Agatha Christie

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

The Official Agatha Christie Newsletter
Discover Agatha Christie as you've never seen her before in a new exhibition showcasing previously unseen photographs of the Queen of Crime
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=7f6 ... d61b6246b3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Agatha Christie

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James Zemboy is the author of The Detective Novels Of Agatha Christie: A Reader’s Guide
LJH:- A first brief question: why did you write your Guide?


JAMES ZEMBOY:- I wrote the book because no other writer seemed to have attempted to account for Christie's world-wide popularity. It had been a source of puzzlement to me ever since I was seventeen years old (I'm now 66) WHY I had always enjoyed reading Christie so much, while never enjoying any other crime writer. At age seventeen I read three Christie novels in rapid succession – the first crime novels I had ever read. I thought to myself, "Golly, I must be a mystery buff," and so I read a few other detective novels by other authors. I found that I had no interest in any of them at all. This went on for a couple of years and finally, in 1962, I wrote a letter to Christie, telling her that I had read most of her books and loved them, and that I had sampled a few other crime writers without enjoyment. I asked her to name a few of her own favourites. She wrote back to me with a short list of her favourite mystery writers and I read at least one or two books by each of those people, with the same result: no reading pleasure.

Eventually I realized that I was strictly an "Agatha Christie fan" and no fan at all of crime fiction in general, and it occurred to me that that must be the case with a lot of people, since Christie is so much more widely read than any other writer, and all around the world. And I realized, too, that "serious" fans of crime fiction generally don't think much of Christie, for very good reasons: unlikely events, ridiculous coincidences, Poirot and Marple often arriving at "the truth" through nothing but lucky guesses. Clearly it is not Christie's skill as a crime writer that has made her popular, and I always wondered about the real reason for her world-wide appeal. I eventually concluded that it was her amusing, recognizable characters that were most responsible for her popularity, and I decided that if I ever wrote a book about her works, I would focus on that aspect.

And so I wrote the book in order to explain Christie’s incredible world-wide popularity, and to show the uniqueness of each of her novels and the uniqueness of most of her characters.

http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/interview_vie ... view_id=51" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Emily Whitt »

Oh wow, all of these threads could solicit extremely long responses.

Let's see....favourite works by Agatha Christie: Murder at the Vicarage, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Partners in Crime, Sad Cypress, of course Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Oh my goodness they are all so good. I think that Poirot and Marple are probably two of the most lovable characters to ever grace Mystery novels.

I bought about 12 Christie novels from a bookstore that was going out of business and have yet to be able to find the rest within the same collection. Of course I can buy copies from another collection, but I think it would be so beautiful to have them all from the same collection.
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Re: Agatha Christie

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I would add the Harley Quin stories and those containing Tommy and Tuppence.

There are authors who write in the same vein as Christie. John Rhode and John Bude are two that spring to mind.
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Re: Agatha Christie

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Chrissie777 wrote:
Katharine wrote:I love all the Joan Hickson 'Miss Marple's, with perhaps the exception of 'The Mirror Cracked'.
I enjoyed the movie version of "Mirror" with Liz Taylor, Kim Novak and Rock Hudson from 1980.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081163/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Angela Lansbury was my favorite Miss Marple, but I also like Margaret Rutherford...who wouldn't? :wink:
I have quoted this from another thread (What are you doing now?)

I couldn't stand the Liz Taylor film, it conveys nothing of the English atmosphere of the period and seem to me to be just another American detective film. I never took to Lansbury as Miss Marple either. The definitive TV Miss Marple for me is Joan Hickson - indeed Christie herself even said she would make a good Miss Marple.

As for Margaret Rutherford, whatever role she played she was always Margaret Rutherford. I thoroughly enjoy the Rutherford Christie films, but she was nothing like the Marple of Christie's pen.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Chrissie777 »

Moonraker wrote:As for Margaret Rutherford, whatever role she played she was always Margaret Rutherford. I thoroughly enjoy the Rutherford Christie films, but she was nothing like the Marple of Christie's pen.
Nigel, before I even read any novels by Agatha Christie, I watched the 4 Rutherford Marple movies.
That's how Miss Marple always looked for me :).
But you are right, Margaret Rutherford always plays the same part, the tough old lady.
My favorite was an old movie from the 1950's with Alistair Sim, "The Best Days of Your Life" (in German it was called "Das doppelte College"). I still remember it fondly.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042541/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When the TV series with Joan Hickson was on German TV, I was working in Hamburg with a very long commute, I was married and without much spare time. So I never had a chance to watch it.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

There's a thread on this on the official Agatha Christie site:

Hickson Vs all the other Jane Marples


http://community.agathachristie.com/dis ... ne-marples" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Agatha Christie

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I have always liked Julia McKenzie's interpretation of Miss Marple. She is a very talented actress with stellar performance as Miss Marple. Her sense of accuracy(in term of body language, gesture, motion, speech) in performing Miss Marple was spectacular. Besides, her face is very similar to my mental image of Miss Marple. I prefer the scripts that adhere to the original books, but I love to see the vintage 1920s-1950s atmosphere and setting in the new series of Miss Marple. :D

I am a hardcore fan of Jessica Fletcher played by Angela Lansbury. I have all the 12 seasons and 4 films(movies) of Murder She Wrote. I bought every Murder She Wrote book written by Donald Bain. I also bought and enjoyed playing the games of Murder She Wrote. Very enjoyable! There are 5 different cased in the first game and 3 different cases in the second game. Highly recommended!

I loved Margaret Rutherford's 4 films as Miss Marple for different reasons. They were totally hilarious! Just the sight of her and her face can make me chuckle!

I downloaded Helen Hayes' , Angela Lansbury's and Dulcie Gray's one time performance as Miss Marple. I agree, Lansbury's performance was awkward as Miss Marple. Hayes' film as Miss Marple was fine. :D

By the way, I have 2 detective novels written by Dulcie Gray but I haven't read them yet. :D

I also loved both the American Hercule Poirot- Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney. Although David Suchet was the exact similar to my mental image of Hercule Poirot. His performance as Hercule Poirot was fantastic! :D
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Re: Agatha Christie

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Peter Ustinov was totally unlike Christie's Poirot and for that reason I disliked his Christie films. Nothing against him as an actor, but too different to be realistic. I thought Finney made a superb Poirot, in some ways better than Suchet.
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Re: Agatha Christie

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I am a big fan of Agatha Christie. Many years back then I thought that Agatha Christie is the logcial continuation , after I "graduated" from Enid Blyton. My favorites are : Orient Express, Final Curtain, Cat among pigeons, Lord Egware Dies, and many many others. I like Hercule Poirot, as much as I fancy Sherlock. Miss Marple, however a bit less fond of.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Rob Houghton »

Being a bit of an ignoramus where Agatha Christie is concerned, I tend to watch the film/TV versions rather than read the books. I have read a few - and Cat Among The Pigeons - the first Agatha Christie I ever read - is definitely one of my favourites. I have a few of her books - the Body In The Library, 4:50 From Paddington, The Seven Dials Mystery, The Man in the Brown Suit. I've also read all the Miss Marple books - but I still prefer the TV versions - Joan Hickson being the definitive Marple for me.

I also have two of the hardback graphic novel versions of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. I like these a lot, purely for the novelty value, even though they are probably disliked by the purists.
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Re: Agatha Christie

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Robert Houghton wrote:Being a bit of an ignoramus where Agatha Christie is concerned, I tend to watch the film/TV versions rather than read the books.
Sacrilege. Remedy this policy immediately, Rob. :wink:
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by sixret »

jubei wrote:I am a big fan of Agatha Christie. Many years back then I thought that Agatha Christie is the logcial continuation , after I "graduated" from Enid Blyton.
I used to have exactly the same impression.....
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Re: Agatha Christie

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I still have.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Julie2owlsdene »

I have just purchases a set of crime novels - three in a book - which I spotted on one of the stations on the Severn Valley Railway, Highley.

In an old coach were a few second hand books at £1 each. There were 21 in the collection, and I said to the man will you take £20 for the lot. His answer was yes. Here is the collection.

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