Agatha Christie
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Murder by the Book: An Agatha Christie Drama
In the midst of World War Two Agatha Christie wrote the book Curtain, the final Hercule Poirot novel. This was the book that would complete the story of Hercule Poirot, and would see the end of the World’s greatest detective. (sorry Sherlock!). However, the book was not published at the time of writing. Instead, Agatha kept it in a safe as a security for her family should anything happen to her during the war. The book was eventually published until 1975, just 3 months before Agatha herself died. In the interim, Poirot went on to solve a great many more cases in books like After the Funeral, The Clocks and…
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Truly Miss Marple, The Curious Case Of Margaret Rutherford
I recently discovered, and watched, a really interesting, absorbing documentary about an actress who became a national treasure, and is now fondly remembered, at the very least, for being the original Miss Marple. Margaret Rutherford had an interesting and tragic early life, but, despite this, she went on to become a legendary comic actress, an Oscar Winner, and starred as Miss Marple in 4 popular films. In ‘Truly Miss Marple, The Curious Case Of Margaret Rutherford‘, which is currently available to watch for free on Youtube, we find out more about this most beloved of stars. Her full name was actually Margaret Rutherford Benn, and she was part of the same aristocratic…
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Spiders Web – An Agatha Christie Rarity
Spiders Web is a bit of an Agatha Christie oddity. a 1950’s play that was written at the request of Margaret Rutherford during Rehearsals for ‘Witness for the Prosecution‘. It was Agatha’s 2nd most successful play after The Mousetrap, and was turned into a novel by Charles Osborne (who did the same for Black Coffee), and yet it is certainly not up there with the best of Agatha, despite having a great heroine in Clarissa. I first read the novelisation during the first lockdown, when I made a decision to read all of Agatha’s books and plays, and found it very stagy, something you would expect as it started life…