Christie's "Hercule Poirot" series revived--

Agatha Christie
(photo from Google.com)

To gain new life, an agreeable family estate may give permission for a new author to write new books about a character created by a deceased family member.  Apparently in the world of fiction, it makes no sense to permanently kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.  And that is the case for crime legend writer Agatha Christie.  Her brilliant retired detective Hercule Poirot is resurrected from the 1970's to return in print last year in The Monogram Murders.   The book is the March book club selection.

The new writer of the detective series is now Sophie Hannah and our library's online catalog features the following under Author Notes & Sketches (about her): Sophie Hannah was born in 1971 in Manchester, England. She is a bestselling, award-winning poet. Hannah went to the University of Manchester and published her first book of poems, The Hero and the Girl Next Door, at the age of 24. In 2004 she won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her psychological suspense story, The Octopus Nest. Hannah was recently chosen by Agatha Christie's estate to resurrect her beloved detective, Hercule Poirot. Her subsequent novel, The Monogram Murders, was published in 2014. (Bowker Author Biography)

Sophie Hannah
(photo from Google.com)

Now, clearly the name recognition has to go the writer that the greater public knows so Agatha Christie's name covers the new mystery book cover in the same font you'd find on the official website of Ms. Christie.  Ms. Hannah is the new work horse for series and she'll be bound to be quite busy--with her writings and about "Poirot" for the foreseeable future.   

A Gem of a Writer

Yesterday a patron stopped at the library desk to ask for a copy of the Agatha Christie standout title The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.  He commented that it is said to be one of the best mysteries ever as he had his finger placed in a book of his possession (I guess that book mentions Roger Ackroyd.)  and the Library Journal description (as shown on Amazon) mostly agrees. 


Agatha Christie
photo from Google

It says, "written in 1927, [it] is considered the best and most successful of the early mysteries.  It met with no small outrage when it appeared, as it uses a plot device many readers thought 'unfair.' There is a full complement of characters populating the cozy English village of King's Abbot: Major Blunt, Colonel Carter, Miss Gannett, the butler, the housekeeper, the narrator, Dr. Sheppard, and his know-it-all sister (the precursor of Miss Marple, according to Christie), and, of course, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. There are clues with a capital C to mislead us, and the listener gets so involved with these red herrings (or not) that the very simple truth eludes the puzzler."

That book request reminded me how Christie received nationwide acknowledgement earlier in the month at the Democratic National Convention.  Key note speaker San Antonio mayor Julian Castro spoke of his grandmother learning English by "reading her Agatha Christie novels late into the night."  

All and all, Christie has been a gem as a writing treasure in more ways than one.