Morning, friends! I'm just dropping by briefly to let you know that the latest Spoiler Warning episode of my buddy JJ's podcast, In GAD We Trust, has just dropped. This time around, JJ, Moira (of Clothes in Books fame) and I have a discussion about the Agatha Christie classic, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Be … Continue reading It’s Podcast Time Again!!
Agatha Christie
FAST FORWARDING INTO ‘21
“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.” (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) Does anybody want to hear me vent about 2020? Because, you know, I can do it, and I will . . . that is, if anyone wants to listen. To be honest, however, … Continue reading FAST FORWARDING INTO ‘21
THE MAN, THE MOUSTACHES, THE MASTERPIECE: Ending the Year on a High Note
On March 14 of this anno horribilus, I suggested to all of you that whatever comes our way could be mitigated by reading a classic mystery. I suggested this because . . . well, that’s kind of what they were written for! Not that Agatha Christie and Freeman Wills Crofts and Sayers and Berkeley and the … Continue reading THE MAN, THE MOUSTACHES, THE MASTERPIECE: Ending the Year on a High Note
A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE – THE FINAL CHAPTER: The Millennium and Beyond
“In my end is my beginning.” Many books begin with an epigraph; Agatha Christie’s characters speak in them. The occasion, more often than not, is dark. After all, these people are bearing witness to – or maybe committing – murder. “Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” … Continue reading A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE – THE FINAL CHAPTER: The Millennium and Beyond
A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE: Entr’acte at the Vicarage
Hello, fellow Christie fans! I'm busy working on the next but last chapter of my celebration of the Christie centenary, decade by decade. I need a little more time with the "aughts," so I thought I would distract you with a very good time I recently had talking with Moira (Clothes in Books) and Jim … Continue reading A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE: Entr’acte at the Vicarage
A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE: Doubtful Devotion in the 90’s
“Even Max admitted that she was elusive. He once said a revealing thing about her to me - that she was an exceptional combination of outer diffidence and inner confidence. Both of these were utterly genuine, like everything about her. It is extraordinary enough that, with all her worldwide fame, she should have been so … Continue reading A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE: Doubtful Devotion in the 90’s
A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE, PART SEVEN: Mistress of Media in the 80’s
When I was a student, focused on the study of literature and theatre, I learned a hard lesson: there was a schism between those works which are deemed “art” and those classified as “popular culture”. As a child, my love of comic books was derided as . . . well, childish. Studying drama at U.C. … Continue reading A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE, PART SEVEN: Mistress of Media in the 80’s
A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE, PART SIX: Requiem and Rebirth in the 70’s
“What can I say at seventy-five? ‘Thank God for my good life, and for all the love that has been given to me.’” Agatha Christie: An Autobiography “It’s sad really, but nowadays one is only interested in the deaths!” Nemesis (1971) Six Novels Passenger to Frankfurt (1970) Nemesis (1971) Elephants Can Remember (1972) Postern of Fate (1973) Curtain (1975) * Sleeping … Continue reading A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE, PART SIX: Requiem and Rebirth in the 70’s
A CENTURY OF AGATHA CHRISTIE, PART FIVE: The Pendulum Swings in the Swinging 60’s
“You know . . . I really can’t think how anyone ever gets away with a murder in real life. It seems to me that the moment you’ve done a murder the whole thing is so terribly obvious. . . The murder part is quite easy and simple. It’s the covering up that’s so difficult. … Continue reading A CENTURY OF AGATHA CHRISTIE, PART FIVE: The Pendulum Swings in the Swinging 60’s
A CENTURY OF AGATHA CHRISTIE, PART FOUR: The Iffy 50’s
“Fifteen years ago one knew who everybody was. The Bantrys in the big house – and the Hartnells and the Price Ridleys and the Weatherbys . . . But it’s not like that anymore. Every village and small country place is full of people who’ve just come and settled there without any ties to bring them . … Continue reading A CENTURY OF AGATHA CHRISTIE, PART FOUR: The Iffy 50’s
Ah Sweet Mystery! 