Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | MYSTERY CHR | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Author Notes
One of the most successful and beloved writer of mystery stories, Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay, County Devon, England. She wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920, launching a literary career that spanned decades. In her lifetime, she authored 79 crime novels and a short story collection, 19 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language with another billion in 44 foreign languages. Some of her most famous titles include Murder on the Orient Express, Mystery of the Blue Train, And Then There Were None, 13 at Dinner and The Sittaford Mystery.
Noted for clever and surprising twists of plot, many of Christie's mysteries feature two unconventional fictional detectives named Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Poirot, in particular, plays the hero of many of her works, including the classic, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), and Curtain (1975), one of her last works in which the famed detective dies.
Over the years, her travels took her to the Middle East where she met noted English archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. They married in 1930. Christie accompanied Mallowan on annual expeditions to Iraq and Syria, which served as material for Murder in Mesopotamia (1930), Death on the Nile (1937), and Appointment with Death (1938).
Christie's credits also include the plays, The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution (1953; film 1957). Christie received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for 1954-1955 for Witness. She was also named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971.
Christie died in 1976.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Osborne completes his homage to Christie with this third and final adaptation of an original Christie play, following Black Coffee (1998) and The Unexpected Guest (1999). Though the play was written in 1954, the story suffers little from the passage of time, and aside from the static setting, reads well as a novel. Christie's exquisite timing and clever sleight-of-mind tricks are a delight, while Osborne has the good sense not to embroider the tale. A typical closed cast of characters occupies the temporary country home of Henry and Clarissa Hailsham-Brown: the seemingly scatterbrained Clarissa; her stepdaughter, Pippa; the odious Oliver Costello, who has married Pippa's mother; Sir Rowland Delahaye, Clarissa's godfather and a man of honor; an outspoken gardener; a butler; a cook; and Inspector Lord, the rather diffident policeman. When Clarissa discovers a body in the drawing room, she decides that it mustn't be found there. Her plans to dispose of the body are interrupted by the arrival of a rather diffident policeman, Inspector Lord, who has come to check out an anonymous tip that a murder has been committed. Christie's bag of tricks includes hidden doorways, secret drawers, French windows and concealed identitiesDall used to amusing effect. As with Osborne's previous novelizations, this is a welcome addition to the Christie canon and is sure to reach mystery bestseller lists. The cover, with a spider in a web against a green faux-marble background, is as catchy as they come. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Osbornes third novelization of a Christie playthis one based on a 1954 original that ran for two years alongside the West End perennials Witness for the Prosecution and The Mousetraptakes place in still another country house that, except for the impending hush-hush visit of the Prime Minister and the Soviet premier, could be frozen back in the 20s. As Copplestone Courts latest tenant, rising Foreign Office star Henry Hailsham-Brown, orders his wife Clarissa to get the place ready for his big event, shes already in deeper waters. Minutes earlier, shed faced off with Oliver Costello, current husband and rumored drug supplier to Henrys ex. Unsavory Oliver threatened to launch a custody battle for Henrys beloved daughter Pippa. And on returning secretly to Copplestone soon after, Costello is promptly murdered, and Clarissa, frantically attempting to preserve the peace Henry needs for his all-important meeting, enlists the aid of three houseguests to hide the body from Inspector Lord, who despite his blandness has much too sharp an eye to be fooled by such rank amateurs. Both the dramaturgy and most of the characters, as usual, are stockyou can almost hear the swish of the curtain falling on the first two actsbut Clarissa, a charming liar, supplies some much-needed humor and pep to the tired proceedings. Better than Christie/Osbornes Black Coffee (1998), not as good as The Unexpected Guest (1999). If this adaptation repeats the sales of those two, expect an Osborne version of Verdict, Christies last original mystery play, in time for next Christmas.
Booklist Review
This third and last of Christie's plays to be novelized by Osborne--following Black Coffee (1998) and The Unexpected Guest (1999)--betrays its origins in its crisp dialogue and smooth action. Twists, turns, and things that are not what they seem abound, of course, as Clarissa, the younger second wife of Henry Hailsham-Brown, amuses herself in deception and flirtation in their rented country home. However, when the current spouse of Henry's first wife, an odious sort, turns up dead at her very feet, Clarissa must be resourceful indeed. Her young stepdaughter hated and feared the dead man, and Henry himself is bringing home a diplomat on a secret mission, so the whole thing must be cleared up posthaste. Despite Clarissa's best efforts, the police show up, and a series of deceptions within deceptions foment a neat, exaggerated, and quite attractive puzzle. Another Christie on the bookshelf, huzzah. GraceAnne A. DeCandido
