#6Degrees of Separation: From Rules of Civility to Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation!

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own six degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees.

This month’s starting book is Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, a book I haven’t read but which I know starts on New Year’s Eve in 1937. This gave me the theme for my chain, namely dates in the year that are marked for various reasons.

Let’s start in February with The Infinite by Patience Agbabi which tells the story of Elle, a Leapling (a child born on 29th February) who also possesses the ability to leap through time.

We’ll leap through time, back to 44 BC to be precise. The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder is an epistolary novel set in the period running up to the assassination of Julius Caesar on 15th March 44 BC.

Another novel where a character’s life is in danger is The Dancing Floor by John Buchan. It’s set on the mysterious island of Plakos in the Aegean and culminates in the enactment of ancient pagan rituals for the arrival of Spring.

There are more pagan rites and another island in The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy. A police man on the trail of a missing girl is lured to the remote Scottish island of Summerisle as May Day approaches.

Hallowe’en has become associated with superstitious beliefs and in Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate the death of a girl who claimed, at a Hallowe’en party, to have witnessed a murder.

Staying with Agatha Christie, in Hercule Poirot’s Christmas a family reunion at Christmas is marred by a brutal murder and Poirot, as a guest of the head of the household, must investigate.

My chain has taken me from New Year’s Eve to Christmas, with some deaths along the way. Where did your chain take you?