Agatha Christie: An English Mystery Paperback – 10 July 2008

This biography of the crime writer, the best-selling novelist in the history of the world, is very well written and offers a pretty comprehensive account of her life, mindset and her works. Her life seems to divide into three phases (though the book doesn't quite present it in these terms): her early life and writing career up to 1926, the year of her famous 11 day "disappearance" at a crucial time in her life when her first marriage to Archie Christie was at breaking point; her flourishing into the "golden" age of her writing in the 1930s and 40s and a happier second marriage to Middle East archaeologist Max Mallowan; and from 1950 when she moved from being "merely" a highly successful and prolific writer to becoming a phenomenon of worldwide fame, though Laura Thompson considers her books were generally poorer in the last 25 years of her life. Her books exert a powerful effect on readers in countries and cultures across the world, despite the fact that nearly all of them are set against the kind of upper middle class background into which she was born in Torquay in 1890, probably because the lucidity of the situations and the careful construction of many of her plots can appeal universally. I found the post-war sections of the book rather dull in places, dominated by arguments over her tax liabilities and her moving between her various houses, plus the unsatisfactory nature of many of the plays and films based on her books, compared to the massive success of most of the latter. I thought Laura Thompson sometimes laboured some points too heavily and parts of the book were overwritten, though overall this was an absorbing account of a literary phenomenon whose influence and popularity continue to this day.

Laura Thompson writes excellent biographies and I recommend her other book, on the Lucan mystery, wholeheartedly. This is very good, too, as it is a portrait of an age and a time lost to us now. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I had an image of Christie as a rather cosy old lady churning out cosy mysteries set in theme-park English villages. Thompson's book revealed a complex and interesting woman and several chapters are dedicated to the story of Christie's first marriage and her own mysterious "disappearance" in the 1920s, which brought Christie so much unfavourable publicity. Thompson is also good at setting Christie's books in their context, and in fact I stopped reading the biography about two-thirds of the way through to go back and re-read at least six of the novels themselves! Laura Thompson is a very polished and thorough writer, with a style easy to warm to, and I very much enjoyed this book.

The author offers a new perspective on Ms.Christie. There is a very good bibliography. It seems an objective text. However, there are some gaps, which due to a lot of time passing since the 1920's,are acceptable. Probably not all family secrets are revealed and that's fine.

If you are a student of literature this book will help you understand how the life and nature of an author forms the works.

A most useful addition to the bookshelf in understanding the effect of Edward FitzGerald's inspiring poem The Ruba'iya't of Omar Khayya'm on other writers.Charles MuglestonOmar Khayyam Theatre Company

If you love agatha christie you will enjoy this read

The book was far too long & kept going off at tangents.I found it difficult to concentrate on it even though I am a lover of Agatha Christie

Very well written .. not yet finished it but thoroughly enjoyed it so far, good solid facts and no speculation.