All About Agatha Christie

We were honored to host our own event this week at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, revisiting Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. (Fair warning: certain plot elements of this book are spoiled in the course of our conversation!) Unfortunately we had to settle for Zooming in from Los Angeles, but as you can hear for yourself, that didn't stop us from havin...

If you thought two hours was enough for us to talk about Endless Night, you were wrong! Sort of. This short story formed the basis (plot-wise) for that crown jewel of a novel, so in a way we are revisiting it in this episode. But we also get to geek out over a secret unpublished version, too. Hooray! This episode is brought to you by Smile Brilliant (http://www.smilebrilliant.com, coupon code &quo...

We're disappointed that our appearance at the Festival has to be virtual (insert pithy Shakespearean insult of choice here, directed COVID's way), but we're thrilled to be appearing at all. For more information about the Festival (including all the other wonderful presenters on tap), please visit: http://www.iacf-uk.org. We look forward to seeing some of you, if only on a screen! Hosted by Simplec...

You might want to put on some rain gear before listening to this episode, because it is a bit of a gush fest. Hooray for this late-career Christie gem! Come delight with us in the wonderfully unsettling world of Mr. (Mike) Rogers's neighborhood.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As this is one of Christie's longer short stories--legitimately novella-length--we found a great deal to analyze and discuss. Just think of it as one of the "large miniatures" Suchet fusses over in the adaptation.... No question this is a curious addition to the Poirot canon all around! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and...

Unlike so many late Poirots we've read recently, this one actually features a ton of Poirot (and Ariadne Oliver!), from beginning to end. And while seriously flawed, it gave us a lot to discuss in what turned out to be a rather meandering/digressive episode... even for us. Please visit our Patreon site for bonus content, or just to support us: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. This episode is...

While our favorite Cornish mystery might involve guessing what's in the latest pasty we're devouring, this one was pretty satisfying too! Let's dig in. This episode is sponsored by Smile Brilliant (http://www.smilebrilliant.com, promo code AGATHA) and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for adverti...

We may as well admit up front that this was not our favorite Christie. But it is a Miss Marple novel, and it does have a fantastic setting. So all is not lost. Come travel with us to see what dastardly—and potentially confusing?—deeds are afoot... at Bertram's Hotel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for adve...

We had as much fun as we usually do unraveling this early Poirot short story--perhaps especially when it came to the adaptation, which is quite a foundational one for the beloved Suchet series. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Though the biggest mystery may be how to spell and pronounce "Caribbean," there is plenty of intrigue to go around in this Miss-Marple-on-holiday story, which at least one Christie scholar deems to be the last proper whodunit that she wrote. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a great time we had gabbing with this debut author about her recently published (and much buzzed-about) novel... almost as great a time as we had reading it! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This short story is a precursor to The Mystery of the Blue Train, but don't let that put you off! We found much to enjoy--both in the source material and the Suchet adaptation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well... they can't all be winners, can they? This (barely-there) Poirot novel is not one of our favorites, we're sorry to say. But as usual, we relish the opportunity to explore and explain why. Because even a lesser Christie is a source of wonder and joy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've got Poirot. We've got Hastings. We've got a prince. A lady of mysterious origins. A frozen-in-time bridge tableau! If you need more, you're probably not listening to the right podcast.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were fortunate enough to sit down with Sarah Pearse, the author of one of this season's hottest (or is that iciest?) thrillers, The Sanatorium. There are lots of connections to be made between her book and Christie, and naturally, we made them all. Enjoy! This episode is brought to you by Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collec...

Someone might need to stage an intervention, because the longer we talk about Christie, the more we apparently have to say! We hope you enjoy our super-sized discussion of this intriguing late Christie novel (perhaps the first late Christie novel?), during which we wax poetic about all sorts of topics--from the rigors of film acting to the ravages of time. Oh, and Dark Marple, of course. Hosted by...

We were thrilled to speak with Martin Edwards, one of the foremost scholars of detective fiction of the Golden Age. He is also a mystery novelist in his own right, and the current President of the Detection Club. What is the Detection Club, you ask? Take a listen and find out! This episode is sponsored by Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information ab...

It isn't often that we focus as much on an adaptation of a Christie story as the story itself, but if ever there were an episode to do so, it's this one. Join us as we gush over the very first episode of the David Suchet series, including a lengthy discussion as to why this short story was such an excellent choice for the pilot episode of this excellent program. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz co...

We had such a fantastic time discussing this late-career Christie gem, as creepy and unsettling as the story may be.... Beware the Pale Horse! This episode is sponsored by YARN and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Miss Marple short story is always cause for celebration, and this one is no exception. Come with us--to St. Mary Mead, of course--where Miss Marple finds herself at the center of a local murder, the solving of which will uncover a long-held secret from the past. In other words: all is exactly as it should be in the Christieverse.... This episode is sponsored by YARN and Best Fiends. Hosted by Si...

While there is so much we hope will be different about 2021 as compared to 2020, our passion and appetite for Christie do not feature on that long, long list. Happy New Year, dear listeners: we hope you enjoy our leisurely ramble from Meadowbrook to Ramat and back again for this late-career "turducken" of a Christie that we quite enjoyed. Also, how did Kemper manage to shoehorn not one b...

Consider this our "Christie for Christmas," an original episode all about what it's like to read Christie in the here and now--in particular, those aspects of the texts that may strike us as seeming "stuck in their time" or otherwise difficult/awkward to negotiate. This is something we've talked about a lot over the years, and we're so grateful to be able to add more voices to...

This episode completes our review of The Labours of Hercules collection. We also took the opportunity to comment on the somewhat disappointing--but not entirely disastrous--Suchet adaptation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's been a while since we've had Mark on our show, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to fawn over his new book, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World. This also gave us as good an excuse as any to chatter on about Poirot for an hour or so.... If you feel so inclined (and we wager you will), go to https://bookshop.org to (pre-)order a copy for yourself, if you don't h...

We are both HUGE Tana French fans, so we suspect many of you are too. This interview was a joy to record; we hope you enjoy it half as much as we did. And if you haven't yet bought Tana's latest book, The Searcher, or any of the titles mentioned in our conversation, we encourage you to check out https://bookshop.org/, which is a safe and streamlined way to buy books online from independent booksto...