ALL HAIL THE QUEEN. Recently, one of my Book Riot coworkers started reading Agatha Christie novels and was telling me about it. Which is like talking about flames to a pyromaniac. So today I drove to my brother’s house, where my collection has been residing in his barn for several years, and brought my Agatha Christie books home. (I lived in a verrrrrrrry tiny apartment before the house I live in now, so I had packed them up for the sake of space.)
A few of the books didn’t survive the barn, like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, but the rest are fine and pictured above. (Along with the new book, A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup. And bonus cat foot.)
Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None was the first “adult” book I read, when I was nine, and I proceeded to inhale all her other books. I read them all again at 18, and again at 32. (Which is amazing, considering I’m only 23.) I am also a huge fan of the “Poirot” series with David Suchet and Hugh Fraser (who follows me on Twitter! *FANGIRL SCREAM*)
When I was little, I was great at guessing the killer in Agatha Christie’s books, and I also loved ancient Egypt like she did, so I made the obvious connection: I must be Agatha Christie reincarnated. Which is totally normal behavior for a nine-year-old. (Never mind that she died six months before I was born – I had an explanation for that, too.)
I have since outgrown this theory. Mostly because I never developed a love for surfing.
But I still love her as much as I ever did. So now here I am, fighting the urge to start reading all her books again. They are like comfort food to me. If you’re a Christie fan, you understand this feeling. And if you’re a Christie fan, I highly recommend watching the Doctor Who episode “The Unicorn and the Wasp.” It’s wonderful, and full of references to her books in the dialogue. And it has a marvelous explanation with regards to her “disappearance.” And check out this episode of RadioLab, which never fails to make me cry.
Talk to me about Agatha in the comments!
And Then There Were None was the first book I ever loved. So come on…what do you think of Sophie Hannah?! You can’t just leave us (me) hanging without discussing your thoughts on the first ever Christie Estate-sanctioned Poirot novel! (My thoughts, since you asked: haven’t read Monogram Murders yet, but I have greatly enjoyed the Spilling CID novels of Hannah’s which I have read…do you have thoughts on these novels as well?)
Tangential question: In terms of current mystery/detective novels, who are some of the authors doing it best in your opinion? I think Tana French is the queen of all things awesome. Her prose is perfect. I’m also greatly enjoying Robert Galbraith. Do you have [time to share your] thoughts on these two also?