So I dips me lid to Agatha Christie, who wrote about 60 detective/mystery novels in the years 1920–1970 (roughly). They're written in a straightforward manner with antique English which I find absolutely delightful. The plots and mysteries are terrific; how she concocted them is beyond me. And when I finish one book I look forward to picking up the next. The local library has a good collection, but they're obviously popular.
Right now I'm reading the classic Murder on the Orient Express. It's such a famous title, and I retain my childhood fantasy of reading this book while travelling on the Orient Express! Since last December, I've chewed through:
- And Then There Were None (oh what a great book!)
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- Cards on the Table
- Death on the Nile
Related Books The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith, is a really charming modern book (fiction) about a proudly fat lady in Botswana, of all places, who becomes the country's first female detective. Its portrait of life in Botswana – the good and the bad – is heart-warming and frequently brings a big smile to the face. The follow-up books in the series seem a bit hit and miss, though.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe, is the world's first detective story (1841). It was a few years ago that I read it, and remember nothing of its story, but I do remember enjoying it. Poe's short stories of horror (The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of Red Death, The Purloined Letter, The Tell-Tale Heart) and his poem The Raven are awesome. The guy was an alcoholic nutjob who married his 13-year-old cousin, and the nightmares he commits to print are surely his own. A giant of American literature.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle: the only (I think) novel-length Sherlock Holmes story. Enjoyable, but there's a warmth in Christie's books that I enjoy and which Sherlock Holmes seems to lack.
