
And I can't remember who it was, because I read it 20 books ago, and I actually really
don't care.
Peter: Spolier alert: So, very early in the book, so after they found the body, uh, they...
the one gal who ended up being one of the guilty people was like, "oh, maybe it was
what's-his-face because she looks exactly like this girl that he goes out with".
So they go, and he has an alibi, so they just leave it at that.
So, I take it back.
Maybe, that was clever.
'Cause the way it went wasn't this Hollywood guy, but they had put the body in the Hollywood
guy's house, after they had killed the girl...
Kathy: Oh, and he moved it. Ohhhh!
I remember Peter: And he moved it because he was drunk.
Kathy: [laughs] He was like, "well this seems like a terrible situation; let me fix this".
Peter: Yeah.
[both laugh] Put it off on the bourgeoisie, as we often do.
It was a quick read, though.
Kathy: Yeah, it was a quick read.
There was one character where, like, his defining feature in basically the whole thing was that
he was in a wheelchair, so, like, every time they mentioned him, they were like, "oh, yes,
that man in a wheel chair".
And I was like...
Peter: So the library belonged to, like, a British retired army dude or something.
Kathy: Yes.
Peter: And I was disconcerted by how enthusiastic his wife was about the fact that-
Kathy: "There was a murder!
This is exciting!
I have to call all my friends!"
Peter: Yeah, a dead body appears in her library and she gets to play sleuth.
I mean, I guess maybe it makes sense, 'cause if Agatha Christie was writing the books for
a specific time period, a specific group of people in that time period, maybe they would
be like, "oh, I also would get enthusiast if I found a body in my husband's library!"
Kathy: Do you want to know the first note I wrote down?
Peter: Yes!
Kathy: Because I knew it would amuse you.
This was the 69th book I read this year.
[both laugh like 12 year olds] Peter: We'll have to tell Lindsey.
Kathy: Yeah.
I knew you would approve.
Did you know about this trope - the body in the library trope?
Because I had never heard of it before.
All right?
I'm glad it wasn't just me.
Peter: I mean, there's, like, Clue.
But that's, like, library being one of many- Kathy: Exactly, one of nine places.
The people around town just being like, "well, that slut, she kind of deserved to be murdered".
And I was just like, "um, excuse me?"
So there was a lot of that.
That I did not care for.
Peter: And a lot of like, "oh, she was, she was like plain and simple".
Kathy: Mmmhmm.
Peter: "Never would have guessed it."
Kathy: Yeah, and the whole, the man whose library it was, "he is such a nice man".
Like, nobody even thought for a second that he did it.
Oh, she mentioned herself in the book.
Which was weird.
Peter: Agatha Christie?
Kathy: Yeah, she mentioned the, like, because there was that kid who was a fan of mystery
books- Peter: Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh!
Kathy: And he was like, "oh, and I love Agatha Christie".
And I was like, huh, hm, I wonder if you did this first or is Stephen King did this first.
Peter: I remember that coming up and being like, "ah, how every self-referential".
Kathy: It was kind of cute.
Peter: It was.
Yeah, yeah, that was a good thing.
but Agatha, I tell you, the next time you do something like that, I'm not buying another
one of your books ever again.
Kathy: I don't think you'll have that problem.
Peter: How am I going to be indignant?!
Kathy: Um, I think you can do that.
There's this place called the internet, and it makes it easy.
Peter: Oh goody!
Kathy: Do you have anything else to say about this book?
Peter: I mean, I give it a 3/10.
If you need something quick to read, and there's literally nothing else, maybe it's worth it.
Um, how about you?
Kathy: There was a lot of ableism and slut shaming, and yeah, it's - I mean, if you feel
like you really have to read an Agatha Christie, it might not be the worst one, but I haven't
read any of the others, so I have no way of telling you one way or the other.
Peter: You should, uh, read another Agatha Christie book, and let us know in the comments
below if it was any better.
Kathy: That is a great thing that probably no one will do, but I really hope they do.
[Peter laughs] Because it saves me from having to read the book.
Peter: Right?!
Well, hey, that's for doing this, this was fun.
Kathy: Yeah, this was fun.
Peter: Shall I sign off?
I guess.
Kathy: I guess.
Both: Bye!
Peter: Merry Christmas if I don't see you.
[Kathy laughs] Kathy: Bye!
[outro music]
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