Every author should be a reader. I (Flannery) recently went to an author event during which an author admitted that she was never really a reader. (Name withheld to protect the hopefully embarrassed) I now know that I will probably never read that author's books -- perhaps that's a bit harsh, but it is also a reality. Quite the opposite is true of my interactions with Andrea K Höst. I've been friends with Höst on Goodreads for over a year. She engages on the site primarily as a reader and I've come to really enjoy her taste in books and her recommendations. Her personality and conversation, as well as a 5-star review from a friend of mine, made me very curious about her work and I really enjoyed the first one I read, Stray which is the first in a sci-fi series. She writes mostly fantasy and science fiction stories but her upcoming release, entitled And All the Stars, will be her first foray into the post-apoc genre and I am so excited to see where the story goes. I loved a recommendations post Höst published on her blog, Autumn Write, so I asked whether she'd write something for The Readventurer. Today and tomorrow, Andrea will be here talking about her knowledge of mysteries for our Year of the Classics feature. Today, she'll do an overview of Agatha Christie's work and tomorrow, on to some other recommended mystery books!
A Classic Mystery Primer, Part 1: Agatha Christie
Where do you start with classic Whodunnits? You've been pointed at Agatha Christie, picked up a title at random, liked it, and want more. This brief (*cough*) primer may give you some ideas on where to head next.
First stop, more Agatha Christie!
Christie published over 70 detective novels and short story collections (along with a few plays). My personal preference with Golden Age mysteries is to start at the beginning and read chronologically, but with 70 novels you might want to pick and choose. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are the best known of her detectives, but she used at least half a dozen others who might pique a new reader's interest.
Poirot: Symmetry and Logic
Who is the detective?: Poirot was Christie's first detective, and there's a clear comparison between the stories of the little Belgian and his literary predecessor Sherlock Holmes. Although Poirot disdains some of Holmes' evidence-gathering methods (throwing oneself about on the ground in search of cigarette ash is most definitely not Poirot's style), many familiar notes will sound as Poirot's keen observation and logical deduction sees him untangle what to his Watson-equivalent, the good-hearted but mildly comedic Hastings, is a Gordian Knot of mystery.
First stop, more Agatha Christie!
Christie published over 70 detective novels and short story collections (along with a few plays). My personal preference with Golden Age mysteries is to start at the beginning and read chronologically, but with 70 novels you might want to pick and choose. Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot are the best known of her detectives, but she used at least half a dozen others who might pique a new reader's interest.
Poirot: Symmetry and Logic
Who is the detective?: Poirot was Christie's first detective, and there's a clear comparison between the stories of the little Belgian and his literary predecessor Sherlock Holmes. Although Poirot disdains some of Holmes' evidence-gathering methods (throwing oneself about on the ground in search of cigarette ash is most definitely not Poirot's style), many familiar notes will sound as Poirot's keen observation and logical deduction sees him untangle what to his Watson-equivalent, the good-hearted but mildly comedic Hastings, is a Gordian Knot of mystery.
And just like Conan Doyle, Christie had soon had it up to her eye teeth with her most famous creation, describing him as a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep". Christie's later Poirot novels often shift the focus away from him to secondary characters. Despite the author's growing dislike for him, she maintains his character, his unflagging sense of justice. I've always found Poirot, with his love of symmetry and his painfully tight patent leather shoes, to be rather endearing.
Where to start: With Christie's very first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which is a classic English country murder. Another option is The Labours of Hercules, a collection of short stories in which Poirot is challenging himself with particular cases before retirement.
What to skip: A very influential novel, but I'm not a fan of this sort of twist ending: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Miss Marple: Fluffy But Deadly
Who is the detective?: Miss Jane Marple, an elderly resident of St Mary's Mead, devoted to her garden, and the observation of human nature. Christie created Miss Marple because, during a stage adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the narrator's spinster sister was replaced by a young girl character, and so Miss Marple became a deliberate attempt to give a voice to one of the least-heard members of society: elderly women.
If ever there was a mystery series dying to be written, it's Jane Marple's early life. Along with possessing keen intelligence, young Jane attended art courses which apparently involved the study of human cadavers, and she (claims to have) won awards for marksmanship, fencing and equestrianism. Where are the Steampunk Jane Marple novels?
Where to start: With Christie's very first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which is a classic English country murder. Another option is The Labours of Hercules, a collection of short stories in which Poirot is challenging himself with particular cases before retirement.
What to skip: A very influential novel, but I'm not a fan of this sort of twist ending: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Miss Marple: Fluffy But Deadly
Who is the detective?: Miss Jane Marple, an elderly resident of St Mary's Mead, devoted to her garden, and the observation of human nature. Christie created Miss Marple because, during a stage adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the narrator's spinster sister was replaced by a young girl character, and so Miss Marple became a deliberate attempt to give a voice to one of the least-heard members of society: elderly women.
If ever there was a mystery series dying to be written, it's Jane Marple's early life. Along with possessing keen intelligence, young Jane attended art courses which apparently involved the study of human cadavers, and she (claims to have) won awards for marksmanship, fencing and equestrianism. Where are the Steampunk Jane Marple novels?
In the early Marple books, Miss Marple is considered nosy and is disliked, but in later volumes evolves into a respected (and feared) community member. Her time in the small village of St Mary's Mead has given her ample opportunity to study a microcosm of human life, with all its sins and foibles, and for a sweet and fluffy looking creature she has an absolutely cynical view of the worst aspects of human nature. Miss Marple books often are resolved using a parallel village incident. Miss Marple has seen it all before.
Where to start: The first Marple novel is Murder at the Vicarage and is a solid 'everyone has a motive' story. Another good starting place is The Thirteen Problems, a collection of short stories, or the wonderful juxtaposition of fluffy spinster and jaded millionaire in A Caribbean Mystery.
What to skip: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. One of my main reasons for disliking a book is if it leaves me depressed, and this is definitely one of those.
Tommy and Tuppence: Time Goes By Adventurers
Where to start: The first Marple novel is Murder at the Vicarage and is a solid 'everyone has a motive' story. Another good starting place is The Thirteen Problems, a collection of short stories, or the wonderful juxtaposition of fluffy spinster and jaded millionaire in A Caribbean Mystery.
What to skip: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. One of my main reasons for disliking a book is if it leaves me depressed, and this is definitely one of those.
Tommy and Tuppence: Time Goes By Adventurers
Who is the detective?: Tommy and Tuppence start out as Bright Young Things who, out of work in post-WWI London, decide to hire themselves out as young adventurers, and get themselves mixed up in blackmail, plots and spy games. The stories are firmly in the thriller category, not mystery, and follow the pair through the next war and beyond.
Where to start: The first in this series of four novels and one short story collection is The Secret Adversary.
What to skip: The T&T books are a very distinct set of books. If you liked T&T in the first book, and enjoy the idea of watching two characters mature and change over time, then read on in order. The later books especially are not Christie's strongest, but you do have to give Tuppence points for refusing to be left out when the War Office is only interested in recruiting her husband.
Ariadne Oliver: The Author as Character
Where to start: The first in this series of four novels and one short story collection is The Secret Adversary.
What to skip: The T&T books are a very distinct set of books. If you liked T&T in the first book, and enjoy the idea of watching two characters mature and change over time, then read on in order. The later books especially are not Christie's strongest, but you do have to give Tuppence points for refusing to be left out when the War Office is only interested in recruiting her husband.
Ariadne Oliver: The Author as Character
Who is the detective?: Ariadne Oliver appears periodically in the Poirot mysteries, with one or two later outings of her own. This is Christie going meta – disorganised, apple-loving mystery writer Ariadne Oliver is a clear parody of herself, down to loathing her idiosyncratic detective and wishing she dared kill him off. Oliver makes a much better foil for Poirot than Hastings, and is so often the viewpoint character that her books can be considered a distinct sub-category.
Where to start: Ariadne Oliver first appears in a short story (to be found in the collection Parker Pyne Investigates). Her full introduction is in Cards on the Table, a mystery involving around a collection of detecting experts and a collection of suspects. My favourite of her appearances is probably in Dead Man's Folly, where she is a guest at a garden party, and has been asked to write the clues in a scavenger hunt.
What to skip: The Pale Horse, which focuses primarily on a one-off character, Mark
Easterbrook, and involves witches.
Where to start: Ariadne Oliver first appears in a short story (to be found in the collection Parker Pyne Investigates). Her full introduction is in Cards on the Table, a mystery involving around a collection of detecting experts and a collection of suspects. My favourite of her appearances is probably in Dead Man's Folly, where she is a guest at a garden party, and has been asked to write the clues in a scavenger hunt.
What to skip: The Pale Horse, which focuses primarily on a one-off character, Mark
Easterbrook, and involves witches.
Notable Shorts
For something different, try a couple of the short story collections:
The Mysterious Mr Quin (and two later stories): A mysterious figure who intrigues and impresses social doyen Mr Satterthwaite. These stories combine touches of the supernatural (Quin) and often issues of romance. Rather fun.
Parker Pyne Investigates: Pyne considers himself a 'detective of the heart', and features in a series of mystery short stories which bring about romantic resolutions.
For something different, try a couple of the short story collections:
The Mysterious Mr Quin (and two later stories): A mysterious figure who intrigues and impresses social doyen Mr Satterthwaite. These stories combine touches of the supernatural (Quin) and often issues of romance. Rather fun.
Parker Pyne Investigates: Pyne considers himself a 'detective of the heart', and features in a series of mystery short stories which bring about romantic resolutions.
Really Thrillers
Although best known for her classic mysteries, Christie also turned out quite a few books which would be better classed as thrillers, over-flowing with espionage, master criminals, secret societies and, well, unlikely and overblown plots. Some notable books:
And Then There Were None: Racist poetry and all. It would only take a touch of supernatural to turn this particular book into a forerunner for Halloween and Friday the 13th, as ten people trapped on an island are picked off one by one.
Although best known for her classic mysteries, Christie also turned out quite a few books which would be better classed as thrillers, over-flowing with espionage, master criminals, secret societies and, well, unlikely and overblown plots. Some notable books:
And Then There Were None: Racist poetry and all. It would only take a touch of supernatural to turn this particular book into a forerunner for Halloween and Friday the 13th, as ten people trapped on an island are picked off one by one.
Death Comes as the End: Completely different to any other Christie, this novel is set in Ancient Egypt, about a family dealing with the introduction of a new concubine. It's based on translations of real letters of a man to his family, and while I don't often re-read this, I'm always fascinated when I do. It actually reminds me a little of Andre Norton!
The Man in the Brown Suit: Take one young orphan, longing for adventure. Add an accidental death, a strangled young woman and a mysterious man in a brown suit and you end up in a spanking and romantic tale that ends on an island in Africa. One of my favourites of Christie's adventure tales.
So, we've scratched the surface. Part 2 of the Primer will cover some of the classic detectives not written by Agatha Christie!
The Man in the Brown Suit: Take one young orphan, longing for adventure. Add an accidental death, a strangled young woman and a mysterious man in a brown suit and you end up in a spanking and romantic tale that ends on an island in Africa. One of my favourites of Christie's adventure tales.
So, we've scratched the surface. Part 2 of the Primer will cover some of the classic detectives not written by Agatha Christie!
True confession: Sometimes Andrea makes me feel like I am not well-read at all. She seems to have read everything, especially in the fantasy, mystery, and sci-fi genres. Congratulations on being a badass, Andrea. Join her here tomorrow for non-Christie mysteries!
Have you read any Christie? Do you agree/disagree with any of her assessments?
Have you read any Christie? Do you agree/disagree with any of her assessments?
