Happy Birthday Agatha Christie

[cassiphone]

Originally published at tansyrr.com. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[blamebrampton]

In what is probably a coincidence, but I may have subconsciously recalled the anniversary, I am reading my way through Christie at the moment, many first times and some rereads. All out of order, whatever is under $10 at the local secondhand bookshops. She is SPLENDID! I had forgotten how funny she is, and occasionally a bit mean, so slyly so, and almost always against the deserving.

I have found that she really DOES leave loads and loads of clues, but most of them are textual rather than actual, so her assertion that the reader should always know whodunnit bears water, though I can see why none of the other characters do.

Tommy and Tuppence are terrific, so cheerfully rougish, and so wonderfully ageing as we see them years apart. But I have decided I cannot pick a favourite detective: I had settled on Miss Marple, but Poirot is delightful, too, and T&T, and ...

I absolutely recommend just diving in. I've inhaled 10 in the last month and have another 8 up my sleeve before I need to expand my bookshop gathering circle.

[angriest]

I'm more of a Poirot reader myself. Not sure why, may be a boy thing.

[cassiphone]

Yeah I was just so not interested in some middle aged Belgian when I was a kid, and the Miss Marple ones often had younger female protagonists too. I need to redress this!

[angriest]

Part of the appeal of Poirot for me is his sidekick Hastings. At least I think it was Hastings. All the Christie I read (which was a lot of them) was back when I was 12 years old.

[cassiphone]

See, I was reading about Hastings recently and realised I don't think I have EVER read one with him in it. All my Poirot was from the later eras. I so need to go chronological.

[benpayne]

I bought The Mysterious Affair at Styles a while ago with the intention of working through them all.

Joan Hickson was great, and I love Peter Ustinov's Poirot.

[cassiphone]

Oh yes, I love that movie - I don't remember the TITLE but he is in it, and Diana Rigg is appalling and gets killed. Brilliant cast.

[benpayne]

I think that was Evil Under the Sun. That was one of the best. Something about vertigo, from memory :-)

My favourite as a kid was Dead Man's Folly. That gave me nightmares! *shiver*

[jo1967]

Damn, you've got to be quick around here *grin*.