Agatha Christie: The Art of Her Crimes, The Painting of Tom Adams

by Tom Adams, Julian Symons, John Fowles (Introduction)

First edition. Introduction by John Fowles. A collection of Adams' illustrations for Agatha Christie's novels. Illustrations are in full color. 144 pages. paper over boards, dust jacket.. 4to..

Genres: Agatha Christie, Art, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1981

About the author

Thomas Charles Renwick Adams was a US-born Anglo-Scots illustrator and painter. Long active in a variety of visual formats, he is known for his work in book cover art, portrait painting, poster, advertising and album art. He is most widely known for his book cover art for the paperback editions of Agatha Christie.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun glimpse behind the curtain with Tom Adams. Perhaps most well known for his paintings which served as the covers for many of Agatha Christie's novels, this book provides the reader with insights from the artist himself with regard to these works. The paintings are listed in various categories (Out & About With Murder, The Darker Side of Village Life), and include his inspiration for choosing certain themes or images, what he used to as models (in one case, going so far as to contact the RSCPA to get a dead bird), as well as he personal opinion of the strength and weaknesses of the works. He is joined by John Fowles, whose book, The Collector, was Adams's breakthrough into the industry, and which paved the way for his association with Christie. Fowles provides his own thoughts about a handful of these paintings, which Adams often responds to his in commentary.
I enjoyed this book, despite not being a huge fan of some of these covers. Love them or hate them though, they are quite brilliant and inspired. I also appreciate the lengths he went to in order to ensure his works were as accurate as possible. He read each book 3 times, and was careful to include clues from the book, without spoiling the ending for readers. He also had a rule to never portray the detectives, Poirot and Marple, which seems a wise choice. He was clearly a man dedicated to his craft, with a real eye for crime. I would recommend this book to art and mystery lovers alike.

[Bonnie_Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book - the 5 stars are for the artwork and wonderful insight from the artist, Tom Adams. Julian Symons I could have done well without; I understand he is a celebrated writer but he really came across as a smarmy git in this. The art is amazing and so well done. I almost wish I had a second copy so I could commit the crime of cutting out and framing some of these prints, they are so amazing to look at. Some of the art is painted with such intricacy and detail they look like photographs.

One painting that jumped out at me was the U.S. cover art for The ABC Murders, which reminds me very strongly of the opening scene of the Twin Peaks pilot. Remove the storm setting and all that is missing is the plastic wrap around the blonde lady. The cover for Destination Unknown is supremely creepy and the face reminded me instantly of Voldemort - like that is his face, painted decades before J.K. Rowling ever conceived of him. I could go on and on about these paintings but I'll wrap it up. Tom Adams's paintings are strange, puzzling, disconcerting, and verge on goriness at times - but they also add to the text, can be quite beautiful, and are unbelievably rich in detail.

[trishtrash · Rating 5 out of 5]

a unique and fascinating look at one man's cover-art interpretation of Christie's work - some of his covers are instantly recognisable, others have fallen into obscurity, but all are compelling, evocative, and require poring over to glean some aspect of the story.

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite liking the work he did for the novella Poirot and the Greenshore Folly, I have to admit I think most of his work is garbage. The book itself is VERY nicely done I must say - hence the 3 stars.

It's easy to understand why AC did not care for his work. Especially since he broke her rules about not wanting Poirot or Marple depicted on the covers. None of these are included in this large art book which is surprising. And most of what IS included clearly have little or nothing to do with the plots.

[Rachel Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating to see so many covers and read the artist explain his process. However, I found the commentary from Julian Symons unnecessary; it's a bit dismissive of Christie and I would have rather seen more/bigger art. The book also has some rather unfortunate typos and misidentifies a Tommy and Tuppence book as a Poirot book.

At the back it lists a handful of original paintings that have gone missing--I wonder if they were ever recovered!