Agatha Christie: A Resurgence!!

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of mystery literature! I regularly read, review, and post about mystery books and I’m happy to report that I never tire of this genre…at least not yet! And honestly, I do not think a person can call themselves a mystery book lover without having read at least a few of Agatha Christie’s classic murder mysteries. While she was certainly not the first female writer to make a name for herself, her contribution to writing and female authorship cannot be overstated. Not only was she a career woman at a time when gentlewomen ‘did not’ have careers but she wrote about murder and mystery, both of which were the purview of men for the entirety of her lifetime. 

Interestingly, Agatha Christie was part of a real life mystery when she went missing for a week! Her disappearance occurred in the middle of her career when her daughter was still young and her marriage was ‘on the rocks,’ so to speak. When she finally resurfaced she claimed that she had no recollection of what had happened or how she got where she was found. Needless to say, this has caused no lack of conspiracy theories and tall-tales about what ‘really’ happened to her during the week she vanished. 

Along with the Hollywood resurgence of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery movies such as Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile (Knives Out is not an Agatha Christie murder mystery but it certainly fits the genre, and it’s fantastic!) there has been renewed interest in speculating about her mysterious disappearance. This year, I have read/listened to two such novels, The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict.

Both of these speculative novels offer a theory of Agatha’s disappearance but from two completely different perspectives. The Christie Affair is written in the voice of Nan, Archibald Christie’s (Agatha’s husband) mistress and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie is written in Archibald Christie’s own voice. Since I certainly do not want to spoil either of these two books or the theories they propose, I will not go into detail about the stories themselves, rather, I’ll just say that speculative fiction is fun and interesting because it’s open to all of the possibilities and it’s up to the author to decide which path(s) to take. Then, as a reader, you get to decide if you think the story is plausible. 

Clearly, I’m super excited that there is a resurgence of Agatha Christie mysteries in both book and movie form. I saw both movies and thoroughly enjoyed them and I was completely entertained by The Christie Affair and The Mystery of Mrs. Christie! We’ll just have to wait and see what the future holds for new movie adaptations and speculative literature about her mysterious disappearance…obviously, I look forward to both with great anticipation!

Read on my friends!

-Haddi 

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Two sisters blogging and sharing reviews and opinions about every type of book all year round.

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