Though the influence of Hope and Wodehouse can certainly be seen in the novel’s story of princes in disguise (reminiscent of The Prisoner of Zenda) and a country house setting that would have reminded readers of Blandings, its main plot addresses an important theme –and in exploring it Christie takes the Balkans very seriously. It is, however, a far more subtle work than such accounts suggest. Wodehouse (Thompson 143) and on the other a mishmash of popular ethnic, national and regional stereotypes – including those of the Balkans (Todorova 122). Balkan OilĪgatha Christie’s The Secret of Chimneys (1925) has been faulted for being on the one hand a frothy mix of Anthony Hope and P. Keywords: Christie, Balkans, Romania, oil, brigands 1. In London, however, the Foreign Office plans to overthrow its government to secure oil rights promised by a royal heir-in-exile to a London-based financial consortium.
Herzoslovakia remains relatively unknown, as none of the novel’s scenes take place there, but it is described by disinterested observers as democratic and prosperous. It is Britain, not the fictional Herzoslovakia, that is a nation of brigands. In The Secret of Chimneys (1925) Agatha Christie uses the all too familiar Balkan stereotypes of backwardness and brigandage, but not – as was usually the case at the time – as an Other to illustrate British virtue, but as a mirror to British vice.
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