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A collection of short stories about Mr. Satterthwaite, an elderly bachelor who observes life rather than participating in it, and Mr. Quin, a younger man who appears mysteriously to catalyze a crucial change or realization in the lives of others - often though not always lovers - and disappears just as mysteriously. Shadows and reflections make Mr. Harley Quin appear to be masked and dressed in rainbow motley. He's obviously an avatar of Harlequin from the English Harlequinade, which was based on the Italian commedia dell'arte, where he's an acrobatic, romantic trickster figure with magical powers.
Mr. Sattherthwaite is very clearly coded as gay. (With Christie that sort of thing is deliberate, she absolutely knew about gay people and they're no more or less likely to be sympathetic than her straight characters.) He's a lifelong bachelor whose only romantic relationship with a woman was due to social expectations and apparently never went beyond hand-holding, if that. He's explicitly described as feminine.
The stories are all standalones in which either Mr. Satterthwaite solves a mystery, often after the fact, with Mr. Quin's help, or in which they help characters with some romantic problem. The mysteries themselves are mundane, but Mr. Quin is increasingly unambiguously magical, and Mr. Satterthwaite is increasingly unambiguously enthralled by him. Mr. Satterthwaite goes from feeling that he's a dried-up old man destined to be a bystander to taking on active roles in investigations, and seeing that his actions matter. Mr. Quin goes from a strange and distant figure to also taking on an active role in human life, and clearly develops a deep fondness for and connection to Mr. Satterthwaite. There's no real conclusion to their personal story, but there is a definite evolution.
I'd read some of these stories before, but this was my first time reading the entire volume in order. The mysteries are on the implausible/melodramatic side, but Christie conjures up a vivid atmosphere of romantic longing and subtle magic. They're basically fairytales, sometimes sweet, sometimes tragic, in the form of mysteries and wrapped around a barely-coded love story between a lonely old man and a magical being drawn to lovers.
Unsurprisingly, there is some excellent fic which removes the coding veneer.
Christie scale: MILD levels of ethnic stereotyping. In-character class snobbery.
Mr. Sattherthwaite is very clearly coded as gay. (With Christie that sort of thing is deliberate, she absolutely knew about gay people and they're no more or less likely to be sympathetic than her straight characters.) He's a lifelong bachelor whose only romantic relationship with a woman was due to social expectations and apparently never went beyond hand-holding, if that. He's explicitly described as feminine.
The stories are all standalones in which either Mr. Satterthwaite solves a mystery, often after the fact, with Mr. Quin's help, or in which they help characters with some romantic problem. The mysteries themselves are mundane, but Mr. Quin is increasingly unambiguously magical, and Mr. Satterthwaite is increasingly unambiguously enthralled by him. Mr. Satterthwaite goes from feeling that he's a dried-up old man destined to be a bystander to taking on active roles in investigations, and seeing that his actions matter. Mr. Quin goes from a strange and distant figure to also taking on an active role in human life, and clearly develops a deep fondness for and connection to Mr. Satterthwaite. There's no real conclusion to their personal story, but there is a definite evolution.
I'd read some of these stories before, but this was my first time reading the entire volume in order. The mysteries are on the implausible/melodramatic side, but Christie conjures up a vivid atmosphere of romantic longing and subtle magic. They're basically fairytales, sometimes sweet, sometimes tragic, in the form of mysteries and wrapped around a barely-coded love story between a lonely old man and a magical being drawn to lovers.
Unsurprisingly, there is some excellent fic which removes the coding veneer.
Christie scale: MILD levels of ethnic stereotyping. In-character class snobbery.
. It's idiosyncratic in the very best way, shamelessly (and fascinatingly) recounting the stories she imagined for her dolls, then skipping ahead to noting that her great-grand-daughter seems to tell similar stories to her own dolls. As a portrait of a time and place, it's wonderful. The childhood sections are especially good. She remembers not only the facts, but a child's perspective. (It also confirms that yes, all those women living together in cottages in her novels are supposed to be lesbians. She mentions basing those characters in her books on women like that whom she knew as a child and only later realized were couples.)
