Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks : Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making

A fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's seventy-three private notebooks, including illustrations and two unpublished Poirot stories When Agatha Christie died in 1976, at age eighty-five, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide, in more than one hundred countries, she had achieved the impossible--more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller. So prolific was Agatha Christie's output--sixty-six crime novels, twenty plays, six romance novels under a pseudonym and more than one hundred and fifty short stories--it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those fifty-five years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes? Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable legacy was revealed. Unearthed among her... Version : 5.0 A fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's seventy-three private notebooks, including illustrations and two unpublished Poirot stories When Agatha Christie died in 1976, at age eighty-five, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide, in more than one hundred countries, she had achieved the impossible—more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller. So prolific was Agatha Christie's output—sixty-six crime novels, twenty plays, six romance novels under a pseudonym and more than one hundred and fifty short stories—it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those fifty-five years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes? Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable legacy was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, seventy-three handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in her unmistakable handwriting, are revelations about her famous books that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story. How did the infamous twist in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd really come about? Which very famous Poirot novel started life as an adventure for Miss Marple? Which books were designed to have completely differ-ent endings, and what were they? What were the plot ideas that she considered but rejected? Full of details she was too modest to reveal in her own autobiography, this remarkable new book includes a wealth of excerpts and pages reproduced directly from the notebooks and her letters, plus, for the first time, two newly discovered complete Hercule Poirot short stories never before published. A Fascinating Exploration Of The Contents Of Agatha Christie's Long Hidden Notebooks, Including Illustrations, Analyses, And Two Previously Unpublished Short Stories. This Was First Published In The Uk --provided By Publisher. A Murder Is Announced: The Beginning Of A Career -- Dumb Witness: The Evidence Of The Notebooks. Exhibit A: The Detection Club -- The Moving Finger: Agatha Christie At Work. Exhibit B: Other Crime Writers Int He Notebooks -- Cat Among The Pigeons: The Nursery Rhyme Murders. Exhibit C: Agatha Christie In The Notebooks -- Blind Man's Buff: A Game Of Murder. Exhibit D: True Crime In The Notebooks -- The Girl In The Train: Murder Abroad -- Elephants Can Remember: Murder In Retrospect. Exhibit E: N Or M? -- A Titles Quiz -- Destination Unknown: Murder Abroad -- In A Glass Darkly: The Unknown Christie. Exhibit F: The House Of Dreams: Unused Ideas -- Sanctuary: A Holiday For Murder -- Poirot Investigates: The Labours Of Hercules. Exhibit G: Murder Is Easy: Seeds Of Inspiration -- The Body In The Library: Murder By Quotation -- Appendix: Swan Song: Two Last Stories. The Capture Of Cerberus ; The Incident Of The Dog's Ball. John Curran. Originally Published: London : Harpercollins, 2009. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 485) And Index Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks is the fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie’s long hidden notebooks, including illustrations, analyses, and two previously unpublished Hercule Poirot short stories. Not only will Christie’s legions of ardent fans find a treasure chest of new material from the author of such classics as And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Death on the Nile, but Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks is also a must-read tutorial for writers who want to learn the intricacies of constructing crime novels. This is a fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie's 73 recently discovered notebooks, including illustrations, deleted extracts, and two unpublished Poirot stories Expert archivist John Curran examines the unpublished notebooks of the worlds best selling author, to explore the techniques she used to surprise and entertain generations of readers