MANSION W/7BD, 6B, 4CORPSES, & VIEW: The Mill House Murders

We are only a couple weeks shy of the seventh anniversary of the first time I posted about shin honkaku on this site. Since then, those of us who are extremely grateful for the Japanese obsession with the Golden Age of Detection have reveled in one release after another of both classic honkaku novels from the likes of Soji … Continue reading MANSION W/7BD, 6B, 4CORPSES, & VIEW: The Mill House Murders

RANKING MARPLE #5: A Murder Is Announced

Toward the end of Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life, biographer Laura Thompson writes:  “It is a paradox, although, perhaps, not a surprise, but Agatha’s popularity should have increased as her powers declined. After 1950 she wrote a handful of brilliant and unusual books – Destination Unknown, Ordeal by Innocence, The Pale Horse, Endless Night, and Passenger to Frankfurt – but she produced her … Continue reading RANKING MARPLE #5: A Murder Is Announced

“The most unkindest cut of all”: On Re-editing Christie

Fasten your seat belts: let’s talk about censorship. In March, the Guardian reported that Agatha Christie’s publisher, Harper Collins, would be scrubbing some of the more problematic language out of her books in future reissues: “The updates follow edits made to books by Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming to remove offensive references to gender and race in … Continue reading “The most unkindest cut of all”: On Re-editing Christie

KIDS, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! The Mini-Mega Hitchcock Draft, Home Edition

Screen Drafts is a podcast that helped me survive the pandemic and, along the way, captured my heart through the sense of camaraderie that permeated each conversation. Since I first wrote about it nearly seven months ago, I have caught up with all the publicly posted episodes, and I have joined the Patreon group and dabbled … Continue reading KIDS, DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! The Mini-Mega Hitchcock Draft, Home Edition