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Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks
Agatha Christie died in 1976 at 85, the world's most popular author. After the death of her only child, 73 handwritten notebooks came to light, from single jots to lists, to full outlines of memorable plots and characters, plus grocery and schedule memos from a bountiful creative mind - a complex web of connections to unravel and link. Actual notebook page reproductions. 2 unpublished Hercule Poirot short stories: "The Capture of Cerebrus", and "The Incident of the Dog's Ball".
492 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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15624 people want to read
About the author
John Curran
21 books12 followersJohn Curran is an Irish literary scholar and archivist, best known as an expert on the work of Dame Agatha Christie, English author of detective fiction and the world's bestselling novelist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 230 reviews
March 22, 2010
“In August 1948 Penguin Books made publishing history when they issued one million Agatha Christie novels on the same day – 100,000 copies of each. This venture was such a success that it was repeated five years later.”
That’s an awful lot of books. And how many more have been sold – and borrowed – since then? How many films? How many television dramatisations? Amazing numbers!
You would think that everything to be said had been said by now. But no! This lovely book offers something new.
A few years ago Agatha Christie’s heirs decided to pass The Greenaway, her riverside home in south Devon, to the National Trust. When the Trust started to renovate the property its former owners notebooks came to light. Seventy three of them!
Not orderly notebooks but notebooks that were grabbed when the need to write anything down arose. Shopping lists. Character lists. Story ideas. Random thoughts. There’s an awful lot there, but not everything. Many works are unmentioned. So presumably Mrs Christie lost notebooks and wrote things on the backs of envelopes like the rest of us.
John Curran has done a wonderful job of organising the material to give a picture of how many well-loved books developed. They grew in all sorts of ways. From a character. From a setting. From and object. All sorts of things changed along the way, and very often the murderer and their motive wasn’t settled on until the very last moment.
He is clearly very knowledgable and, while he clearly loves Mrs Christie’s work, he is quite prepared to step back a little and be objective.
There are so many wonderful little facts. Gems are scattered throughout the book. Cases transferred between Poirot, Miss Marple and Parker Pyne (I’d forgotten him). Ideas picked up, dropped, and then sometimes picked up again for another story. Characters changing names and evolving. It really is fascinating.
(Of course plot points and killers’ identities are given away, but titles discussed are listed at the start of each themed section and at the start of each piece about a specific book. Which seems reasonable to me.)
And so I find myself reminded of books I’d quite forgotten. Happily recalling others. noting a few that I don’t think I’ve read yet. I want to read and re-read every single one. And then I want to look again at what this book had to say – I’m definitely going to need a copy of my own!
That’s an awful lot of books. And how many more have been sold – and borrowed – since then? How many films? How many television dramatisations? Amazing numbers!
You would think that everything to be said had been said by now. But no! This lovely book offers something new.
A few years ago Agatha Christie’s heirs decided to pass The Greenaway, her riverside home in south Devon, to the National Trust. When the Trust started to renovate the property its former owners notebooks came to light. Seventy three of them!
Not orderly notebooks but notebooks that were grabbed when the need to write anything down arose. Shopping lists. Character lists. Story ideas. Random thoughts. There’s an awful lot there, but not everything. Many works are unmentioned. So presumably Mrs Christie lost notebooks and wrote things on the backs of envelopes like the rest of us.
John Curran has done a wonderful job of organising the material to give a picture of how many well-loved books developed. They grew in all sorts of ways. From a character. From a setting. From and object. All sorts of things changed along the way, and very often the murderer and their motive wasn’t settled on until the very last moment.
He is clearly very knowledgable and, while he clearly loves Mrs Christie’s work, he is quite prepared to step back a little and be objective.
There are so many wonderful little facts. Gems are scattered throughout the book. Cases transferred between Poirot, Miss Marple and Parker Pyne (I’d forgotten him). Ideas picked up, dropped, and then sometimes picked up again for another story. Characters changing names and evolving. It really is fascinating.
(Of course plot points and killers’ identities are given away, but titles discussed are listed at the start of each themed section and at the start of each piece about a specific book. Which seems reasonable to me.)
And so I find myself reminded of books I’d quite forgotten. Happily recalling others. noting a few that I don’t think I’ve read yet. I want to read and re-read every single one. And then I want to look again at what this book had to say – I’m definitely going to need a copy of my own!
Read
April 27, 2022"Na época, era considerado necessário que a figura do detective tivesse uma qualquer idiossincrasia distintiva, ou, melhor ainda, uma colecção delas. Holmes tinha o seu violino, a sua cocaína e o seu cachimbo; o padre Brown tinha o seu guarda chuva e o seu ar enganadoramente distraído: Lord Peter Wimsey tinha o seu monóculo, o seu criado de quarto e a sua colecção de livros antigos. (...) Por isso Poirot foi criado belga com o seu bigode, as suas celulazinhas cinzentas, a sua jactanciosa vaidade, tanto intelectual como vestimentária, e a sua mania da ordem. O único erro de Christie foi fazê-lo, em 1920, um membro reformado da força policial belga; o que, por sua vez, significou que, em 1975 e em Cai o Pano - O Último Caso de Poirot, estava a entrar na sua décima terceira década. Claro que, em 1916, Agatha Christie não fazia ideia de que o pequeno belga lhe sobreviveria."
37
Há diversos problemas que se prendem com a publicação deste [tipo de] livro. Alguns:
1. Trata-se de uma abordagem académica de um repositório de ideias que, juntas, formam o processo criativo de uma escritora;
2. Esse processo é errático e está incompleto;
3. O repositório original encontra-se inacessível pelo que temos de acreditar nas transcrições/suposições e seleções do autor;
4. O autor está longe de ser academicamente imparcial e extrapola frequentes vezes acerca de apontamentos que estão incompletos ou não identificados;
5. O leitor comum, confrontado com as transcrições escolhidas, fica limitado à visão do autor...
Posto tudo isto, compete esclarecer que John Curran não tem outro remédio a não ser apresentar os apontamentos de Christie tal como os encontra. É sabido que a escritora sofria de disgrafia - razão pela qual evitava a todo o custo escrever, preferindo o seu bom velho dictafone. Além disso, e a julgar pelos testemunhos da sua Autobiografia, as suas capacidades de organização não eram das melhores e, por isso mesmo fazer uma "leitura" dos seus cadernos deve ser qualquer coisa como uma tarefa hercúlea.
A ideia no seu todo é interessante e compele os fãs à procura deste volume, mas a fórmula simplesmente não funciona - não tem como. O material não é facilmente legível ou descoficável e obriga a um conhecimento de fundo de uma obra que supera os 80 títulos...
Em última análise temos um conjunto de ideias incipientes, tal qual surgem na mente da escritora, para futuras histórias... mas as ideias são isso mesmo, incipientes, e acabam por se transmutar, e por vezes ficam muito difíceis de reconhecer na obra final - apesar da melhor vontade do autor em apontar cada uma a um título específico posteriormente publicado.
Ainda assim, a incursão tem o seu interesse, compondo a imagem de uma escritora com uma imaginação ímpar e, na falta de acesso aos originais, funciona certamente como uma importante ferramenta de estudo para quem, na área, se interesse.
De todas as formas, é sempre melhor publicar do que não publicar este tipo de documentação. Não funciona para todos, mas certamente serve a alguns.
Eu saltei alguns capítulos que apresentam soluções para títulos que ainda não li - e esse é, na minha opinião, o maior handicap do livro. Ao leitor que ainda não tenha lido toda a obra de Agatha Christie, a seleção, organização e apresentação destes cadernos deixa um certo agridoce.
A sua compilação é, além disso, nada regular - acredito que porque também a escritora o era. Não se facilita a leitura e não se poupa o leitor à descoberta de certos desfechos que, muitas vezes, nem são tratados nos cadernos.
Mas também... ninguém é forçado a comprar ou ler o que seja.
A introdução, e os primeiros capítulos, recheados de pequenas curiosidades sobre o mundo profissional de Agatha Christie, e a deixar transparecer toda a admiração de Curran pela escritora, são de longe, arrisco dizer, a parte mais interessante de todo o livro.
Por fim, a sua ideia de apresentar dois "inéditos" (na verdade, duas versões descartadas pela autora de um conto - inserido em Os Trabalhos de Hércules, e daquilo que viria a ser um futuro romance, Testemunha Muda) não pode deixar de parecer forçado e sem qualquer cabimento a não ser o de alimentar a curiosidade do leitor comum e fã da autora - mas, uma vez mais, venha todo o marketing e publicidade que vier, ninguém é obrigado a consumir seja que pedaço de literatura for contra sua vontade.
Pessoalmente, não desgostei de olhar para dentro do processo criativo de Agatha Christie - mas não era nada disto que esperava do livro.
"É possivel ler um novo livro de Christie todos os meses durante quase sete anos, e, neste estádio, é possível recomeçar de novo seguro no conhecimento de que o anterior já estará esquecido. E é possivel assistir a uma nova dramatização de uma obra de Agatha Christie todos os meses durante dois anos. Muito poucos autores, em qual quer área, igualaram este recorde."
42
37
Há diversos problemas que se prendem com a publicação deste [tipo de] livro. Alguns:
1. Trata-se de uma abordagem académica de um repositório de ideias que, juntas, formam o processo criativo de uma escritora;
2. Esse processo é errático e está incompleto;
3. O repositório original encontra-se inacessível pelo que temos de acreditar nas transcrições/suposições e seleções do autor;
4. O autor está longe de ser academicamente imparcial e extrapola frequentes vezes acerca de apontamentos que estão incompletos ou não identificados;
5. O leitor comum, confrontado com as transcrições escolhidas, fica limitado à visão do autor...
Posto tudo isto, compete esclarecer que John Curran não tem outro remédio a não ser apresentar os apontamentos de Christie tal como os encontra. É sabido que a escritora sofria de disgrafia - razão pela qual evitava a todo o custo escrever, preferindo o seu bom velho dictafone. Além disso, e a julgar pelos testemunhos da sua Autobiografia, as suas capacidades de organização não eram das melhores e, por isso mesmo fazer uma "leitura" dos seus cadernos deve ser qualquer coisa como uma tarefa hercúlea.
A ideia no seu todo é interessante e compele os fãs à procura deste volume, mas a fórmula simplesmente não funciona - não tem como. O material não é facilmente legível ou descoficável e obriga a um conhecimento de fundo de uma obra que supera os 80 títulos...
Em última análise temos um conjunto de ideias incipientes, tal qual surgem na mente da escritora, para futuras histórias... mas as ideias são isso mesmo, incipientes, e acabam por se transmutar, e por vezes ficam muito difíceis de reconhecer na obra final - apesar da melhor vontade do autor em apontar cada uma a um título específico posteriormente publicado.
Ainda assim, a incursão tem o seu interesse, compondo a imagem de uma escritora com uma imaginação ímpar e, na falta de acesso aos originais, funciona certamente como uma importante ferramenta de estudo para quem, na área, se interesse.
De todas as formas, é sempre melhor publicar do que não publicar este tipo de documentação. Não funciona para todos, mas certamente serve a alguns.
Eu saltei alguns capítulos que apresentam soluções para títulos que ainda não li - e esse é, na minha opinião, o maior handicap do livro. Ao leitor que ainda não tenha lido toda a obra de Agatha Christie, a seleção, organização e apresentação destes cadernos deixa um certo agridoce.
A sua compilação é, além disso, nada regular - acredito que porque também a escritora o era. Não se facilita a leitura e não se poupa o leitor à descoberta de certos desfechos que, muitas vezes, nem são tratados nos cadernos.
Mas também... ninguém é forçado a comprar ou ler o que seja.
A introdução, e os primeiros capítulos, recheados de pequenas curiosidades sobre o mundo profissional de Agatha Christie, e a deixar transparecer toda a admiração de Curran pela escritora, são de longe, arrisco dizer, a parte mais interessante de todo o livro.
Por fim, a sua ideia de apresentar dois "inéditos" (na verdade, duas versões descartadas pela autora de um conto - inserido em Os Trabalhos de Hércules, e daquilo que viria a ser um futuro romance, Testemunha Muda) não pode deixar de parecer forçado e sem qualquer cabimento a não ser o de alimentar a curiosidade do leitor comum e fã da autora - mas, uma vez mais, venha todo o marketing e publicidade que vier, ninguém é obrigado a consumir seja que pedaço de literatura for contra sua vontade.
Pessoalmente, não desgostei de olhar para dentro do processo criativo de Agatha Christie - mas não era nada disto que esperava do livro.
"É possivel ler um novo livro de Christie todos os meses durante quase sete anos, e, neste estádio, é possível recomeçar de novo seguro no conhecimento de que o anterior já estará esquecido. E é possivel assistir a uma nova dramatização de uma obra de Agatha Christie todos os meses durante dois anos. Muito poucos autores, em qual quer área, igualaram este recorde."
42
February 6, 2011
I have to thank my obsession and love for books,the pleasure I get from reading to Agatha Christie. At the age of seven years I was receiving books as present, Agatha Christie books. I started my collection at that age and it gave me a never ending love for books. In the end the books that give me back that pure feeling, the coziness, being me and my books are Agatha Christie books.
The Irish John Curran has an admiration for Agatha Christie which he brought with him in examining her left notebooks showing her handwriting, her thoughts, changes, ideas, her cleverness and uniqueness. Going through her notebooks, he linked his findings with the books she wrote.
There is so much to say about this wonderful book and at the same time nothing more than, I loved it.
Thanks to John Curran I felt close to Agatha Christie, a woman who created an art by wrting stories which gave pleasure to millions of people over the world, still give pleasure to millions over the world and will keep giving this pleasure.
She ahs been followed in all continents through her books, radio, theater plays, tv and now also e-books.
Pure hapiness it gave me reading the book and I loved the two unpublished short stories at the end.
The Irish John Curran has an admiration for Agatha Christie which he brought with him in examining her left notebooks showing her handwriting, her thoughts, changes, ideas, her cleverness and uniqueness. Going through her notebooks, he linked his findings with the books she wrote.
There is so much to say about this wonderful book and at the same time nothing more than, I loved it.
Thanks to John Curran I felt close to Agatha Christie, a woman who created an art by wrting stories which gave pleasure to millions of people over the world, still give pleasure to millions over the world and will keep giving this pleasure.
She ahs been followed in all continents through her books, radio, theater plays, tv and now also e-books.
Pure hapiness it gave me reading the book and I loved the two unpublished short stories at the end.
October 11, 2020
Un excelent ghid literar în lumea construită admirabil de Regina crimei!
"Crooked House este unul dintre romanele cu final șocant ale Agathei Christie - atât de șocant, încât Collins i-a cerut să-l modifice (vezi interviul din Sunday Times, 27 februarie 1966), însă ea a refuzat. Prin urmare, am putea presupune că sfârșitul a fost, de fapt, esența cărții și motivația pentru care a fost scrisă."
"Pe lângă uriașul volum de romane, povestiri și piese cunoscute ale Agathei Christie, există alte câteva lucrări știute doar de cei mai devotați admiratori ai ei. Este vorba exclusiv despre scenarii pentru piese de teatru sau radiofonice, toate fiind ori publicate, ori reprezentate scenic. Și toate sunt menționate în Carnete, unele dintre ele într-o măsură substanțială."
"Crooked House este unul dintre romanele cu final șocant ale Agathei Christie - atât de șocant, încât Collins i-a cerut să-l modifice (vezi interviul din Sunday Times, 27 februarie 1966), însă ea a refuzat. Prin urmare, am putea presupune că sfârșitul a fost, de fapt, esența cărții și motivația pentru care a fost scrisă."
"Pe lângă uriașul volum de romane, povestiri și piese cunoscute ale Agathei Christie, există alte câteva lucrări știute doar de cei mai devotați admiratori ai ei. Este vorba exclusiv despre scenarii pentru piese de teatru sau radiofonice, toate fiind ori publicate, ori reprezentate scenic. Și toate sunt menționate în Carnete, unele dintre ele într-o măsură substanțială."
May 11, 2018
Much too much trivia. Do you care what was on the covers of the notebooks Christie used? Really?
It was interesting to have a look into her creative process, but a shorter book would have done that even better.
Specializing in Christie's works for a long time, Curran has acquired not only the minute knowledge of them all but also a staggering confidence that his critical opinion is the gospel truth, which did feel uncomfortable in certain places.
I've read Christie's autobiography and some other stuff she wrote about herself (and you can really count any novel featuring Ariadne Oliver), and on the whole I'd say she would have assigned less importance to her books and notes than Curran did.
It was interesting to have a look into her creative process, but a shorter book would have done that even better.
Specializing in Christie's works for a long time, Curran has acquired not only the minute knowledge of them all but also a staggering confidence that his critical opinion is the gospel truth, which did feel uncomfortable in certain places.
I've read Christie's autobiography and some other stuff she wrote about herself (and you can really count any novel featuring Ariadne Oliver), and on the whole I'd say she would have assigned less importance to her books and notes than Curran did.
January 9, 2013
I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie's work, and have finally found the time to sit down and read both this and the "companion piece" by the same author, "Murder in the Making". I realise I'm a bit late to the party, but, believe me, it's a party worth attending!
I enjoyed this book, but probably only did so because I've read all of Christie's works, and I expected it to be what it is: a "decoding" of the author's diaries. Mr Curran has obviously put his passion for Christie's work to good use, dedicating himself to helping those of us not fortunate enough to have access to the diaries themselves the ability to "get inside the head" of one of the people who created the form of what we know today as the classic murder mystery.
For those who have yet to explore all the worlds created by Christie there are "spoiler alerts".
A thoroughly researched book, with an enlightening perspective written, well, by an obvious enthusiast.
I enjoyed this book, but probably only did so because I've read all of Christie's works, and I expected it to be what it is: a "decoding" of the author's diaries. Mr Curran has obviously put his passion for Christie's work to good use, dedicating himself to helping those of us not fortunate enough to have access to the diaries themselves the ability to "get inside the head" of one of the people who created the form of what we know today as the classic murder mystery.
For those who have yet to explore all the worlds created by Christie there are "spoiler alerts".
A thoroughly researched book, with an enlightening perspective written, well, by an obvious enthusiast.
August 4, 2011
I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, but I felt this book was a waste of my time and money. I did learn a little about Christie's writing habits--she had terrible handwriting most of her life (ironically getting better as she aged. What's up with that?), made lists of scenes and rearranged them to suit herself, and often did not know who the murderer would be when she began to plot the book. Interesting tidbits but not worth trudging through the book to learn such trivia. The two short stories were actually variations of published stories. One was mildly interesting as it was based on Hitler and had him renouncing Nazism and finding God. Otherwise, not much else to recommend it. Sadly disappointed.
September 6, 2016
This book is intended to be read by Agatha Christie fans. I thought I was a fan but after reading this book I realize I must not be a big enough fan. I read her autobiography and enjoyed it. I read a majority of her books and love them. I read this book and was darn near bored to tears.
June 22, 2018
Este libro me ha dejado sensaciones encontradas. Por un lado alivio, lo había empezado hace años y lo abandoné. Esperaba mucho más de él (o quizá algo bastante diferente). Para una fan de Agatha el título prometía demasiado. Y lo cierto es que sí, se trata de los cuadernos secretos (porque nunca antes fueron publicados) donde ella escribía sus notas, especies de ayuda memoria para plasmar datos, nombres de personajes y lugares, ideas que iban surgiendo en su prodigiosa mente durante el desarrollo de las tramas de relatos cortos o novelas. John Curran tuvo acceso a ellos y descifró con esmero la complicada caligrafía de Christie para datar el contenido de los cuadernos. Ha hecho un trabajo digno del archivista e investigador que es. Pero para un seguidor de la autora, esto no aporta mucho. Podemos ver agrupaciones de trabajos según métodos usados en el crimen, según escenarios elegidos, canciones o juegos presentes en las tramas, etc.; pero todo esto no nos dice mucho del corazón y el alma de la reina del crimen, no nos permite conocerla más. En mi caso, que no he leído todo lo escrito por Agatha, hubo partes que tuve que saltear porque las soluciones de algunos misterios se revelan. En fin, mis expectativas de dar con una especie de diario íntimo se chocaron con croquis de relatos sin orden y un sin fin de posibles nombres y datos, unos que prosperaron y otros tantos finalmente descartados. En cuanto a las dos novelas inéditas de Poirot, se trata de relatos cortos, nada extraordinarios.
February 17, 2025
Johnas Curranas yra ilgametis Agathos Christie biografijos ir kūrybos tyrinėtojas. Šioje knygoje jis nagrinėja septyniasdešimt tris užrašų knygeles, prikeverzotas beveik neįskaitomai, kuriose surašyta įvairių pastabų, sudaryti sąrašai ir planai daugybei būsimų kūrinių.
Iš vienos pusės – įdomu pažiūrėt, iš kokių detalių užgimsta idėjos, kaip jos virsta užbaigtais kūriniais, pasidairyti, taip sakant, po autorės kūrybinę virtuvę. Kita vertus, reikia būti išskirtiniu Agathos Christie fanu ir kone mintinai prisiminti visus (o jų DAUG) detektyvų karalienės apsakymus ir romanus, kad galėtum tinkamai įvertinti tą idėjos evoliuciją.
Tai toks ir įspūdis – lyg ir gerai, lyg ir įdomu, bet kažko tarsi trūksta.
Tai trys iš penkių, nors darbą autorius tikrai nudirbo gigantišką.
Iš vienos pusės – įdomu pažiūrėt, iš kokių detalių užgimsta idėjos, kaip jos virsta užbaigtais kūriniais, pasidairyti, taip sakant, po autorės kūrybinę virtuvę. Kita vertus, reikia būti išskirtiniu Agathos Christie fanu ir kone mintinai prisiminti visus (o jų DAUG) detektyvų karalienės apsakymus ir romanus, kad galėtum tinkamai įvertinti tą idėjos evoliuciją.
Tai toks ir įspūdis – lyg ir gerai, lyg ir įdomu, bet kažko tarsi trūksta.
Tai trys iš penkių, nors darbą autorius tikrai nudirbo gigantišką.
February 4, 2010
An enjoyable book - but you obviously have to like the books & plays of Agatha Christie. I found the book a bit repetitive in places and at times I felt that the book assumed that you knew the works of Agatha Christie in depth. So it may say that AC changed the ending of such and such a book, so that 'she' didn't do it, and 'he' did instead -- but unless you know the books, you have no idea who he or she is. So it is assuming that you know more than the average reader probably would.
Two thirds of the way through I began skipping sections.
Overall it was an interesting read, and I enjoyed the two previously unpublished stories at the end - but somehow I was left with the feeling that it could have been a much better book than it actually is.
Two thirds of the way through I began skipping sections.
Overall it was an interesting read, and I enjoyed the two previously unpublished stories at the end - but somehow I was left with the feeling that it could have been a much better book than it actually is.
November 8, 2020
A great book detailing how Agatha Christie plotted her many books.
Agatha Christie was a gifted writer who kept her ideas and some of her plot development in notebooks. These are the notebooks that the writer if this book John Curran has set before us.
I am amazed at how an idea that Christie had would not produce the actual story for many years. It just shows how great Agatha Christie was in developing her ideas.
I believe any fan of Agatha Christie will love this book and any person not already a fan will become one after reading it.
Agatha Christie was a gifted writer who kept her ideas and some of her plot development in notebooks. These are the notebooks that the writer if this book John Curran has set before us.
I am amazed at how an idea that Christie had would not produce the actual story for many years. It just shows how great Agatha Christie was in developing her ideas.
I believe any fan of Agatha Christie will love this book and any person not already a fan will become one after reading it.
April 27, 2010
Unless you are a real scholarly fan of Ms. Christie, this has way more information than you want to know. There are two previously unpublished short stories at the end. One of them should remain unpublished.
April 1, 2013
If you like and are well read in Agatha Christie, you will like this book, which delves into the great author's working notebooks and comes up with quotes of scene and character lists, ideas, and workings-out of plot details.
The best parts are where the notebooks reveal how many ways Agatha Christie could have worked out a particular plot--you come away with a glimpse into a truly astonishing level of creativity and ability to vary details to make a set of different stories out of the very same set of starting points. She was a genius, in my opinion, and this book reveals that through the extensive quoting of her own material.
Another great thing is that there are two complete Poirot short stories never before published--they are variations on two stories that were published--they illustrate perfectly the point about how she could write totally different stories using the same materials as in other stories she had created.
However, I didn't agree with the author/editor's assessment of some of her novels, and I felt that he could have left out his critical judgment of whether her books were "strong" or "weak" or whatever he thought. Some of his judgments that certain details were "wrong" to have been included were off, I thought. Some I agreed with. I could have done without a lot of the critical part of the writing.
The best parts are where the notebooks reveal how many ways Agatha Christie could have worked out a particular plot--you come away with a glimpse into a truly astonishing level of creativity and ability to vary details to make a set of different stories out of the very same set of starting points. She was a genius, in my opinion, and this book reveals that through the extensive quoting of her own material.
Another great thing is that there are two complete Poirot short stories never before published--they are variations on two stories that were published--they illustrate perfectly the point about how she could write totally different stories using the same materials as in other stories she had created.
However, I didn't agree with the author/editor's assessment of some of her novels, and I felt that he could have left out his critical judgment of whether her books were "strong" or "weak" or whatever he thought. Some of his judgments that certain details were "wrong" to have been included were off, I thought. Some I agreed with. I could have done without a lot of the critical part of the writing.
July 29, 2022
Lots of little tidbits into the mind of Christie and the craftsmanship involved in the writing of her novels.
Contents:
Foreword by Mathew Prichard ✔
Preface ✔
Introduction ✔
1. A Murder is Announced: The Beginning of a Career ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Death on the Nile; Evil under the Sun; The Hollow; Lord Edgware Dies; Murder at the Vicarage; The Mysterious Affair at Styles; Ordeal by Innocence; Witness for the Prosecution
2. Dumb Witness: The Evidence of a Notebooks ✔
Exhibit A: The Detection Club
3. The Moving Finger: Agatha Christie at Work ✔
Exhibit B: Other Crime Writers in the Notebook
This chapter reveals solutions for: Crooked House; Endless Night; Mrs. McGinty's Dead; A Murder is Announced; Murder in Mesopotamia; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
4. Cat Among the Pigeons: The Nursery Rhyme Murders ✔
Exhibit C: Agatha Christie in the Notebooks
This chapter reveals solutions for: Crooked House; Five Little Pigs; Four and Twenty Blackbirds; Hickory Dickory Dock; How Does Your Garden Grow?; Ordeal by Innocence; A Pocket Full of Rye; Sing a Song of Sixpence; Ten Little Niggers; The Tuesday Night Club
5. Blind Man's Bluff: A Game of Murder ✔
Exhibit D: True Crime in the Notebooks
This chapter reveals solutions for: The A.B.C. Murders; Dead Man's Folly; 'Manx Gold'; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side; A Murder is Announced; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; Peril at End House; 'Strange Jest'; Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
6. The Girl in the Train: Murder Aboard ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Death in the Clouds; Death on the Nile (short Story); Four-Fifty from Paddington; Problem at Sea
7. Elephants Can Remember: Murder in Retrospect ✔
Exhibit E: N or M? a Titles Quiz
This chapter reveals solutions for: Mrs. McGinty's Dead; Ordeal by Innocence; 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'; Sleeping Murder; Sparkling Cyanide
8. Destination Unknown: Murder Aboard ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Appointment with Death(play); The House at Shiraz; The Man in the Brown Suit; Death in Mesopotamia; Triangle at Rhodes
9. In a Glass Darkly: The Unknown Christie ✔
Exhibit F: The House of Dreams: Unused Ideas
This chapter reveals solutions for: Four-Fifty from Paddington; 'Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan'; 'Miss Marple Tells a Story'
10. Sanctuary: A Holiday for Murder ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: At Bertram's Hotel; Evil Under the Sun; Hallowe'en Party; Hercule Poirot's Christmas; Peril at End House; Sad Cypress; Toward's Zero
11. Poirot Investigates: The Labours of Hercules ✔
Exhibit G: Murder is Easy: Seeds of Inspiration
This chapter reveals solutions for: "The Affair at the Bungalow;" After the Funeral; Appointment with Death; At Bertram's Hotel; "The Companion;" Death in the Clouds; Elephants Can Remember; Murder on the Orient Express; "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge;" The Mystery of the Blue Train; Sparkling Cyanide; Taken at the Flood; Three Act Tragedy; Plot details of most of the Labours are also revealed.
12. The Body in the Library: Murder by Quotation ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Death on the Nile; Endless Night; The Hollow; The Man in the Brown Suit; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; The Mysterious Affair at Styles; The Pale Horse; Sad Cypress; Taken at the Flood
Appendix: Swan Song — Two Last Stories
The Capture of Cerebrus (unpublished version) 3⭐
The Incident of the Dog's Ball 5⭐
Contents:
Foreword by Mathew Prichard ✔
Preface ✔
Introduction ✔
1. A Murder is Announced: The Beginning of a Career ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Death on the Nile; Evil under the Sun; The Hollow; Lord Edgware Dies; Murder at the Vicarage; The Mysterious Affair at Styles; Ordeal by Innocence; Witness for the Prosecution
2. Dumb Witness: The Evidence of a Notebooks ✔
Exhibit A: The Detection Club
3. The Moving Finger: Agatha Christie at Work ✔
Exhibit B: Other Crime Writers in the Notebook
This chapter reveals solutions for: Crooked House; Endless Night; Mrs. McGinty's Dead; A Murder is Announced; Murder in Mesopotamia; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
4. Cat Among the Pigeons: The Nursery Rhyme Murders ✔
Exhibit C: Agatha Christie in the Notebooks
This chapter reveals solutions for: Crooked House; Five Little Pigs; Four and Twenty Blackbirds; Hickory Dickory Dock; How Does Your Garden Grow?; Ordeal by Innocence; A Pocket Full of Rye; Sing a Song of Sixpence; Ten Little Niggers; The Tuesday Night Club
5. Blind Man's Bluff: A Game of Murder ✔
Exhibit D: True Crime in the Notebooks
This chapter reveals solutions for: The A.B.C. Murders; Dead Man's Folly; 'Manx Gold'; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side; A Murder is Announced; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; Peril at End House; 'Strange Jest'; Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
6. The Girl in the Train: Murder Aboard ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Death in the Clouds; Death on the Nile (short Story); Four-Fifty from Paddington; Problem at Sea
7. Elephants Can Remember: Murder in Retrospect ✔
Exhibit E: N or M? a Titles Quiz
This chapter reveals solutions for: Mrs. McGinty's Dead; Ordeal by Innocence; 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'; Sleeping Murder; Sparkling Cyanide
8. Destination Unknown: Murder Aboard ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Appointment with Death(play); The House at Shiraz; The Man in the Brown Suit; Death in Mesopotamia; Triangle at Rhodes
9. In a Glass Darkly: The Unknown Christie ✔
Exhibit F: The House of Dreams: Unused Ideas
This chapter reveals solutions for: Four-Fifty from Paddington; 'Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan'; 'Miss Marple Tells a Story'
10. Sanctuary: A Holiday for Murder ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: At Bertram's Hotel; Evil Under the Sun; Hallowe'en Party; Hercule Poirot's Christmas; Peril at End House; Sad Cypress; Toward's Zero
11. Poirot Investigates: The Labours of Hercules ✔
Exhibit G: Murder is Easy: Seeds of Inspiration
This chapter reveals solutions for: "The Affair at the Bungalow;" After the Funeral; Appointment with Death; At Bertram's Hotel; "The Companion;" Death in the Clouds; Elephants Can Remember; Murder on the Orient Express; "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge;" The Mystery of the Blue Train; Sparkling Cyanide; Taken at the Flood; Three Act Tragedy; Plot details of most of the Labours are also revealed.
12. The Body in the Library: Murder by Quotation ✔
This chapter reveals solutions for: Death on the Nile; Endless Night; The Hollow; The Man in the Brown Suit; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; The Mysterious Affair at Styles; The Pale Horse; Sad Cypress; Taken at the Flood
Appendix: Swan Song — Two Last Stories
The Capture of Cerebrus (unpublished version) 3⭐
The Incident of the Dog's Ball 5⭐
April 22, 2019
Kaip didelė Agathos Christie gerbėja, negalėjau nepasiimti šios knygos. Bet!
(du lyg ir minusai ir vienas pliusas)
- Kaip autorius ir sako, A. Christie dirbdavo be konkretaus plano, taigi užrašų knygutės sudarytos iš pavienių pastabų, klaustukų, sumišusių su šiaip užrašais ir plano gabalėliais. Ta prasme, užrašų knygelių turinys įdomus kaip dokumentas, bet ne tas dalykas, kurį galėtum va taip paimti ir skaityti.
- TODĖL autorius prideda daug komentarų, konteksto, organizuoja medžiagą pagal A. Christie kūrinius ir pan. Bet ir vėl - jo pastabos lieka "įdomių faktų" lygmenyje ir kažkaip neprieina prie gilesnės analizės, kuri išlaikytų dėmesį ir suteiktų kažką naujo.
+ Užtat kažkokiu keistu būdu labai įkvepianti knyga. Žiūri į tą virtuvę ir galvoji "Damn, gal aš irgi taip galėčiau", atrodo smagu bent pabandyti paplanuoti nusikaltimą ir jo sprendimą, taip ir padariau vienoje iš savo užrašų knygelių:))
(du lyg ir minusai ir vienas pliusas)
- Kaip autorius ir sako, A. Christie dirbdavo be konkretaus plano, taigi užrašų knygutės sudarytos iš pavienių pastabų, klaustukų, sumišusių su šiaip užrašais ir plano gabalėliais. Ta prasme, užrašų knygelių turinys įdomus kaip dokumentas, bet ne tas dalykas, kurį galėtum va taip paimti ir skaityti.
- TODĖL autorius prideda daug komentarų, konteksto, organizuoja medžiagą pagal A. Christie kūrinius ir pan. Bet ir vėl - jo pastabos lieka "įdomių faktų" lygmenyje ir kažkaip neprieina prie gilesnės analizės, kuri išlaikytų dėmesį ir suteiktų kažką naujo.
+ Užtat kažkokiu keistu būdu labai įkvepianti knyga. Žiūri į tą virtuvę ir galvoji "Damn, gal aš irgi taip galėčiau", atrodo smagu bent pabandyti paplanuoti nusikaltimą ir jo sprendimą, taip ir padariau vienoje iš savo užrašų knygelių:))
December 28, 2019
This book is specifically for die-hard Agatha Christie fans. I cannot imagine that anyone else would be able to trudge through it, because it is full of minutiae about her writing and stories, relies more on the author's expert familiarity with her work than on her actual written notes, and spoils the endings and secondary plot twists of many of her stories. Also, even when it doesn't spoil the endings, it assumes that the reader has read these books and remembers what happened. In many cases, I didn't remember and couldn't understand the cryptic remarks.
However, despite all of this, I really did enjoy this book. I was intrigued to learn about Agatha Christie's planning process, and even though it is sometimes difficult to understand her haphazard, disorganized, stream-of-consciousness notes, it gives me a whole new perspective on her work to know that she often began plotting without having even decided on the murderer yet. Even with books like Crooked House, where the final twist seems to be the story's reason for existence, Agatha Christie explored a number of different plot and murderer options before selecting the one that fit.
I enjoyed seeing the variety of ideas that she explored, and the ideas that she kept trying to fit in and then gave up on. I now have a much deeper appreciation of how much thought and creativity went into her work, and I am amazed by how she managed to write such spectacular fiction with just a few jotted sentences or basic scene outlines. Even though people who expect this book to reproduce elaborate, well-structured notes will be disappointed, it fascinated me to learn how well she was able to write without them.
The author's incredible familiarity with Agatha Christie's oeuvre made this book double as a literary exploration, not just a glimpse into the Queen of Mystery's planning methods. He connects similar stories to each other, showing how different novels and short stories shared themes, character elements, or plot ideas that recurred through her work. As an enthusiastic reader, I had noticed some of these connections before, but I appreciated his insight into story similarities and his knowledge of how she incorporated personal events or even the architecture of her house into some of her works.
However, even this had some downsides, since the author leveraged his professional status as the literary adviser of Christie's estate to make absolutist judgments about some of her works. For example, he thought that the twist at the end of Murder in Mesopotamia was strained, impossible, and unbelievable, and he makes it sound like any thinking reader will agree with him. Personally, I enjoyed that twist very much, and even though I appreciate Curran's expertise on other matters, I do not appreciate his choice to communicate personal preferences as absolutist literary opinions.
I also question his engagement with social issues. Even though he refers to other books by their updated or changed titles, he always refers to And Then There Were None as Ten Little Niggers. This was, indeed, the title of her book, derived from the popular nursery rhyme that Christie used as part of her plot structure, but even though these facts are are socially and historically relevant, Curran never justifies his use of the original title or acknowledges its offensiveness.
On the other hand, even though he ignores the effect of that era's racial views, he is eager to evaluate how Christie portrayed homosexual characters. He dislikes stereotyped portrayals of some, but is touched by the socially accepted lesbian relationship between characters in A Murder is Announced. In almost all of these cases, and especially the last, he is superimposing his own cultural assumptions on characters that Christie never identified as gay. After I read some of Curran's thoughts, I looked in my copy of Christie's plays to see if Christopher Wren really did talk in The Mousetrap about how attractive he thinks policemen are, and sure enough, he did. I had no memory of that, but even though Curran makes a specific reference here, most of his other assertions lack textual evidence.
I was shocked when he mentioned the supposed lesbian couple in A Murder is Announced. Years ago, I watched a modern TV adaptation that re-imagined Christie's characters as a young lesbian couple, but I had never dreamed that someone would draw that conclusion from the book. The characters are middle-aged spinsters who share a housing arrangement, and nothing in the story or in their interactions with each other indicates that their bond is romantic or sexual in nature. Certainly, many lesbians throughout history have gone under the radar as spinster friends, but it is still common, even today, for straight single women to rent apartments or even buy houses together. Since there is absolutely no indication in the text that these spinsters were anything more than friends, I was shocked that the literary adviser to Christie's estate would repeatedly reference this as if it were an ironclad fact.
Overall, Curran extrapolates way too much from a few scattered references, assumes that men with sensitive or feminine characteristics must be gay, and distracts from his exploration of Christie's works by making irrelevant assumptions. Even though I enjoyed this book and plan to read its sequel, these various negative elements keep me from awarding this anything more than three stars.
However, despite all of this, I really did enjoy this book. I was intrigued to learn about Agatha Christie's planning process, and even though it is sometimes difficult to understand her haphazard, disorganized, stream-of-consciousness notes, it gives me a whole new perspective on her work to know that she often began plotting without having even decided on the murderer yet. Even with books like Crooked House, where the final twist seems to be the story's reason for existence, Agatha Christie explored a number of different plot and murderer options before selecting the one that fit.
I enjoyed seeing the variety of ideas that she explored, and the ideas that she kept trying to fit in and then gave up on. I now have a much deeper appreciation of how much thought and creativity went into her work, and I am amazed by how she managed to write such spectacular fiction with just a few jotted sentences or basic scene outlines. Even though people who expect this book to reproduce elaborate, well-structured notes will be disappointed, it fascinated me to learn how well she was able to write without them.
The author's incredible familiarity with Agatha Christie's oeuvre made this book double as a literary exploration, not just a glimpse into the Queen of Mystery's planning methods. He connects similar stories to each other, showing how different novels and short stories shared themes, character elements, or plot ideas that recurred through her work. As an enthusiastic reader, I had noticed some of these connections before, but I appreciated his insight into story similarities and his knowledge of how she incorporated personal events or even the architecture of her house into some of her works.
However, even this had some downsides, since the author leveraged his professional status as the literary adviser of Christie's estate to make absolutist judgments about some of her works. For example, he thought that the twist at the end of Murder in Mesopotamia was strained, impossible, and unbelievable, and he makes it sound like any thinking reader will agree with him. Personally, I enjoyed that twist very much, and even though I appreciate Curran's expertise on other matters, I do not appreciate his choice to communicate personal preferences as absolutist literary opinions.
I also question his engagement with social issues. Even though he refers to other books by their updated or changed titles, he always refers to And Then There Were None as Ten Little Niggers. This was, indeed, the title of her book, derived from the popular nursery rhyme that Christie used as part of her plot structure, but even though these facts are are socially and historically relevant, Curran never justifies his use of the original title or acknowledges its offensiveness.
On the other hand, even though he ignores the effect of that era's racial views, he is eager to evaluate how Christie portrayed homosexual characters. He dislikes stereotyped portrayals of some, but is touched by the socially accepted lesbian relationship between characters in A Murder is Announced. In almost all of these cases, and especially the last, he is superimposing his own cultural assumptions on characters that Christie never identified as gay. After I read some of Curran's thoughts, I looked in my copy of Christie's plays to see if Christopher Wren really did talk in The Mousetrap about how attractive he thinks policemen are, and sure enough, he did. I had no memory of that, but even though Curran makes a specific reference here, most of his other assertions lack textual evidence.
I was shocked when he mentioned the supposed lesbian couple in A Murder is Announced. Years ago, I watched a modern TV adaptation that re-imagined Christie's characters as a young lesbian couple, but I had never dreamed that someone would draw that conclusion from the book. The characters are middle-aged spinsters who share a housing arrangement, and nothing in the story or in their interactions with each other indicates that their bond is romantic or sexual in nature. Certainly, many lesbians throughout history have gone under the radar as spinster friends, but it is still common, even today, for straight single women to rent apartments or even buy houses together. Since there is absolutely no indication in the text that these spinsters were anything more than friends, I was shocked that the literary adviser to Christie's estate would repeatedly reference this as if it were an ironclad fact.
Overall, Curran extrapolates way too much from a few scattered references, assumes that men with sensitive or feminine characteristics must be gay, and distracts from his exploration of Christie's works by making irrelevant assumptions. Even though I enjoyed this book and plan to read its sequel, these various negative elements keep me from awarding this anything more than three stars.
January 8, 2013
I really quite loved this book. I was surprised at how easy it was to read, seeing as what kind of a nonfiction book it is. I expected it to maybe be a book which I would read a little here and there and then again go back to later and read some more. But I read it straight through. The short stories were a bonus too.
However, I think you do have to be a Christie fan to appreciate it. I would also recommend it only after reading quite many of her books because there are spoilers. The author has however named the books which are spoiled at the start of every chapter, so you can skip those you haven't read. I haven't read all of them so I got a couple of solutions revealed to me, though the only one that I remember from this is "Endless Night".
The book gives some insights to Christie's planning, although we can't say that everything about that is revealed still because she didn't write everything to these notebooks. But it is very interesting still. It is also fun to get to know about ideas she had but didn't use in the end and how her plots and murderers changed. So, a nice book for Christie fans.
However, I think you do have to be a Christie fan to appreciate it. I would also recommend it only after reading quite many of her books because there are spoilers. The author has however named the books which are spoiled at the start of every chapter, so you can skip those you haven't read. I haven't read all of them so I got a couple of solutions revealed to me, though the only one that I remember from this is "Endless Night".
The book gives some insights to Christie's planning, although we can't say that everything about that is revealed still because she didn't write everything to these notebooks. But it is very interesting still. It is also fun to get to know about ideas she had but didn't use in the end and how her plots and murderers changed. So, a nice book for Christie fans.
started-will-not-finish
September 2, 2012I'm giving up. I had problems with the format (interupted narrative for apparently unrelated bits of varying length) and I don't have much faith in the deconstruction of the mostly very cryptic notes Ms. Christie wrote. To make it worse, Curran focused mostly on my least favorite Christie titles - and I didn't have my copies handy (in many cases I no longer even own those titles) so most of the specifics he was talking about were lost on me anyway.
I really wanted to like this; I've been a Christie fan since my early teens and have been seeking academic-standard treatment of her work. Unfortunately, this wasn't the one for me.
I really wanted to like this; I've been a Christie fan since my early teens and have been seeking academic-standard treatment of her work. Unfortunately, this wasn't the one for me.
March 7, 2018
This wasn't QUITE what I'd expected, but it did give me an extremely valuable glimpse into the master of mystery's mind, which (since I'm a mystery author, too) is definitely what I was looking for. Was Agatha a heavy plotter, as I expected? Was she totally organized? I was surprised to find the answers to those questions. It also helped me tease out why I love her mysteries--the basic assumptions she knew to play on to mislead her readers. Basically, this book confirmed what I already believed--Agatha was a genius. Plus, it gave me inspiration for my own mysteries. Glad to own this one.
September 7, 2013
Fifty years of mysteries in the making... quite interesting report of how Christie knew about the mechanics of storytelling! You can study here Christie's narrative strategies and much more... compelling to the core.
December 3, 2021
This is an enthralling read for any hardcore fan of Agatha Christie. It is an utterly engrossing deep dive in the fertile imagination and enviable innovation of the most readable and best-loved writer of popular crime fiction of all time.
So, I have 2 writing items on my bucket list. 1. I want to write a really great palindrome along the lines of "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama." and 2. I want to write a murder mystery novel. If I never wrote anything else other than these two projects, I would die contented. So, of course, I picked up this book with eager anticipation. I was not disappointed.
I imagine her great detective Hercule Poirot would sigh despondently over the slipshod way that Christie used the notebooks where she jotted random ideas, plot outlines, character sketches, and even occasional doodles. True, these were in most cases stream-of-consciousness record-keeping of thoughts lest they fly away and the real work of meticulously plotting her crafty murders and craftier sleuthing was largely done elsewhere. Still, though, Poirot would surely gently chide her. The reproduced pages from the actual notebooks that are sampled inside are just a mess.
John Curran has done a masterful job of taking the 70+ notebooks filled with these sorts of miscellanea, deciphering the truly horrible handwriting Dame Agatha sprawled over the pages, connecting the dots between notebooks as plot points and characters show up with no "order and method" whatsoever in how they relate to different novels and stories, and piecing it all together into a lively, readable study in how her brilliant mind turned out ingenious mystery after ingenious mystery for more than 50 years. That curating this pile is an act of deep love and respect shines through on every page.
Not that Curran is simply an awestruck toady. He never hesitates to comment on weaknesses in the finished works and how choosing different ideas from the many Dame Agatha jotted for each title might have made the end results more interesting, more compelling, more polished. Still, even in the least successful of her outings, Agatha Christie always had some interesting twist that showed that while her powers sometimes weakened (especially after she entered her eighth decade!), they never fully left her.
I think this will be a wonderful resource to help me get my creative juices flowing while I plot and jot over the next 20 years or so how to actually get a murder mystery out of my head and onto paper. John Curran has given us a grand exploration of her genius. I am grateful.
So, I have 2 writing items on my bucket list. 1. I want to write a really great palindrome along the lines of "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama." and 2. I want to write a murder mystery novel. If I never wrote anything else other than these two projects, I would die contented. So, of course, I picked up this book with eager anticipation. I was not disappointed.
I imagine her great detective Hercule Poirot would sigh despondently over the slipshod way that Christie used the notebooks where she jotted random ideas, plot outlines, character sketches, and even occasional doodles. True, these were in most cases stream-of-consciousness record-keeping of thoughts lest they fly away and the real work of meticulously plotting her crafty murders and craftier sleuthing was largely done elsewhere. Still, though, Poirot would surely gently chide her. The reproduced pages from the actual notebooks that are sampled inside are just a mess.
John Curran has done a masterful job of taking the 70+ notebooks filled with these sorts of miscellanea, deciphering the truly horrible handwriting Dame Agatha sprawled over the pages, connecting the dots between notebooks as plot points and characters show up with no "order and method" whatsoever in how they relate to different novels and stories, and piecing it all together into a lively, readable study in how her brilliant mind turned out ingenious mystery after ingenious mystery for more than 50 years. That curating this pile is an act of deep love and respect shines through on every page.
Not that Curran is simply an awestruck toady. He never hesitates to comment on weaknesses in the finished works and how choosing different ideas from the many Dame Agatha jotted for each title might have made the end results more interesting, more compelling, more polished. Still, even in the least successful of her outings, Agatha Christie always had some interesting twist that showed that while her powers sometimes weakened (especially after she entered her eighth decade!), they never fully left her.
I think this will be a wonderful resource to help me get my creative juices flowing while I plot and jot over the next 20 years or so how to actually get a murder mystery out of my head and onto paper. John Curran has given us a grand exploration of her genius. I am grateful.
August 25, 2022
As a fan of Christie's crime novels I looked forward to reading this but unfortunately found it rather a slog. Christie kept random notebooks which were used also for domestic arrangements such as Christmas present lists, into which she jotted short cryptic notes for plots. There was no chronological order, and notes on particular stories dot about between the 70 or so books in question and some books cover stories that are decades apart. The handwriting examples shown were often pretty indecipherable so the author has some kudos for deciphering it.
There were a few snippets that were fairly interesting - the author made lists of characters or plot points, usually assigned letters to the plot points and often rearranged them. A lot of characters changed names or were dropped. She often didn't know who the murderer would be so in today's terminology was a "pantser" in her style of writing. She had lots of different ideas, often dropped from a book as it progressed, and was very fertile in her imagination. On occasion she returned to an idea or theme etc and used it in a different way.
However, all this could have been conveyed in a much more succinct fashion rather than in the plodding way it is put across in this book with its constant dotting around between discussions of the same story in different chapters. There are also quite a few spoilers if someone hasn't read a lot of them or at least seen e.g. most of David Suchet's Poirots on TV. The book winds up with a couple of short stories - one was never published before but is very minor, the other is an earlier version in condensed form of 'Dumb Witness' - but I found those a bit underwhelming. Altogether I can't award it more than an OK 2 star rating and that is being a bit generous.
There were a few snippets that were fairly interesting - the author made lists of characters or plot points, usually assigned letters to the plot points and often rearranged them. A lot of characters changed names or were dropped. She often didn't know who the murderer would be so in today's terminology was a "pantser" in her style of writing. She had lots of different ideas, often dropped from a book as it progressed, and was very fertile in her imagination. On occasion she returned to an idea or theme etc and used it in a different way.
However, all this could have been conveyed in a much more succinct fashion rather than in the plodding way it is put across in this book with its constant dotting around between discussions of the same story in different chapters. There are also quite a few spoilers if someone hasn't read a lot of them or at least seen e.g. most of David Suchet's Poirots on TV. The book winds up with a couple of short stories - one was never published before but is very minor, the other is an earlier version in condensed form of 'Dumb Witness' - but I found those a bit underwhelming. Altogether I can't award it more than an OK 2 star rating and that is being a bit generous.
December 18, 2020
Agathos Christie gerbėjams tikrai patiks 😉
July 1, 2013
Prefer http://annetoronto1.blogspot.ca/2013/... Not "secret", more tag-end trivia of a big life. More reference text than fan illumination. Only for the ultra-dedicated or legally committed (to a job, not an asylum). Comprehensive, hard without having read. seen or remembering all her work, has spoilers. Microscopic lens on massive undertaking.
Meant to impress reader, justify diligent scholarship, meticulous research, cross-referenced lists, illegible photocopied notebook (partial) pages (~ every 30 pages, no index), their accurate translations (rare I disagree), boxed sidebars of literary criticisms and historical detours. Gratitude flows on and on within text, like an awards ceremony, well-deserved but obsequious, to Agatha's grandson for access, and a world of diligent aficionados.
Inspiring. Ongoing internationally praised talent scrawled unreadable jots widely, erratically, over 73+ cheap flimsy grade school lined exercise books, also used by other household members, full of schedule reminders, grocery lists, to-do's, to-bring's, daughter's handwriting practice - anything and everything. No order by year, subject, nothing. Curran persists, tries to connect all works, and history.
Miss Marple unravels skeins with purpose. Windblown seeds of imagination do not grow in neatly spaced rows. Curran's order is imposed, forced. Diet of "Agatha Christie's Garden: Murder and Mystery in Devon" DVD is much sweeter http://www.madman.com.au/videos/view/.... http://annetoronto1.blogspot.ca/2013/...
Clearly, ideas stuck, were revived over decades, "reworked ideas" table p81. Single words or names do not a chain of evidence link. Characters are re-named, plots re-ordered. More pencil than pen?
Curran exaggerates. He raises a minor part to a role model paragon, Dr Sarah King in "Appointment with Death" to the "first of her profession" p277.
("Agnodike was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in...). "A Christmas Tragedy" in "The Thirteen Problems" is motivated like "Evil Under the Sun" by a love triangle p322, so is Shakespeare's Othello.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The front cover big draw, "Includes two unpublished Poirot stories", disappoints. "The Capture of Cerebrus" has an unlikely Poirot quaffing much aperitifs, brandy, vodka, with a voluptuous Countess, finding his target in a location that seems familiar . "(The Incident of the) Dog's Ball" was fully developed in "Dumb Witness" 5 July 1957 p218. Dates have to be assigned by publication because developments were paced unevenly.
Despite my first intention to start with "new" stories, "boring" warning from another reader, I did plod line by line. Works unread, unseen (never to be), cannot recall in detail, to verify Curran connections is an impossible task; not all her generated output fits in pigeon holes. I retain the power of Agatha's imagination and hard work, questions of my own. Appetites for Christie may never be appeased.
Here too, are answers to the unasked. When "the agent's own file copy of the UK edition had been a war casualty", repropagating cut magazine versions propagated errors/ omissions in (at least) "The Moving Finger" and "Murder is Easy" p381. I knew alternate titles can be blamed on US publishers, like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter finds NA "Sorcerer's Stone" instead of UK "Philosopher's Stone". In Canada we get stuck in the middle of such conflicts.
"Sparkling Cyanide" 3 Dec 1945 elaborates "short story and subsequent radio play 'Yellow Iris' July 1937" p223 - "subsequent" seems misplaced. Ten years after poisoning at restaurant dinner, a reconstruction threatens another, featuring a disguised waiter against heiress sisters Rosemary and Iris Barton. Instead of Colonel Race investigating the death of his friend George, Poirot helps sisters. Would a long-time buddy not be more concerned, determined, than a chance bystander? Agatha noted a round table seating plan and 3 possible killers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparklin... "Remembered Death"
http://aneyespy.blogspot.ca/2013/01/p... Yellow Iris
Typos?
p45 missing "titles date from the mid-1930s", but p44 lists outlines missing for 1920s
p177 Lottie and Lettie exchange spellings "incorrectly" ever resolved?
Meant to impress reader, justify diligent scholarship, meticulous research, cross-referenced lists, illegible photocopied notebook (partial) pages (~ every 30 pages, no index), their accurate translations (rare I disagree), boxed sidebars of literary criticisms and historical detours. Gratitude flows on and on within text, like an awards ceremony, well-deserved but obsequious, to Agatha's grandson for access, and a world of diligent aficionados.
Inspiring. Ongoing internationally praised talent scrawled unreadable jots widely, erratically, over 73+ cheap flimsy grade school lined exercise books, also used by other household members, full of schedule reminders, grocery lists, to-do's, to-bring's, daughter's handwriting practice - anything and everything. No order by year, subject, nothing. Curran persists, tries to connect all works, and history.
Miss Marple unravels skeins with purpose. Windblown seeds of imagination do not grow in neatly spaced rows. Curran's order is imposed, forced. Diet of "Agatha Christie's Garden: Murder and Mystery in Devon" DVD is much sweeter http://www.madman.com.au/videos/view/.... http://annetoronto1.blogspot.ca/2013/...
Clearly, ideas stuck, were revived over decades, "reworked ideas" table p81. Single words or names do not a chain of evidence link. Characters are re-named, plots re-ordered. More pencil than pen?
Curran exaggerates. He raises a minor part to a role model paragon, Dr Sarah King in "Appointment with Death" to the "first of her profession" p277.
("Agnodike was the first female physician to practice legally in 4th century BC Athens" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in...). "A Christmas Tragedy" in "The Thirteen Problems" is motivated like "Evil Under the Sun" by a love triangle p322, so is Shakespeare's Othello.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The front cover big draw, "Includes two unpublished Poirot stories", disappoints. "The Capture of Cerebrus" has an unlikely Poirot quaffing much aperitifs, brandy, vodka, with a voluptuous Countess, finding his target in a location that seems familiar . "(The Incident of the) Dog's Ball" was fully developed in "Dumb Witness" 5 July 1957 p218. Dates have to be assigned by publication because developments were paced unevenly.
Despite my first intention to start with "new" stories, "boring" warning from another reader, I did plod line by line. Works unread, unseen (never to be), cannot recall in detail, to verify Curran connections is an impossible task; not all her generated output fits in pigeon holes. I retain the power of Agatha's imagination and hard work, questions of my own. Appetites for Christie may never be appeased.
Here too, are answers to the unasked. When "the agent's own file copy of the UK edition had been a war casualty", repropagating cut magazine versions propagated errors/ omissions in (at least) "The Moving Finger" and "Murder is Easy" p381. I knew alternate titles can be blamed on US publishers, like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter finds NA "Sorcerer's Stone" instead of UK "Philosopher's Stone". In Canada we get stuck in the middle of such conflicts.
"Sparkling Cyanide" 3 Dec 1945 elaborates "short story and subsequent radio play 'Yellow Iris' July 1937" p223 - "subsequent" seems misplaced. Ten years after poisoning at restaurant dinner, a reconstruction threatens another, featuring a disguised waiter against heiress sisters Rosemary and Iris Barton. Instead of Colonel Race investigating the death of his friend George, Poirot helps sisters. Would a long-time buddy not be more concerned, determined, than a chance bystander? Agatha noted a round table seating plan and 3 possible killers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparklin... "Remembered Death"
http://aneyespy.blogspot.ca/2013/01/p... Yellow Iris
Typos?
p45 missing "titles date from the mid-1930s", but p44 lists outlines missing for 1920s
p177 Lottie and Lettie exchange spellings "incorrectly" ever resolved?
August 28, 2020
Not a big fan of how he decided to organise it, but it's marvelous to have an insight on Agatha's mind and creative process!!
She's such an inspiring woman and such an intelligent, wise soul!
She's such an inspiring woman and such an intelligent, wise soul!
August 16, 2018
When this book was published I was thrilled to hear that Agatha Christie kept writing notebooks, and I eagerly wanted to read this to (hopefully) discover her writing process. Unfortunately, this book doesn't deliver. Curran does his best to transcribe her handwriting (which, frankly, is horrible) and tries to show her thought processes during the writing, but it seems like this is more memos and jottings to remind herself of what she thought, rather than a stream-of-consciousness thinking aloud. If you were reading this along with her other papers and correspondence, I think her frame of mind would be more apparent. So in that respect, the book is a disappointment.
Another GR review mentioned how the author seems to consider his opinion on Christie's work as the Final Verdict -- she's right, he does. However, what really bugs me about him is this -- Curran approves and/or disapproves of how Christie variously characterized homosexuals over the decades, but he's thoroughly okay with using the N-word when discussing her book usually titled AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Granted, the original edition used that word, but Curran doesn't anywhere even acknowledge that it is no longer considered appropriate.
Not sure whether this book is a keeper.
Another GR review mentioned how the author seems to consider his opinion on Christie's work as the Final Verdict -- she's right, he does. However, what really bugs me about him is this -- Curran approves and/or disapproves of how Christie variously characterized homosexuals over the decades, but he's thoroughly okay with using the N-word when discussing her book usually titled AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. Granted, the original edition used that word, but Curran doesn't anywhere even acknowledge that it is no longer considered appropriate.
Not sure whether this book is a keeper.
August 27, 2010
A book for Christie completists. Two previously unpublished short stories make this a must. Those not so obsessed may be slightly disappointed at some of the discoveries; that Christie changed the titles of her books and characters' names sometimes is not very exciting but it is fascinating to discover that, often, she had no idea who the murderer was going to be, even as the plots were almost fully formed. If you are hoping for some insight into her genius you won't find it here as her thought processes were not directly committed to the notebooks. The author does his best to decipher Christie's sprawling handwriting. Some solutions are necessarily revealed so care is needed so as not to spoil any unread stories. This led to me skipping pages here and there. However, as John Curran rightly points out, you can read a Christie a month for seven years and then start again, safe in the knowledge that you will have forgotten the solution in most cases.
November 10, 2015
This is a wonderful, marvelous read for all Agatha Christie fans. Yes, it contained lots of spoilers so beware if you still haven't read the titles mentioned in each chapter. But for you who already read them, this Secret Notebooks is a true gem. We were taken by John Curran to delve into the notebooks (that still have limited access up to now) that had been used by Christie to develop her ideas, write the plot of her stories and even to have conversation with herself. It's amazing to see how a genius mind worked - in spite of the messy crawls and abstract sentences. The creative process itself seemed familiar since it is similar with the one Mrs. Ariadne Oliver mentioned about her creative process in several of Christie's books. In short, this is a must read of every Christie fan, and I bet after you read this book, you will have a certain craving to reread all of her books, again and again!
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May 25, 2020I'm going to need to reread this one at some point...I really wasn't in the proper frame of mind to go through the details of how her notes differed (or didn't) from the final versions of the novels and short stories. I powered my way through simply because I had it down for several challenges but I can't say that I've taken in much of the information or that what I have taken in has interested me much.
The most interesting portion for me in this initial reading was the inclusion of the two unpublished stories: "The Capture of Cerberus" and "The Incident of the Dog's Ball." Each of these were later reworked--the first as a short story and the second transformed into the novel Dumb Witness.
Since I feel like my timing is off on reading this and I plan to reread at another time, I'm not going to assign a rating. It wouldn't be fair.
The most interesting portion for me in this initial reading was the inclusion of the two unpublished stories: "The Capture of Cerberus" and "The Incident of the Dog's Ball." Each of these were later reworked--the first as a short story and the second transformed into the novel Dumb Witness.
Since I feel like my timing is off on reading this and I plan to reread at another time, I'm not going to assign a rating. It wouldn't be fair.
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