The Gentle Art of Murder: The Detective Fiction of Agatha Christie

by Earl F. Bargainnier

This study of the technique of Agatha Christie’s detective fiction—sixty-seven novels and over one hundred short stories—is the first extensive analysis of her accomplishment as a writer. Earl F. Bargannier demonstrates that Christie thoroughly understood the conventions of her genre and, with seemingly inexhaustible ingenuity, was able to develop for more than fifty years surprising variations within those conventions.

Genres: Agatha Christie

238 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 1980

Reviews

[Sarah G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, very thorough exploration of the construction of Agatha Christie’s detective fiction. The only downside, as a British reader of a US book, was that all the references were to the US versions of the titles, which hurt my head a little bit! 3.5*

[David Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to learn how to construct a detective story this would be a good place to start. The Queen of Crime's techniques of plot construction, characterisation and list of golden rules are explored thoroughly and entertainingly.
There are interesting ideas about why we don't (and shouldn't) care about the victims of the various murders and the fact that the suspects are lightly sketched may have aided overseas sales and translations of the texts.
Understandably there is a bit of revelation of whodunnit from some of the books; it could not be written so effectively otherwise. I find Christie endlessly fascinating and this helped me understand why.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful. Deconstructs the technique, therefore helpful for a mystery writer.