Agatha's Unsung Sleuths

Chronological Christie There are tons of brilliant Agatha Christie podcasts out there – The (fabulous – and fabulously named) Swinging Christies: Agatha Christie in the 1960s; All About Agatha; The Labours of…

I really enjoy this podcast from @gilli.bsky.social and @alanjporter.bsky.social - give it a whirl if you haven't already.
#agathachristie #chronologicalchristie

Carrot top I’ve not written much about Thomas Beresford. Reading the Tommy and Tuppence novels, he has always been – for me – effortlessly eclipsed by the bright, sparky, adventurous (and, l…

Hello - it's been ages! I've been trying to work out some thoughts on the format and structure of The Mysterious Mr Quin, and with a busy full time job and family commitments, it's taking a long time. So here's something on Tommy "more-than-a-sidekick" Beresford for now.

Battle Superintendent Battle is a relative rarity in the Christie universe – neither a private nor amateur detective but a full time Police Officer. We meet him in five books, one of which features …

Looking forward to reading your thoughts - and here are some of mine
christietecs.wordpress.com/battle/

Observer, Messenger… Action Hero? Mr Satterthwaite is, to me, an intriguing character. I’ve said before that re-reading Agatha Christie for this project has thrown up some surprises; in the case of Mr Satterthwaite, this mean…

I love spending time with Mr Satterthwaite and it turns out I have a lot of thoughts about him. Here are some - but there's much more to follow, I suspect.

Playing against type It’s often easy to see the young female protagonists in Agatha Christie’s writing as a type – plucky, curious, maybe a bit headstrong. I’m sure reading this that a whole host of n…

After my holiday break, here's something on how the #agathachristie female protagonists are very much not a type, explored here through Anne Beddingfield and Tuppence Beresford.

christietecs.wordpress.com/2025/04/15/p...

Enjoyed this episode a lot, having just been revisiting Colonel Race. Looking forward to the next installment!

Mia McKenna-Bruce Leads the Investigation in The Seven Dials Mystery “I am thrilled to be part of this new interpretation of the iconic Agatha Christie’s storytelling.”

This could be a great Agatha Christie adaptation - it's such a ridiculously fun story. I'm split on the casting, though. Helena Bonham-Carter is a massive yes, perfect, and changing Lord to Lady C, for me, absolutely works. Battle, however... hmmmm. I'm not convinced.

👏👏👏

It's a sign!

I’ve been (b)racing myself for this I held off writing about Colonel Race for a while,  tiptoeing around him. In my mind, he has long represented some of the more problematic aspects of Agatha’s writing.  We see …

There's unfortunately lot of that in Christie. Often I think it's of the period (not that that makes it any more palatable); at other times I fear it's more fundamental to the character.
christietecs.wordpress.com/2025/03/29/i...

I bought the entire Christie collection second hand - I think I may need to start again as some of them gave completely fallen apart at this stage.

Agatha Christie’s letters reveal clashes with her publisher The queen of crime disagreed with Billy Collins over the titles and covers of her books, according to correspondence found in a Glasgow archive

Agatha Christie’s letters reveal clashes with her publisher @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

What a great description, haha!

I didn't love the change to the ending - give me despair over love conquers all any day!

Mainly concerning books Over a period of a few years, I bought every single Agatha Christie from second hand book shops and the odd library sale, so there’s a real mish-mash of styles, publishers, covers and eras in…

I also bought my whole collection second hand!
Some of them are falling apart now, it may be time to revisit....

christietecs.wordpress.com/2025/03/22/m...

I really like Endless Night, it's a favourite of mine. So atmospheric, and ultimately pretty bleak. I have the same response to it as I do to And Then There Were None fir the same reasons.

An awkward three-legged Race Colonel Race is a difficult character to pin down. He’s quite chameleonic. If I were being ungenerous, I might say he’s a bit of a stooge; a useful outline of a character to fill up wit…

Colonel Race is hard to pin down. Here are some initial thoughts on his characterisation. I'm not sure Agatha Christie always does him justice.

Re-reading Agatha Christie's Harley Quin stories to reacquaint myself with Mr Satterthwaite; this tickled me.

How Agatha Christie Inspired One Of M. Night Shyamalan's Strangest Thrillers - SlashFilm

The novels of Agatha Christie helped M. Night Shyamalan assemble the cast of characters for his 2021 beach-based thriller Old.

Money, men and marriage – and Tuppence It feels a bit redundant to write about Tuppence Beresford as a progressive. After all, can anyone deny it? Apart from the outward signifier of a bob as early as 1920 (possibly the influence of the…

I've just finished a re-read of The Man in the Brown Suit, and I couldn't help but compare Anne Beddingfield to Tuppence Beresford. Boy, do I have some thoughts!
Here are a few on Tuppence, most definitely a woman ahead of her time.

The stupid police officer.

He IS a sassy little bitch! 👏👏

I just started listening to the Chronological Christie podcast - I confess I skipped Styles and went straight to The Secret Adversary as it's one I really like. Well done on spotting Mr Brown! Looking forward to The Man in the Brown Suit, which I have just re-read. Enjoy your exploration!

Money, men and marriage – and Tuppence It feels a bit redundant to write about Tuppence Beresford as a progressive. After all, can anyone deny it? Apart from the outward signifier of a bob as early as 1920 (possibly the influence of the…

I've just finished a re-read of The Man in the Brown Suit, and I couldn't help but compare Anne Beddingfield to Tuppence Beresford. Boy, do I have some thoughts!
Here are a few on Tuppence, most definitely a woman ahead of her time.

I've set up a Facebook page for my #AgathaChristie blog because, as it turns out, it gets a lot more traffic from Facebook than elsewhere. I'd love it if you could give me a like / follow / share if you use it. Thanks! (The content will be just the same)

www.facebook.com/share/1A7gc6...

Mainly concerning books Over a period of a few years, I bought every single Agatha Christie from second hand book shops and the odd library sale, so there’s a real mish-mash of styles, publishers, covers and eras in…

What does your Agatha Christie collection look like? Mine is VERY mixed.

Mainly concerning books christietecs.wordpress.com/2025/03/22/m...

Scotland Yard’s Finest Towards Zero is Superintendent Battle’s final outing, almost 20 years on from his first, and we finally see him invested with much more humanity, agency and personality than on any other occasion. …

The recent BBC adaptation of Towards Zero was poorer for the lack of Battle, IMO. What a great character, and so deftly handled by Agatha.

Scotland Yard's Finest christietecs.wordpress.com/2025/03/18/s...

Another classic! What did you enjoy most about it?

And Then There Were None is one of my faves... but yes, why not both?!
I bought every single Agatha Christie novel / short story collection from second hand bookshops over a period of some years. It's a great feeling to find one you've been looking for.

Definitely the darkest. A real classic.