Agatha Christie Close Up: A Radio Investigation Into the Queen of Crime

by Agatha Christie, Gale Pedrick (Contributor), Jessica Mann (Contributor)

A fascinating collection of archive radio programmes focusing on the life and work of crime fiction's grande dame and featuring Agatha Christie in her own words.

Dame Agatha Christie published 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections in her lifetime, but to the public she remained an enigmatic figure. This quartet of BBC radio programmes looks at the woman behind the books, and explores the career of one of Britain's most famous mystery writers.

Agatha Christie in Close-Up (1955) tells the story of the celebrated author, with contributions from Richard Attenborough, Allen Lane, Margaret Lockwood and Peter Saunders; while in The Mysterious Dame Agatha (1975), Cliff Michelmore presents an 85th birthday tribute with Peter Saunders, Nigel Stock and Julian Symons. Women of Mystery: Queen of Crime (1982) sees Jessica Mann investigating women crime writers and Christie in particular; and in Agatha Christie: Speaking Her Own Words (2015), we hear specially selected excerpts from the initial, dictated version of Christie's autobiography. Recorded in 1965, these unedited personal tapes were discovered by her grandson Matthew Prichard, who introduces the programme.

Featuring the voices of fellow writers, friends, family and the Queen of Crime herself, this wide-ranging collection sheds new light on the bestselling novelist of all time. Duration: 2 hours approx.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook

2 pages, Audio CD

First published November 17, 2016

About the author

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Zulfiya]

It was not technically a book, but an audiobook consisting of audio clips from previous interviews and some audio documentaries. The quality of some of the clips leaves much to be desired, but it is understandable as some of them are from fifties and sixties.

The audiobook was insightful in the sense that is did shed some light on the most iconic mystery author. Even though she was called a thriller author by some radio journalists of the past, she would have not been considered a thriller writer by modern standards. Her mysteries are cozy/ tranquil mysteries of the English countryside where serenity and tranquility are key words. The serenity of this well established world is occasionally interrupted by murders that are always solved ; thus, peace is restored.

The most illuminating part of the book was the analysis of the whole generation of mystery she-writers as a widespread phenomenon. These ladies were called middle class, but they were comfortable middle class with a couple of servants and an occasional bout of household management. There was hardly any social tension, generations angst, existential threats in these books, and the Golden Age ladies were quite conservative even for that period of time. Sometimes, the lack of edge drove me nuts in their books.

Luckily, the radio journalists also highlighted the quality of writing. They mentioned that the characters are wooden, and the writing is cut out of cardboard. I tend to agree. I read several books by Christie, a couple by Allingham, some by Sayers, and one by Josephine Tey, and with the only exception of Tey, all of these books were comforting. There was no hint of emotional turbulence, no existential crises, no groundbreaking thought. They do offer comfort, though. I do read books like that once in a while, but I would rather read something edgy and unsettling, thought-provoking and meaty, As you can see, this review turned into a rant about comfort literature.

The pull of mystery books is still powerful. We like to be challenged, to be intrigued, and it is especially true when we know that that the end with the explanation is near, and especially when things will return to the relatively normal quite soon. I assume, these comfort mysteries or brain candy of books can be used as therapeutics of sorts.

[Susan Ferguson]

Some tape recordings of interviews with Agatha Christie and some parts of her autobiography played. She dictated her autobiography on reel-to-reel, and bits were played with an introduction by her grandson. Some of it was repetitious, since she was asked many of the same questions, but it was still quite interesting in her viewpoints and her opinions on things. She spoke of her grandmother, who she said was not the inspiration for Miss Marple, altho her grandmother was usually right about people. There were also interview with actors who were in some of her plays and got to know her through that and became friends. Those were quite interesting.

[Nina]

I listened to this while driving to Greenway, Agatha Christie’s summer home by the river Dart In Devon for 30 years, and finished it on the drive home. It is not one continues radio programme, but clips from a few different ones. It gets a bit repetitious at the end, when various audio clips are played using the same intro and outro (some 1920s style music followed by an introduction of the clips by Agatha’s grandson Matthew Pritchard. Nevertheless, it was absolutely wonderful to listen to Dame Agatha herself talk about how she writes and hearing other clips from her autobiography, which she recorded using a tape dictaphone. Highly recommended for all fans of the Queen of Crime!

[Earl]

I love any time Agatha Christie is celebrated and this is through BBC radio archives from 1955, 1975, and 1982 with a 2015 feature with Agatha's grandson, Mathew Pritchard, sharing snippets of the writer's 1965 recordings when she was working on her autobiography.

It does get repetitive and I would skip the third segment altogether to avoid spoilers.

[Rebecca]

Like someone else already said when they reviewed, it’s less a book and more of just compiled clips. Quality also immediately tells you it was mid 1900s which is kinda fire. These clips felt like a sign of the times: something her books and characters are quite used to.

[Julia Shumway]

If you like Agatha Christie, this is a win. There are some repeated recordings throughout.

[KatieK]

A nice gem for any fan, though a bit repetitive.

[Niki]

Could have been interesting but the canned screaming every 2 minutes was really jarring and I couldn’t listen to it

[Aija Vanaga]

A short audiobook about Agatha Christie, it gave me the wonder of discovery.