Joyfully Retired

Author: Agatha Christie

Publisher: Harper Collins

Genre: Mystery

My Rating: A

I’m a little over a third of the way through my quest to read all 87 of Agatha Christie’s novels and, frankly, I’ve been dragging in my enthusiasm to do so. Then, I found this ebook that is a nice overview of Agatha Christie’s body of work.

It’s meant to be an introduction for someone who has never read one of her novels. In the beginning of the book there is a terrific Introduction by John Curran, the award-winning Christie expert. In it he summarizes both Agatha Christie’s life and her writing. I especially like how Mr. Curran examined her books and which ones he considered to be her “golden age in terms of both productivity and ingenuity.”

This “golden age” spanned twenty years from 1930 to 1950. It started with Miss Marple’s The Murder at the Vicarage. I happen to be about half way through this “golden age” which helped boost my determination to keep going.

If you are considering reading some of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, I’d suggest Clues To Christie. In addition to the excellent Introduction, John Curran examines each one of Christie’s popular detectives: Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. At the end of each detective’s section there is a short story featuring that detective. (The one featuring Miss Marple was the best.)

This is a great way to see if you want to read more of this author. For me it was a great way to convince myself to keep going. Bring on #34.