Remembering Agatha Christie (Pranay)

from her website:

Top 10 Agatha Christie books :

1. And then there were none:

Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to a lonely mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they start to die…

Possibly her most famous book, and certainly the most adapted, Christie used different endings for the novel and her stage adaptation, giving the stage version a happier ending. The Boston Transcript wrote, “For absolute horror and complete bafflement Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, takes all prizes.” It has been filmed five times.

2. Murder on the Orient Express:

Travelling on the Orient Express, Poirot is approached by a desperate American named Ratchett. Afraid that someone plans to kill him, Ratchett asks Poirot for help. Sadly the very next day Ratchett’s worst fears become reality, when he is found dead in his cabin, a victim of multiple stab wounds. With nothing but a scrap of paper to go on, Poirot must piece together Ratchett’s identity before he can establish which of his fellow passengers murdered him.

The film version of this novel was made in 1974 and won an Oscar for Ingrid Bergman. At that time it was the most successful British film ever made, grossing profits of more than £20million.

3. The Thirteen Problems:

“What class of brain succeeds best in unravelling a mystery?”

Raymond West – The Thirteen Problems

Such is the challenge Miss Jane Marple’s dinner guests set themselves: who can solve the latest problem presented each Tuesday Night? Why have they never been solved before? Perhaps because this is the first time Miss Marple has heard them.

The Thirteen Problems (1932) first published as The Tuesday Club Murders in the USA, marks Miss Marple’s first appearance in print. In her autobiography, Christie says she chose six people whom she thought might meet once a week in a small village and describe some unsolved crime. She started with Miss Jane Marple, “the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my grandmother’s Ealing cronies – old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl”.

Six of the problems were first published in The Sketch magazine in 1927 and 1928. Colonel and Mrs Bantry who later appear in The Body in the Library, were first introduced in two of the final seven stories in this collection, specially written for book publication.

4. Endless Night:

Gipsy’s Acre is a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea and, for Michael Rogers, it stirs a child-like fantasy. He wants to settle there, amongst the dark fir trees. Yet, as he leaves the village, a shadow of menace hangs over the land. This is the place where accidents happen. Perhaps Michael should have heeded the locals’ warnings: “There’s no luck for them as meddles with Gipsy’s Acre.”

The novel was adapted for the screen and released in 1972. It starred Hayley Mills and Britt Eklund. Agatha Christie was unhappy with the attempt to enliven the plot by infusing the movie with sexual scenes. Both Christie and her husband claim in their respective autobiographies that the novel is among their favorites due to the “twisted” character who had a chance of turning good but instead chose evil. The book is dedicated to the author’s relative Nora Prichard, who first told the author about a field called ‘Gipsy’s Acres’ on the Welsh moors. The title of the novel is drawn from the Romantic poet William Blake’s Auguries of Innocence, of which a key line is ‘Some are born to Endless Night’.

5. The moving finger:

Lymstock is much like any other English village. Those that live there enjoy the peace of rural life until a series of poison pen letters destroy the safety they took for granted. When one villager commits suicide and another is murdered, the village is plunged into suspicion and terror. Once a village of trust, now all inhabitants are on the brink of accusations. Who could be writing the letters and why? Perhaps Miss Marple might be of help…

Christie considered The Moving Finger to be one of her best novels. ‘It is a great test,’ she added, ‘to re-read what one has written some seventeen or eighteen years later. One’s view changes. Some do not stand the test of time, others do.’ She employed the use of a young male narrator. We see events unfold from the view of Jerry Burton who is recuperating whilst recovering from an accident. Christie has been praised by critics for her believable male narrators and arguably Jerry is one of the best. The Moving Finger has successfully been adapted for television, first with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and more recently with Geraldine McEwan in the ITV adaptations.

6. Ordeal by Innocence:

While serving a sentence for killing his mother – a crime he insisted he didn’t commit – Jacko Argyle dies in prison. Two years later, the man who could have supported Jacko’s alibi suddenly turns up. It appears that Jacko was innocent… and that the murderer is part of the surviving family.

The novel was first published in 1958 by William Collins Son & Co. in London, and in 1959 by Dodd, Mead & Co. in New York. It was filmed in 1984 by Golan-Gobus Productions in England starring Donald Sutherland, Sarah Miles and Christopher Plummer. The film adheres closely to the novel. The New York Times described the novel as one of Christie’s most engaging works. “Characteristically surprising, trickily constructed and yet firmly based in character…”

This book is dedicated, “To Billy Collins with affection and gratitude.” It was he who lured Christie from the Bodley Head, which published her first six books, to Williams Collins Sons & Co in 1926. Now known as HarperCollins this company is UK publisher of Christie’s books to this day. An adaptation of tihs novel was broadcast, with the addition of Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple, in 2007.

7. Crooked house:

Three generations of the Leonides family live together in a large, if somewhat crooked looking, house. Then the wealthy patriarch, Aristide, is murdered. Suspicion falls on the whole household, including Aristide’s two sons, his widow – fifty years his junior – and even his three grandchildren. Could any member of this seemingly devoted family have had a hand in his death? Can Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter, help the police find the killer and clear his loved one’s name?

Christie always acknowledged this novel as one of her favourites. She said in an interview in The Sunday Times that she enjoyed best writing the Crooked House type novel, “which depends on a family and the interplay of their lives.”

8. Towards Zero:

What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing. When a houseparty gathers at Gull’s Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head.

Robert Graves, author of I Claudius, was a neighbour of Agatha Christie’s in Devon during the Second World War and the two became friends. Christie dedicated this book to Graves: “Dear Robert, Since you are kind enough to say you like my stories, I venture to dedicate this book to you. All I ask is that you sternly restrain your critical faculties (doubtless sharpened by your recent excesses in that line!) when reading it. This is a story for your pleasure and not a candidate for Mr Graves’ literary pillory!” The book was dramatised by Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner. It was adapted for TV in 2007 with Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple.

9. A murder is announced

A murder is announced and will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks, at 6.30 pm.’

So appears the invitation in the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette.

How exciting! The villagers expect a game. A crowd gathers. The murderer is chosen. The victim falls. Then the lights go out…

It’s suddenly no longer a game when a body is discovered. How could this happen? Where did the game go wrong? Fortunately Miss Marple is on hand – the greatest player of them all!

First published in 1950 by William Collins, A Murder is Announced is considered a classic in crime fiction with some considering it the best of all the Miss Marple novels. More than a simple murder mystery, this is a story of redemption.

CV Terry said, “Here’s a super-smooth Christie – three neat murders in an English village only faintly shadowed by the reign of Attlee, the customary constables very amusingly winded and Miss Marple always a good stride in the lead. It goes without saying that most readers will guess in vain, though the author lays her facts scrupulously on the line, along with an assortment of her famous red herrings, all beautifully marinated.”

It was adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon, opening in London at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1977. A Murder is Announced was the first Miss Marple to be adapted for the screen back in 1956 with Gracie Fields in the title role. Joan Hickson revived the role in 1986 for the BBC and in 2004 Geraldine McEwan played the role for ITV.

10. The murder of Roger Ackroyd:

Poirot is called to upon to investigate the murder of Roger Ackroyd, a man with an intriguing story. He’d been courting Mrs Ferrars, a wealthy widow, who had recently died of a suspected suicide by overdose. To solve the murder of Roger Ackroyd, Poirot realises he must delve deeper into the circumstances surrounding Mrs Ferrars’ demise.

The New York Times said of this book, “There are doubtless many detective stories more exciting and blood curdling than The Murder of Roger Ackroyd but this reviewer has recently read very few which provide greater analytical stimulation.” It was filmed for television with David Suchet as Poirot in 2000.

Source: LINK

which one is your favourite, if there are any Agatha Christie enthusiasts?