All About Agatha Christie

People sometimes forget that the Queen of Crime used an urban setting for many of her mysteries--that city overwhelmingly tending to be London. Allow this episode to serve as a joyous reminder, and special thanks to Tina Hodgkinson for sitting down with me and disclosing a number of the fun and fascinating facts to be found in her recent book. You can check out Tina's book here. You can buy tickets to the L.A. Times Festival of Books here; I'll be appearing there on Sunday, 19 April at 1:30pm. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's another bumper-sized episode of All About Agatha, this time about a character type we see a WHOLE lot of in Christie.... Hope you've got insurance, because it's time to visit a shocking number of doctors! Huge, huge thanks to A+++ listener Claire Wells for co-hosting (and in particular co-researching) this episode with me. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) Buy tickets to both panels in which I'll be appearing at the Agatha Christie Festival in September! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You know when the Reverend Doctor Sarah Hinlicky Wilson makes an appearance, it's going to be a good episode. Join Sarah and me as we cover our final story in the Star Over Bethlehem and Other Stories collection--in good time for Easter! Tickets to the Agatha Christie Festival in England, in September, are now available, including my events: a balloon debate panel crowning Agatha Christie's Greatest Narrator, and a festive night of games a.k.a. A Gameshow is Announced! Check out Sarah Hinlicky Wilson's website, podcast, and substack, where much joy awaits you. Follow the brilliant @LegallyAgatha on Instagram. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is never a dull episode when Dr. John Curran comes on for a conversation! I had a great time speaking with him about his new book... and sparring over Christie, but of course. Click here for more information, and to register for the upcoming Cozy Con I'll be attending at Avon Free Public Library in Connecticut on Saturday, 14 March 2026. I hope to see you there! (You can also click on my author website events page.) I encourage you to check out Dr. Curran's new book, The Murder Game: Play, Puzzles & The Golden Age. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every piece of mail I receive from you listeners is like a valentine, so it's fitting that I finish going through my bulging listener mailbag on Valentine's Day this year. Please enjoy... and please keep these messages coming! Here is the link to that 1970 German-language adaptation of The Murder at the Vicarage. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's always a pleasure to have Sophie Hannah on the podcast. And if you're a dog lover and/or Iris Murdoch fan, you'll have reason to be particularly delighted! Visit Sophie's website to learn more about her Lamberts book, and everything else she has going on--including her newest Poirot continuation novel. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series (coming out July 2026). To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I can't think of a better way to start off the New Year than with messages from all of you. And since there were so many--and I want to take my time with every single one of them--I'll be doing a "part 2" in the near future with more letters! Happy New Year, everyone! You can check out that (free!) Estonian version of The Unexpected Guest right here. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series. (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's better than a Christie for Christmas? TWO Christies for Christmas, of course! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series (coming out July 2026). Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's always a pleasure to commune with a legitimate Christie obsessive, and Ragnar is about as legit as they come. You may know him as one of the leading voices of contemporary noir, but he has also translated a number of Christie novels from English into his native Icelandic--starting at the tender age of seventeen, no less! You can find out more about Ragnar and his work here, on his website. In particular, we discussed his most recent (and Golden Age-inflected) work, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series. (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Captains = good. Commanders = bad. Just two revelations made in the course of a very fun episode to research and record. I hope you enjoy. And happy Thanksgiving to all those in the United States! Here is a link to Brad Friedman's brilliant blog post from 2022, about the military men of Christie. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy the first book in the series, The Busy Body, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this Veterans/Remembrance Day, I begin a two-episode series all about the veterans of Agatha Christie, starting with three real-life veterans who meant a great deal to our favorite author.... You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ghosts, second sight, and reincarnation, oh my! I hope you're ready for an extremely spooky tale of Christie's. (And yes, I am standing by the apostrophe in "Hallowe'en" and the "i" in "gipsy.") Enjoy... and Happy Hallowe'en! Also, click here to enjoy, for free, my latest SPOOKTACULAR Patreon episode all about The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle! Should you wish to subscribe to Patreon, either monthly or yearly, use the code "38105" at checkout for a 20% discount. This offer is available through 5 November 2025. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought." Words of wisdom courtesy of Edmund Spenser (and Colonel Brandon, as played by the inimitable Alan Rickman, RIP). And I'm taking them to heart in this episode, as we get to discover two Christie television adaptations that were not readily available to us until quite recently, a Poirot and a Marple. It isn't often that I can say this, but: hooray for the Internet! You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! It comes out in late June 2026, but pre-orders are hugely helpful to me. Thank you, as always, for your support. Here are the links to the two television episodes discussed in this podcast episode: Poirot in the U.S. from 1962, and Estonian Miss Marple from 1990. Enjoy! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Who doesn't love a puzzle? Maureen and Jay have gone *full bore* on the notion of a solvable Golden Age mystery. Call it a mashup between Agatha Christie and Dennis Wheatley's "crime dossiers" (if you know you know). I have a feeling many of you will enjoy the heck out of it. You can check out the book, which is now available in the U.S. and UK, on Maureen's website here. Here are those links I mentioned at the end of the episode to the two previously inaccessible Christie adaptations I'll be discussing in two weeks' time: Estonian Miss Marple from 1990, and Poirot in the U.S. from 1962. Enjoy! I can't wait to discuss. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) At the very least, click on this link to check out the pretty yellow cover! Pre-orders help me a ton, so I thank you in advance. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page (Hound of the Baskervilles coming up next!), click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rejoice: it is time for another live episode from the Agatha Christie Festival, in Christie's birthplace of Torquay! This time I braved the stage all by myself, to discuss Christie's use of true crime in her fiction. As usual, I had an absolute blast. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Please enjoy this time capsule from early 2017, all about the real-life disappearance of our favorite author.... See (some of) you in England! Details below regarding my two appearances there. I'll be appearing first, in London, 12-13 September, at Silent Echoes: Golden Age Crime Fiction and Trauma, hosted by Golden Age Mysteries and Florida State University's College of Communication & Information. And then I'm heading down to the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay! My panel will be on 18 September at 4:00pm. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At long last, another episode about YA mystery! If you haven't yet heard of Marthe Jocelyn's Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen series, you are in for a treat.... Visit Marthe on her website, or on Instagram, or just check out the Aggie Morton books directly. Marthe wanted me to note that the illustrator is Isabelle Follath, who you can visit on Instagram here. And please note that these books are also available as audio books, voiced by Sarah English. Here is a link to the upcoming Golden Age Mysteries Conference, which Marthe and I will be attending! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Riley Sager has been producing bestselling mystery thrillers with Christie-like consistency for nine years now. His latest, With a Vengeance, is his most Christie-like yet. It was a pleasure to speak with him about the book, Christie's influence, and what it's like to be a mystery writer in the world of publishing today. You can visit Riley and peruse his prodigious output on his website here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I could not be more thrilled to welcome back A+++ listener, and now two-time guest co-host, Helen Frank, to discuss the flesh-and-blood secretaries of Agatha Christie's life. We already covered the ones that Christie created for herself out of ink, so this episode is a completist's delight. So many secretaries! For those of you in the SoCal area, consider purchasing tickets for Christie's adaptation of Towards Zero, directed by former guest co-host Christopher Diehl! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How has it taken me this long to talk about audiobooks?! Huge thanks to Gray Robert Brown, for his willingness to share his considerable expertise on this topic. Thank you also to Hugh Fraser, for the many, many hours he has spent speaking Agatha Christie's words into a microphone. We salute you, Captain Hastings. You can find Gray at his website here, and if you aren't listening yet, please do check out his stupendous podcast The Swinging Christies, co-hosted with Dr. Mark Aldridge. I made use of the website Everything Agatha while researching this episode, in particular its informative page about Christie audiobooks. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Steen Just is a Danish gentleman who is passionate about Agatha Christie--so much so that he has spent his retirement contributing hugely to the Danish-language Wikipedia articles on Agatha Christie. I had a great time talking with him about his unique perspective on our favorite author. The following Christie titles are spoiled to some degree in this episode: By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Endless Night, Lord Edgware Dies, A Murder is Announced, and The Thumbmark of St. Peter. We also talk in semi-spoilery ways about The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup, and The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There's a decent chance you've heard about the recent online course put out by BBC Maestro, in which a digitally manipulated representation of Agatha Christie teaches the craft of writing a mystery. Yes, really! I was fortunate enough to sit down with the person responsible for all the research that went into this quite heavily researched project: Dr. Mark Aldridge. As many longtime listeners will know, Mark has been a guest here many times, and his appearance on this episode was just as enjoyable and informative as what we've come to expect of him. Let's get into it. BBC Maestro's Agatha Christie course On Writing can be found here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When A+++ podcast listener Helen Frank contacted me about doing a themed episode on the secretaries of Agatha Christie, little did I know there would be so much to talk about. And little did she know that I would hoodwink her into co-hosting the episode in question! But I'm so glad I did. I think you'll be as well. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram. Visit me personally at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was a delight to speak to Jeffrey Round--both about his work, and of course, about Agatha Christie. He is every bit as much of a Christie fan as me, and so many of you.... You can visit Jeffrey at his website, or check out his novel The Sulphur Springs Cure directly. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Visit the podcast on Instagram. Visit me personally at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What fun it was to put together this roving episode of All About Agatha! Thanks again to Christopher Diehl for inviting me to A Poirot Double Bill. I'm already looking forward to his next Christie theatrical production. Come see me this week, May 4th-9th, on my tour of the (U.S.) South! Click on my website for more details. Visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. You can still buy tickets for my upcoming appearance at the Agatha Christie Festival. Check out the Redlands Footlighters Community Theatre, where this show will travel. Performances are on June 28th and 29th. Check out the Riverside Community Players, where this show already appeared, and where Christie is frequently on offer. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Author, or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've done so many Christies for Christmas, it's about time we did one for Easter. Alas, mutations from the radioactive byproduct of a 1960s-era nuclear power plant did not move me or my guest co-host the way Christie seems to have intended. But perhaps your mileage varies. The following titles are spoiled to varying degrees in this episode: The Man from the Sea, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, The Murder at the Vicarage, Nemesis, Ordeal by Innocence, Passenger to Frankfurt, They Do It with Mirrors. Come visit me in the South! (Of the United States, that is.) Check out my upcoming tour dates here on my author website. Please check out Sarah's website, podcast, and substack. Much joy awaits you! You can still buy tickets to my upcoming appearance at the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, England in September. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Author, or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It isn't every day I get to interview a map designer on All About Agatha. Nor is it every day I get to work on a map with a map designer, which is something I've been doing on the side in tribute to my late co-host, Catherine Brobeck, whom Ben and I talk about at some length in our conversation. We also talk some Christie, because of course we do; I know Catherine wouldn't have had it any other way. Visit my website for details on my upcoming U.S. tour in the South. Click here for tickets to my upcoming panel at the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, in September. And click here for information about all the fabulous offerings at the Festival this year. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. Time for some map links! Here is Catherine Brobeck's map of Joan Didion's Los Angeles, Caroline Crampton's map of Agatha Christie's England, and Martin Edwards's Golden Age of Mystery map of England. And here is a link to the general Herb Lester catalogue of gloriously weird maps. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Author, or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Letters! We get letters! We get stacks and stacks of letters! It's a mailbag-only episode of All About Agatha, and you know what that means: Sia's heartbreaking "Breathe Me" song underlying my chatter at various points in the episode! No, I couldn't have predicted this either, but the Sia is a testament to how deeply I cherish all these messages, and how important they are to the podcast. Thank you, one and all, for your contributions. And please: keep them coming! Here is a link to the YouTuber, Summation Gathering, who I mention in the episode, analyzing whether Miss Marple could solve Monsieur Poirot's cases. And here he is dream-casting various literary detectives. You can check out my upcoming tour dates here on my author website. You can now buy Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States! And you can now buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Author, or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

First, dogs. Now, cats. Who knows where this podcast will lead me next? Come see me on tour! 4th-9th of March in the Northeastern U.S.! Visit my website for more details. You can now buy Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. Check out Kate Jackson's excellent article about cats and mysteries. And here is the article I referenced on the blog Literary Potpourri, which I found to be helpful. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Author, or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Love and marriage are said to go together like a horse and carriage, but what about love and murder? Like a sheep and herder, maybe? I'm just spitballing here, forgive me; I'm a little delirious after exploring so many iterations of love in so many different Christie works. I hope you enjoy the episode. It was a labor of--well, you know. BLANKET SPOILER WARNING: spoilers abound in this episode (I cover a lot of ground), so if you are worried about having any Christie novel or short story spoiled for you, please proceed with caution! Check out my new article on AgathaChristie.com, all about Christie's transportation and travel mysteries. And speaking of transportation and travel mysteries, consider purchasing my new mystery novel, Loose Lips, set entirely on a cruise ship! (The second book in the Ghostwriter Mysteries series.) You can listen to two interviews I did on two great podcasts: Mechanicsburg Mystery Presents and Books on the Go. And you can check out my author website for more details about my upcoming tour in a few weeks' time, in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, from Tuesday March 4th through Sunday March 9th. Also you can now buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Author or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chances are you know exactly who Lucy Foley is, and have read one of her bestselling mystery thrillers, all of which have been compared to Agatha Christie. Lucy is also a massive Christie fan herself, and it was such a joy to speak with her about her work, and our shared love of Dame Agatha (and in particular Miss Marple!). Here are a few organizations to contribute to, in L.A.'s ongoing effort to combat and recover from these devastating fires. Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation California Community Foundation's Wildlife Recovery American Red Cross The Salvation Army You can now buy Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States! And you can now buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. You can check out my upcoming tour dates here on my author website. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you to everyone for understanding. As I mentioned, here are a few organizations you can contribute to, if you are so inclined. Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation California Community Foundation's Wildlife Recovery American Red Cross The Salvation Army Stay safe, everyone. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's always a joy to have the Reverend Doctor Sarah Hinlicky Wilson on the show to explain to us what the heck Agatha Christie Mallowan is getting at in the extremely personal and extremely Christian short stories she wrote within her Star Over Bethlehem and Other Stories collection. Happy holidays to all who celebrate; we certainly know that Agatha Christie did! Please note there are a few minor spoilers for Passenger to Frankfurt littered throughout our discussion, which I did not note at the top of the episode. But there is an argument to be made that this novel is un-spoilable, since it barely makes any sense.... (I get to be cheeky around the holidays.) You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. Come see me on tour for Loose Lips, starting in a few short weeks! Visit my website for more details. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page (a subscription is the perfect holiday gift!), click here. Check out all that Sarah Hinlicky Wilson is up to (it's a lot!). Her website is here, and you can visit her podcast, Queen of the Sciences, here. You can also check out her substack here. I also mentioned two previous articles Sarah has written, which I believe every Christie fanatic should read for the insights they provide: "Miss Marple's Low Anthropology" and "Agatha Christie, A Very Elusive Christian." Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. And you can of course still buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was a joy to welcome Dr. Michelle Kazmer back on the podcast to discuss an early and unusual Christie short story that contains echoes of so much of what we love about Christie overall. For those in the United States who may be feeling a bit fatigued from all the tryptophan consumed this holiday weekend, just be thankful it's nothing compared to the "sleepytime" embrace of one Isobel Loring.... You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Take comfort, for Maureen Johnson is back on the podcast to talk about her newest (standalone) YA mystery novel, and to talk about the nature of YA mystery itself! You can find out more about Maureen and check out all her brilliant books at her website here. You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've got strange goings-on in this early, supernatural Christie short story. What happened to poor Felicie Bault? Could it be a multiple personality disorder? A body swap?! Or something even WEIRDER? You be the judge... but first, delight with me in heaps upon heaps of listener correspondence. Happy Hallowe'en, everyone! For U.S. listeners: pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, at your bookseller of choice here. Check out this Monsieur Poirot/Miss Marple spoof, The Teddy Bear Who Knew Too Much, courtesy of The Two Ronnies. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can still buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Did you know that Superman's appearance on I Love Lucy is considered by some to be the first crossover episode of television? In that case, I was blessed with the appearance of *TWO* supermen on this crossover episode of All About Agatha and The Swinging Christies, in which I sat down (in Agatha Christie's birthplace and on Agatha Christie's birthday, no less!) with co-hosts Mark Aldridge and Gray Robert Brown. Together, we discussed--and debated--the ranking of Christie's novels from the 1960s, which they've spent the past year considering in glorious detail. I couldn't think of a better way to spend 90 minutes, and only wish it could have been longer. Enjoy! The following titles are spoiled (to varying degrees) over the course of this episode: At Bertram's Hotel, The Body in the Library, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, A Caribbean Mystery, Cat Among the Pigeons, The Clocks, Elephants Can Remember, Endless Night, Hallowe'en Party, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, Murder is Easy, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Nemesis, The Pale Horse, Passenger to Frankfurt, Postern of Fate, They Do It With Mirrors, Third Girl. You can find more information about and links to Dr. Mark Aldridge's newest book, Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert on Wickedness at his website. You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. You can find Mark and Gray on X and Instagram under @Christie_Time, and at their website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Marci Kay Monson has created something very interesting in this children's picture-book version of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I can't think of a better way to start off what I hope is a long-running discussion of YA mystery, here on the podcast. You can check out Marci's book on her website here. You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time for another live episode from the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, with a to-die-for panel of Agathologists! And guess what? The sound quality of this one is SUPERB, thanks to the presence of an on-site technician. Thank you to the Festival for making this happen! I hope you all enjoy; I know we did.... I'm appearing at Bloody Scotland tomorrow, Saturday 14 September, and hope to see some listeners there! You can currently pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in the United States. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, especially since it will help prepare you for my upcoming live episode at the Agatha Christie Festival, concerning which among the many (many!) screen adaptations of Christie's work is the best.... To find out more and purchase tickets for my appearance at the Bloody Scotland festival on Saturday, 14 September at 11:30am, please click here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm thrilled to be participating in the Bloody Scotland festival this September! Click here for more information about my panel on Saturday, 14 September at 11:30am, at Trinity Church in Stirling. And for those of you in Southern California, here are the details for my upcoming appearance at a brand-new Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica on Saturday, 31 August at 10:00am, at the Third Street Promenade. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was such a pleasure to speak with Kate Gingold about her glossary of annotations of Christie novels and short stories from the 1920s. You can find Kate, her book, and many other offerings at her website: Agatha Annotated. You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and you can find out more about her non-Agatha offerings on this website. You can find out more about Kate's talk at the Agatha Christie Festival (and purchase a ticket) here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Whether it's teeny-tiny dogs like the Pekingese, more medium-sized dogs like the VAST array of terriers who appear in this episode, or large dogs like the scary greyhound who makes quite a memorable appearance, there is something for everyone in my discussion of the canine species in Agatha Christie's works. Special thanks to Kate Jackson and Michelle Kazmer, whose expertise I leaned on in preparing this episode. Click here to visit and subscribe to Patreon for bonus episodes. And I encourage you to listen to my Patreon episode all about Next to a Dog, as referenced in this episode. If you don't want to become a paying member, simply sign up as a free member, and you can listen free of charge for up to two weeks following the release of this episode. Please watch the PBS SoCal YouTube series Won't You Be My Gamer?, in which I play a videogame adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express with two experts! Great fun. You can read Kate Jackson's excellent lecture on animals in classic mystery fiction here. Here is a link to that old, dog-and-cat-centric episode of the Crown Court series that I mentioned, Evil Liver, written by Ngaio Marsh and starring Joan Hickson (among others). Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. Click here to purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was a dream to be able to sit down with David Morris, and pore over all the priceless goodies he brought with him having to do with Agatha Christie books, art, and ephemera. The following titles are spoiled during the course of our conversation: The Mystery of the Blue Train, Death on the Nile. To watch me watch two gamers play Murder on the Orient Express the videogame while we discuss all things Agatha Christie, click here. This is the first episode of the PBS SoCal series Won't You Be My Gamer? It was a lot of fun. For more of David's scholarly work from a collector's point of view, you can visit his website here, find him on Twitter here, and on Facebook here. You can also check out his upcoming talk at the Agatha Christie Festival here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. Click here to purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time to discuss those pesky Americans who appear in the Christie canon, and answer such burning questions as: Are all Americans millionaires? (Alas, no.) Do all Americans speak solely by way of idiom? (Happily, no.) I was also able to answer a ton of mailbag questions, which involved one hundred percent more Spice Girls than I expected it to. The following titles are spoiled to varying degrees in this episode: The Actress; After the Funeral; The Big Four; A Caribbean Mystery; Cat Among the Pigeons; Death on the Nile; Destination Unknown; Endless Night; Evil Under the Sun; Lord Edgware Dies; The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side; Motive v. Opportunity; The Mousetrap (though only in a minor way), Mrs. McGinty's Dead; A Murder is Announced, Murder on the Orient Express; The Soul of the Croupier; Sparkling Cyanide; They Do It With Mirrors. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. Click here to purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's raining long-haired, antique-loving, architecturally-inclined men! And a few women, too! June is Pride month for the LGBTQIA+ community here in the United States, which I took as an opportunity to explore the topic of "gay" characters in Christie... along with revisiting an interview Catherine Brobeck and I did with long-time friend of the podcast, Jamie Bernthal. Enjoy, my dears! The following titles are spoiled to varying degrees in this episode: The Mousetrap, The Rats, "Death by Drowning," "Greenshaw's Folly," After the Funeral, Cards on the Table, Endless Night, Five Little Pigs, Hallowe'en Party, Lord Edgware Dies, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, The Moving Finger, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, A Murder is Announced, Murder is Easy, Nemesis. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. Click here to purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It isn't every day a new discovery is made regarding a physical record of Agatha Christie's writing, especially one from her earliest days as a writer.... Thank you to journalist Karen Robinson for sitting down with me to talk about What We Did in the Great War by Agatha Christie... and by others in the VAD in Torquay during the First World War! It was a fantastic discussion. For information about the exhibition in London where you can see this handmade magazine for yourself, click here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website. Click here to purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's another episode focused on the adaptations of Agatha Christie: specifically, those talented actors who have brought life to Monsieur Poirot and Miss Marple in films and television for nearly 100 years now. Who will win the title of Greatest Poirot and Greatest Marple of Them All? And how will the rankings leading up to my #1 picks shake out? I surprised myself with a few of my choices here, and I look forward to receiving outraged responses from at least a few of you. Special thanks to Scott Ratner for his spirited commentary on one of these actors, and the valuable insights his perspective provided. Please note that I spoil the plot of Curtain, and also the 2018 adaptation of The ABC Murders in this episode. Click here to purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page by clicking here. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. I mentioned a few different adaptations over the course of this episode. Click below to access them. Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple (Japanese-language animated series) Murder by the Book (starring Ian Holm and Peggy Ashcroft) Various BBC radio plays Viki.com (where you can watch Ms. Ma, Nemesis) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Saturday, April 27th is Independent Bookstore Day here in the United States, and what better way to celebrate than with this live interview from my book tour last week at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan?! Special thanks to Elizabeth Bosscher for conducting this interview. I had such a great time sitting down with her. If you'd like to visit or learn more about Schuler Books, which has four locations in Michigan, click here. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page by clicking here. Click here to purchase tickets for my upcoming panel at the Agatha Christie Festival. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (though please do opt for an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Andrew Winans is the director of a new off-Broadway production of Christie's theatrical adaptation of her superb novel, The Hollow. I loved getting to speak with someone who has been in the trenches with his cast of actors and crew of professionals over the past few months, bringing this Agatha Christie play to life.... To purchase tickets for this run of The Hollow (13-21 April) at The Players Theatre in downtown New York, click here. Come visit me on my ongoing book tour for my mystery novel, The Busy Body! Click here for details. The Busy Body is available to purchase in the United States, the United Kingdom (where it is available via Kindle for £0.99 for all of April!), and Australia and New Zealand. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Click here to purchase tickets for my upcoming panel at the Agatha Christie Festival in September. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Next week's episode will be a discussion with Andrew Winans, the director of an upcoming Off-Broadway production of The Hollow, a play written by Agatha Christie, based on her novel. If you are interested in attending this production, which runs from 13-21 April in New York, go ahead and click here. And my East Coast/Midwest tour of the United States for The Busy Body is about to begin! Click here for more details. I hope to see some of you very soon--in person! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you're a longtime listener of this podcast, you'll know never to trust an actor in a Christie story. So what happens when not one but two actors feature among the rather small cast of suspects? A lot, as it turns out, in this early short story that showcases Christie's unique ability to spin seemingly endless variations on a single puzzle.... In addition to the titular story, the following Christies are spoiled in the course of this episode: "Miss Marple Tells a Story" "The Affair at the Bungalow" "Murder in the Mews" Cat Among the Pigeons Three Act Tragedy Death in the Clouds And Then There Were None The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Lord Edgware Dies Evil Under the Sun To purchase tickets for my panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival, click here. To visit the Festival website and check out all the other fantastic panels on offer, click here. For details on my upcoming book tour in the Northeast and Midwest of the U.S., click here. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. You can purchase my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Quick: what is the best Joan Hickson adaptation of a Miss Marple novel? Or how about your least favorite Suchet episode? If you like pondering such questions, then this is the episode for you! Just beware of spoilers; I list all the novels Teresa and I spoil in the course of this wide-ranging conversation at the top of the episode. To buy tickets to the All About Agatha Live! Panel at the upcoming Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay in September, click here. To check out all the splendid events at this year's Agatha Christie Festival, click here. Go wild perusing all that Teresa and Bill at Peschel Press have to offer here. Come visit me in mid-April while I'm on tour in the Northeast and Midwest of the United States! Click here for details. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and New Zealand. You can visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sarah Hinlicky Wilson is back! And with this episode, she's officially earned her title as All About Agatha's resident expert on Christian theology. I leaned heavily on her expertise for this episode, which involves a lot of parsing of Biblical and even apocryphal references, as we discussed this curious, fascinatingly revealing short story from the Star Over Bethlehem and Other Stories collection. To read Sarah's newly published article "Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Christian," click here. To visit Sarah's website, click here. To visit my website to check out upcoming dates and locations for my book tour, click here. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Actor Lee Samuel Tanng has appeared in TEN (!!) regional productions of plays based on Agatha Christie novels over the last eleven years. He sat down with me to discuss the joys of regional theater, the particular challenges (and advantages) of pulling off a murder mystery in real time, and of course, to rank his ten experiences from least to most favorite. This conversation was a blast. You can see a collage of all Sam's roles on the podcast's Twitter/X account here, and on Instagram here. Check out the Long Beach Playhouse here, which is where Sam has appeared in all these wonderful productions over the years. Long live regional theater! Please visit and suscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Click here for more information on upcoming book tour events for my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body. And you can now purchase The Busy Body in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Perhaps it was inevitable that an episode about the longest-running play in history would be the longest episode ever produced on this podcast.... And yet there's nary a spoiler in it; so tuck in, safe in the knowledge that the secret of The Mousetrap remains safely locked in my heart. Nibble nibble. Squeak squeak. Special thanks to my guests Phil O'Neill and Scott Ratner, and to Nick Cardillo and Christopher Diehl for their invaluable contributions. Click here to access the BBC Documentary The Mousetrap and Me, which I reference in the show. You can find Phil O'Neill's wonderful book, Poems from the Unconscious, here, and Scott Ratner's extremely funny original play, Kill a Better Mousetrap, here. You can find my Crimereads article on why Agatha Christie has endured uniquely among mystery writers here. You can now purchase my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body (as a paper copy, ebook, or audio book), in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Click here for more information on upcoming book tour events for The Busy Body. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alex Michaelides has a new mystery out, and I had such a great time geeking out with him about Agatha Christie and other literary inspirations of his, including the great Ruth Rendell. You can purchase Alex's new book, The Fury, in the United States here. And you can pre-order it in the UK (it's out February 1st) here. You can purchase my new book, The Busy Body, in the United States here, the United Kingdom here, and Australia/New Zealand here. For details on my upcoming book tour, visit my website here. You can visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. This episode is sponsored by Even the Royals, which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts, including here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I've talked a bunch--especially recently--about Agatha Christie and the theater. But what is it like to put on an Agatha Christie play? In particular, in one of those smaller regional/community venues that so frequently put on Christie's plays? Thanks to the three experts I gathered together for this episode, we can begin to answer that question. You can find out more about each of them directly below. 1) Do yourself a favor and check out Brad Friedman's mystery blog. It has provided me heaps and heaps of both entertainment and insight. 2) You can look up Christopher Diehl's community theater here. And here is a link to another theater where he works on numerous projects, including those by Christie. 3) Click here to check out Jamie West's debut mystery novel, Death on the Pier, inspired by his love of mystery and theater. If you'd like to come see me on my upcoming book tour, the details are on my website here. And you can still pre-order that book (for a few more weeks) in the United States here, the United Kingdom here, and Australia/New Zealand here. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. For listeners in the U.S. and Canada, click here and use the promo code "AGATHA" at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

And you thought the days of bumper-sized episodes of All About Agatha were behind you.... This one might be a bit of a cheat, since it's a Frankenstein's monster (a Bella Baxter?!) of a few different things: 1) a nice long "mail bag"/"housekeeping" segment; 2) a fresh episode analyzing "The Naughty Donkey" in Christie's Star Over Bethlehem and Other Stories collection; and 3) a rerun of the episode I aired in the summer this year with Sarah Hinlicky Wilson co-hosting, in which we discussed the titular story of the same collection. So much Christie, so much Christianity, so much Christmas. Rejoice! You can check out Sarah's short story podcast here. You can see my upcoming book tour events (!!) here. Please come see me! You can pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States here, in the United Kingdom here, and in Australia and New Zealand here. You can visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. This episode is sponsored by BritBox. For listeners in the U.S. and Canada, click here and use the promo code "AGATHA" at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kate Jackson knows her stuff when it comes to classic crime, and then some. I had such a good time talking to her about non-Christie authors of the Golden Age, and then engaging in a choose-your-own-adventure-style exercise that took us through various plot points she meticulously pulled from scores of Christie novels, short stories, and plays. What fun! To buy Kate's book How to Survive a Classic Crime Novel in the U.S., click here. In the UK, click here. To check out Kate's blog, click here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. To pre-order a copy of my upcoming mystery novel The Busy Body in the U.S., click here. In the UK, click here. And in Australia and New Zealand, click here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time to discuss friend of the podcast Sophie Hannah's murder mystery musical movie!! Mystery and musical fans, unite!! To rent/buy Sophie's movie in the U.S., click here. To rent/buy Sophie's movie in the UK, click here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. You can pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States (here), the United Kingdom (here), and Australia and New Zealand (here). This episode is sponsored by Britbox. For listeners in the U.S. and Canada, click here and use the promo code "AGATHA" at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, then this episode is for you! If you like theater, then this episode is *really* for you! Mark was a delight; his passion for Ackroyd, theater, and all things Agatha Christie shines through our entire conversation. Enjoy! Click here to download the Orson Welles radio adaptation of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd referenced in the episode. Click here to visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. You can pre-order my upcoming mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. For listeners in the U.S. and Canada, click here and use the promo code "AGATHA" at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What an excellent opportunity this conversation was to use--and explain--such new-fangled terms as "Booktube," "Bookstagram," and "BookTok." If the online world of readerly appreciation befuddles you (as it often does me), then allow Mara Sinclair to explain all.... For more Mara in your life, check out her YouTube Channel, Bookslikewhoa. You can also find Mara on Goodreads, Instagram, and Discord. You can pre-order my upcoming mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. For listeners in the U.S. and Canada, click here and use the promo code "AGATHA" at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

'Tis the season for a spooky Christie story, and this one does not disappoint. On the contrary, I would argue it raises the bar by marrying elements of the supernatural and the rational, all in one text. Apparently you can have a trick and a treat; you don't have to choose! Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. You can pre-order my upcoming mystery novel, The Busy Body, in the U.S. here. And you can pre-order The Busy Body in Australia and New Zealand here. You can visit Mara Sinclair's BookTube channel (the subject of my next episode) here. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. For listeners in the U.S. and Canada, click here and use the promo code "AGATHA" at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you are a longtime listener of this podcast, Jamie Bernthal-Hooker is no stranger to you. But until now, our conversations have focused on his scholarly endeavors vis-a-vis Christie. Last month, I was fortunate enough to snag him for a half-hour at the Agatha Christie Festival to discuss his creative project satirizing murder mysteries in general, and Miss Jane Marple in particular. Get ready to meet Jessica Brick! Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Please pre-order my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get ready for some hot mics: it's time for a live episode of All About Agatha at the 2023 Agatha Christie Festival! I hope you'll be able to share in some of the fun we had down in Torquay this year, because we certainly had a lot of it. Enjoy! Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Please pre-order my upcoming mystery novel, The Busy Body, here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Yes, yes: Agatha Christie famously abstained from cocktails and all other alcoholic drinks. So how was it possible to write an entire book--and speak for an entire hour--about Christie and cocktails?! Take a listen and find out! Colleen's book, Agatha Whiskey: 50 Cocktails to Celebrate the Bestselling Novelist of All Time is available at all major booksellers. Click here to purchase Colleen's book in the UK, and here for purchase in the U.S. To pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, click here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit them here for 10% off your first month of therapy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I loved geeking out with Karen over the top ten "food-related" books within the Christie canon, and I think you will too! Visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. You can purchase Karen's book here. You can pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, here. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit them here for 10% off your first month of therapy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode I talk generally about the stage plays of Agatha Christie (that we know of thus far), but first I do a massive housekeeping segment with messages from all of you. (Letters! We've got letters! We've got stacks and stacks of letters!) It's such a joy to hear from as many of you as I do; please keep in touch. Visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. You can purchase tickets to the rehearsed (and costumed!) reading of Agatha Christie's version (much like Taylor's version, I imagine) of Towards Zero at the International Agatha Christie Festival here. You can pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, here. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit them here for 10% off your first month of therapy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I had such a great time focusing on Agatha Christie's theatrical endeavors, with the person who knows more about them than anyone else in the world. Come delight with me and Julius Green in all the drama! You can visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. You can buy the newer, paperback edition of Julius's book (with a slightly altered title) here. You can pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get ready for another panoramic episode, in which I take full stock of the Christie canon from the unusual perspective of the dedications she (usually) inserted at the front of her books. I even managed to unearth some unsolved (by me, anyway) mysteries.... Visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, at the bookseller of your choice here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

My former co-host Catherine Brobeck loved this short story, and this episode about this short story. And so do I! It's also one of the short stories under discussion at this year's upcoming International Agatha Christie Festival in September, during which my co-panelists and I will crown Agatha Christie's Greatest Short Story. Take a listen to the first part of the episode for a sneak peek at the other stories we'll be debating. Happy Summer, everyone! To buy tickets to the Festival, click here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. To pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, click here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I loved everything about this nerdiest of episodes... other than the fact that Catherine Brobeck wasn't here to delight in this exercise alongside me. I know she would have dug it. I hope you do, too. Click here for the YouTube link to the recently uploaded (and free!) video of They Came to Baghdad, a 1950s television adaptation previously very hard to find. Click here to access the charts referenced in this episode. Click here to visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. Click here to pre-order my mystery novel, The Busy Body, due out in January 2024! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You might want to pour yourself some egg nog and download one of those roaring digital fireplaces for today's offering, which is a rare Christmas-themed, and overtly religious, Christie short story. Many thanks to Sarah Hinlicky Wilson for co-hosting this episode with me. Click here to visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. Click here to visit Sarah's website. Click here to read Sarah's article referenced in the episode: "Miss Marple's Low Anthropology." Click here to pre-order my mystery novel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode is one of those happy occasions on which you all get to hear a voice--and a perspective--other than my own. Three voices, in fact. Many thanks to my co-hosts Jenni Bishop, Tina Hodgkinson, and Emma for a fabulous talk on such an important topic. Click here to visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. Click here to pre-order my mystery novel! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Please join me if you can in Torquay on Thursday, 14 September 2023 at 7:00pm in the Spanish Barn! Visit the Festival's website here to check out my event, and all the other marvelous offerings. Click the link here to purchase tickets for my event. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What better way to celebrate Coronation Day than with a story Agatha Christie wrote to contribute to the restoration of Westminster Abbey? (No, really!) More such fun facts await you in this, our final Miss Marple story for the podcast.... Miss Marple is done! Long live Miss Marple! Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Please pre-order my mystery novel! There are an array of links to various booksellers here, including Bookshop, which allows you to buy from indie bookstores while ordering online. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this hodgepodge of an episode, I revisit Christie stories already covered, and discuss a number of adaptations--and one text!--that Catherine and I failed to mention the first time around. (Please know that spoilers will abound for these stories.) Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If the teeth don't match, you must give your head a scratch. Au revoir, cher Poirot. Visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I had a great time chatting with debut author Kitty Murphy about the first book in her "Dublin Drag Mysteries" series. U.S. listeners can find Death in Heels at an indie bookstore by clicking this link. Click here to visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to meet Agatha Christie in person? Well, here's your answer. Special thanks to Yasuo Sudoh, Dr. Ernestine Elster, and Norman Home for contributing to this episode. Please visit and subscribe to the Podcast's Patreon page here. You can read the L.A. Times article referenced in this episode (all about All About Agatha) here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is this the weirdest thing Christie ever wrote? Maybe! But let's embrace it, and journey together to the Isle of Man, where buried treasure awaits.... Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon account here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, I try my hand at a "live game" experience based on a Poirot short story, which was provided to me for free by the game's creators.... And, spoiler, but I fail. Utterly. This episode is sponsored by the Art of Crime podcast. Check out their website here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Double, double toil and trouble.... It's time for a second--and much closer--look at the grand estate of Chimneys and its many, many (no really: many) secrets! (Don't worry, that Macbeth quote will make more sense once you listen.) I had more fun than I've had in a long time creating this episode. I also missed my dear partner Catherine Brobeck so very acutely.... I wish she could have done this with me. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a world we live in where Catherine and I are not the only two fanatics who have taken it upon ourselves to rank every single one of Agatha Christie's 66 mystery novels. In this episode, I delight in comparing and contrasting the All About Agatha grid with two other worthy offerings.... I hope you enjoy the nerdfest; it was a blast to record. Special thanks to our A+++ listener, and to Yasuo Sudoh. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. This episode is sponsored by The Art of Crime podcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a joyous and festive way to close out 2022, by chatting with Maureen Johnson, the talented writer of YA mysteries very much inspired by Agatha Christie. Happy New Year, one and all! Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. Remember that if you buy a gift subscription this holiday season, you have the chance to win all sorts of cool prizes (no purchase necessary). Click here for more details. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

My guest co-host John Curran certainly kept me on my toes (and I never expected to be forced to defend poor Nemesis as much as I was!), but I can truthfully say that having him on was the perfect event for this festive, end-of-year period. Happy holidays to all who celebrate, and please enjoy this very, very special episode. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page for bonus content. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. Remember that if you buy a gift subscription this holiday season, you have the chance to win all sorts of cool prizes (no purchase necessary). Click here for more details. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I didn't think I'd care this much about saying farewell to Parker Pyne, heart specialist.... Fortunately, there is a LOT to discuss in this jam-packed (really, pilchard-packed) episode: hot mackerel, plasticine, and corncrakes, for starters. Eternal thanks to Dr. Michelle Kazmer for lending her voice and expertise on this episode. If it isn't the sendoff Parker Pyne deserves, it's because Michelle was way too kind and smart for him. Just saying. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time to discuss the new collection of Miss Marple short stories that came out this fall in a detail some may find excruciating, but which my co-host Brad Friedman and I found to be juuuuuuust right. Come and get down-and-dirty in the weeds of these stories the way Aunt Jane herself would have done, gardener that she was. Because just like foxglove and belladonna, these weeds are beautiful, fascinating... and deadly. Visit the podcast's Patreon site here for more content. Visit Brad's fabulous blog here. This episode is sponsored by the Art of Crime Podcast, which you can download wherever you download podcasts. Visit the podcast's website here. This episode is also sponsored by Britbox. Use coupon code "AGATHA" in the U.S. and Canada for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a joy it was to spend some time again with Christie's most dynamic detective duo, Quin & Satterthwaite (sorry, Beresfords). This is the rare late-career Christie short story, and while the puzzle isn't one of her strongest, there's no denying the strange magic of the Satterthwerse.... Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon site. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. Use coupon code "AGATHA" at checkout in the U.S. and Canada for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Boo! It's a surprise episode popping up like The Crypt Keeper in the opening credits to Tales from the Crypt (anyone with me here?), featuring one of Agatha Christie's weird tales of the supernatural! If you think this story can't *also* include some of the most grounded elements of a classic Christie puzzle mystery, then consider this the trick to balance out all those treats you've got coming your way at the end of the month.... Happy Hallowe'en, everyone! Click here for a lovely L.A. Times piece all about the podcast, written by Deborah Netburn. Click here for the podcast's Patreon page. This episode is sponsored by Britbox. Use coupon code "AGATHA" at checkout in the U.S. and Canada for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

HarperCollins UK publisher David Brawn has been keeping Agatha Christie in print for over 25 years now. More recently, he's helmed the Christie continuation projects, starting first with Charles Osborne's novelizations, then Sophie Hannah's Poirot books, and just last month, Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, a new collection of Miss Marple short stories by twelve different writers. We had a lot to talk about, so I was thrilled to sit down with him in Torquay at the International Agatha Christie Festival a few weeks ago. I hope (and trust) you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page. This episode is brought to you by Britbox. Remember to use coupon code "AGATHA" for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription in the U.S. and Canada. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode was a joy to create: live and in person, in front of an audience and a group of co-panelists all bubbling with the same passion for Christie I'm used to sharing with all of you over the airwaves (podwaves?) alone.... I wish I could say that the recording does the event justice, but it's better than nothing. (Just.) Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon site. This episode is sponsored by Britbox; use coupon code "AGATHA" at checkout in the U.S. and Canada for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. This episode is also sponsored by BetterHelp. Click this link for 10% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Somehow, the day is upon us: the last Agatha Christie novel to review on this podcast.... There is no question this was the hardest episode I've ever done, but also the most rewarding. And not just for the George Eliot and Virginia Woolf references my co-host and I managed to squeeze into the nearly four-hour (!!) proceedings. Much love to you all. À bientôt! Please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon site for bonus content. This episode is brought to you by Britbox. Use coupon code "AGATHA" at checkout in the U.S. and Canada for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lucy Worsley is an author, a historian, a TV presenter, and she is also one of us, because she is a listener of this podcast (!!) and she is *obsessed* with Agatha Christie. As our conversation will attest. Bonus points for the Jane Austen content we manage to shoehorn in here, plus, this is easily the best conversation I've had with anyone (barring my beloved Catherine) about Agatha Christie's infamous disappearance. For bonus content, please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon site. This episode is brought to you by Britbox; use coupon code AGATHA in the U.S. and Canada at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. This episode is also brought to you by BetterHelp. Sign up now for 10% off your first month of therapy sessions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When I found myself adding an instrumental track of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" to an excerpt of this short story I'd been reading aloud, I realized I had passed a milestone of fandom and absurdity I never knew existed till I was on the other side of it. I am happy to be able to share this milestone with you, dear listeners. Enjoy. Visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page here. This episode is brought to you by Britbox. Remember to use coupon code AGATHA at checkout for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription in the U.S. and Canada. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Catherine and I started this crazy little venture, I never thought I'd say this, and certainly not with the excitement it inspires in me now, but at long last we've broken the three-hour barrier. That is how much my co-host Tony Medawar and I had to say about this final(/not-final) Miss Marple novel. Please enjoy, because we sure did. For bonus content, please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon site. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time to pick apart a Poirot short story in excruciating detail, though thankfully the process is anything but excruciating--especially with a miniature puzzle mystery as clever as this one, and set in the vicinity of Poirot's own digs, to boot! Let us never underestimate the power of propinquity.... This episode is sponsored by Britbox (use coupon code AGATHA) and BetterHelp. For bonus content, please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon account. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm going to Torquay, listeners! Or as I like to think of it: Agatha-land. Please join me at the International Agatha Christie Festival for a special, live episode of All About Agatha, where I will debate which title deserves to be crowned Agatha Christie's greatest novel with the likes of John Curran, Jamie Bernthal-Hooker, Mark Aldridge, and Carla Valentine (!!!!). You'll even get to weigh in as an audience member... but only if you're there in person! Wednesday, 14 September at 7:00pm. All other details and ticket purchases to be accessed on the Festival's website here. I hope to see you! For bonus content, you can always subscribe to the podcast's Patreon account. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ruth Ware has a new psychological crime thriller out this summer, and it may be her most Christie-ish yet. Listen to us discuss kebab vans in much greater detail than you were probably expecting! This episode is brought to you by Britbox. Use promo code "AGATHA" for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription in the U.S. or Canada. For bonus content, please visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon site. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well thank goodness I had Caroline Crampton, host of the fabulous Shedunnit podcast, to help me wade through the rather disorienting waters of this, the final novel Agatha Christie ever wrote. Get out your hankies--to wipe away not only your tears, but all the dust and spiders out in the garden shed, a.k.a. "KK." It's time to visit Tommy and Tuppence one last time.... This episode is brought to you by Britbox. Visit http://www.britbox.com and use coupon code "AGATHA" for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription. You can access bonus material on the podcast's Patreon page, over at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Carla Valentine is a forensic pathologist and a massive Agatha Christie fan. These two facts are very much not unrelated, as you will soon discover in our lively and far-ranging discussion. This episode is brought to you by Britbox, http://www.britbox.com. (U.S. and Canadian listeners: use the promo code "AGATHA" for 50% off the first month of your monthly subscription.) You can find more content on the podcast's Patreon page, over at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I took the opportunity to have a somewhat different conversation about Christie than I usually do, with the literary theorist Alison Light, who wrote about Christie as far back as 1991. We talked a whole lot about the middle classes, the notion of "small c" conservatism, and what it means to be English. Not your usual Christie fare, but I left the conversation with a fresh appreciation of our favorite author, and I hope you do too. Visit the podcast's Patreon site at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's been a while since we've done a Stefon, so here goes. This episode has everything: twins, wigs, continuity errors, Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver (surely the model upon which Will & Grace were built) teaming up one last time, and of course, Dr. Mark Aldridge, co-host extraordinaire. It's time to find out if elephants really can remember! (Spoiler: they mainly can't.) You can find bonus content at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a pleasure to chat with one of the early Christie biographers--and critical analysts--about Agatha Christie as both a writer and a person. We even talk about sex! (Consider yourselves titillated... even though Agatha definitely would not have been.) You can find bonus material at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. This episode is sponsored by http://www.smilebrilliant.com. Remember to use coupon code AGATHA. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Apostrophes, feminine writers, and water butts. Oh my. This episode is brought to you by http://www.smilebrilliant.com. Remember to use coupon code AGATHA. You can visit the podcast's Patreon site at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a pleasure it was to speak with the debut (though by no means inexperienced) author of the genre-busting mystery The Maid. It's such a charming read, and we got to talk a lot--a lot!--about Christie. Visit the podcast's Patreon site at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alex is the real deal when it comes to his passion for Christie, and for the craft of writing mysteries. This interview was simply a joy. I hope (and trust) you'll feel the same. Visit the podcast's Patreon site at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get comfortable, because this is a loooong episode (at this rate, Sleeping Murder will have to be released in six parts, like a miniseries). But can you blame me--and Jamie--for wanting to spend as much time as we did critiquing this stupendous (though flawed) late Marple novel? Put on your warmest pink scarf and your red-and-black-checked pullover, and beware of any "rocking stones" in the vicinity as you immerse yourself in the world of... Nemesis. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It may not be a heart-shaped box of chocolates wrapped in crinkly plastic, but I hope you'll enjoy my Valentine's confection for you in the form of a free-to-download, love-themed Patreon episode. (You can click the link below; it'll be the first episode to appear in the queue.) Enjoy! http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Another episode, another Sophie Hannah confection! Come for the Death on the Nile gush-fest and the discussion of character versus plot in contemporary crime fiction, stay for Sophie's shocking takedown of American English (I jest…). For bonus episodes, check out the All About Agatha Patreon site at: www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We get lots of Poirot and Hastings in this fairly light-hearted short story, and lots of Poirot and Hastings and Lemon and Japp in the stupendously light-hearted episode based on this short story. In other words: a good time all around. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It wasn't easy recording my first episode without Catherine, but fortunately I had a friend to help me: Sophie Hannah, who duked out the rankings with me as my guest co-host. And what a time we had discussing this extremely flawed, though extremely fascinating late-career Christie thriller.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was extremely difficult to edit this episode, which is the final one I recorded with my co-host, Catherine Brobeck, before she passed away. I hope you take a listen, and use it as an opportunity to celebrate her. Please know this is the spirit in which I'm offering it to you now. Happy holidays to all who celebrate them; I'm looking forward to a New Year in which we can continue to remember Catherine while continuing to celebrate Agatha Christie and the greater world of mysteries. And thank you--so much--for all your warmth and support during what has been a challenging time. It means the world. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Please listen for a message about the unexpected passing of one of our own. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We had an absolutely lovely time chatting with author John Copenhaver about his new book, The Savage Kind (https://bookshop.org/books/the-savage-kind-a-mystery/9781643138091). And about Agatha Christie, of course. This episode is sponsored by http://www.smilebrilliant.com (coupon code AGATHA) and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We do this every year, and it gets more unwieldy and yet more enjoyable as time goes by. Join us as we fine-tune our rankings of the sixty (!!) Christie novels we've covered thus far. We may even engage in a little horse-trading.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"It's Hallowe'en! It's Hallowe'en! The moon is full and bright! And we shall see what can't be seen on any other night!" Which in a Christie novel means a child murder, lots of velvet trousers, an extended argument between M. Poirot and Mrs. Oliver about form versus function, and an unexpected nod toward the holiday's pagan origins. And SO much more. Come celebrate this spookiest of holidays with us... IF YOU DARE. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Let's not bury the lede here: we just may have gotten ourselves written into a future Anthony Horowitz mystery. We encourage you to check out Anthony's latest offering, A Line to Kill, preferably in an indie bookstore near you. This episode is brought to you by Smile Brilliant (http://www.smilebrilliant.com, coupon code "AGATHA") and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tommy and Tuppence are back! But are they better than ever? While the reintroduction of T&T into our lives--along with head injuries, hidden jewels, and (gasp of joy) Albert--is cause for unbridled celebration, this book is by no means a paragon of perfection. Get ready, because we had A LOT to discuss. Oh, and fingers crossed you too are a big Golden Girls fan.... (Sunny Ridge will always be Shady Pines in our book.) This episode is brought to you by: https://www.smilebrilliant.com (coupon code AGATHA) and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were honored to host our own event this week at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, revisiting Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. (Fair warning: certain plot elements of this book are spoiled in the course of our conversation!) Unfortunately we had to settle for Zooming in from Los Angeles, but as you can hear for yourself, that didn't stop us from having a wonderful time. Special thanks to Tony Medawar, the Festival organizer and moderator of our panel whose voice peppers this episode. We hope to do this again in one year's time... in person! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you thought two hours was enough for us to talk about Endless Night, you were wrong! Sort of. This short story formed the basis (plot-wise) for that crown jewel of a novel, so in a way we are revisiting it in this episode. But we also get to geek out over a secret unpublished version, too. Hooray! This episode is brought to you by Smile Brilliant (http://www.smilebrilliant.com, coupon code "AGATHA") and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're disappointed that our appearance at the Festival has to be virtual (insert pithy Shakespearean insult of choice here, directed COVID's way), but we're thrilled to be appearing at all. For more information about the Festival (including all the other wonderful presenters on tap), please visit: http://www.iacf-uk.org. We look forward to seeing some of you, if only on a screen! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You might want to put on some rain gear before listening to this episode, because it is a bit of a gush fest. Hooray for this late-career Christie gem! Come delight with us in the wonderfully unsettling world of Mr. (Mike) Rogers's neighborhood.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As this is one of Christie's longer short stories--legitimately novella-length--we found a great deal to analyze and discuss. Just think of it as one of the "large miniatures" Suchet fusses over in the adaptation.... No question this is a curious addition to the Poirot canon all around! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Unlike so many late Poirots we've read recently, this one actually features a ton of Poirot (and Ariadne Oliver!), from beginning to end. And while seriously flawed, it gave us a lot to discuss in what turned out to be a rather meandering/digressive episode... even for us. Please visit our Patreon site for bonus content, or just to support us: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. This episode is sponsored by Smile Brilliant (http://www.smilebrilliant.com, promo code AGATHA) and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While our favorite Cornish mystery might involve guessing what's in the latest pasty we're devouring, this one was pretty satisfying too! Let's dig in. This episode is sponsored by Smile Brilliant (http://www.smilebrilliant.com, promo code AGATHA) and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We may as well admit up front that this was not our favorite Christie. But it is a Miss Marple novel, and it does have a fantastic setting. So all is not lost. Come travel with us to see what dastardly—and potentially confusing?—deeds are afoot... at Bertram's Hotel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We had as much fun as we usually do unraveling this early Poirot short story--perhaps especially when it came to the adaptation, which is quite a foundational one for the beloved Suchet series. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Though the biggest mystery may be how to spell and pronounce "Caribbean," there is plenty of intrigue to go around in this Miss-Marple-on-holiday story, which at least one Christie scholar deems to be the last proper whodunit that she wrote. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What a great time we had gabbing with this debut author about her recently published (and much buzzed-about) novel... almost as great a time as we had reading it! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This short story is a precursor to The Mystery of the Blue Train, but don't let that put you off! We found much to enjoy--both in the source material and the Suchet adaptation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well... they can't all be winners, can they? This (barely-there) Poirot novel is not one of our favorites, we're sorry to say. But as usual, we relish the opportunity to explore and explain why. Because even a lesser Christie is a source of wonder and joy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've got Poirot. We've got Hastings. We've got a prince. A lady of mysterious origins. A frozen-in-time bridge tableau! If you need more, you're probably not listening to the right podcast.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were fortunate enough to sit down with Sarah Pearse, the author of one of this season's hottest (or is that iciest?) thrillers, The Sanatorium. There are lots of connections to be made between her book and Christie, and naturally, we made them all. Enjoy! This episode is brought to you by Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Someone might need to stage an intervention, because the longer we talk about Christie, the more we apparently have to say! We hope you enjoy our super-sized discussion of this intriguing late Christie novel (perhaps the first late Christie novel?), during which we wax poetic about all sorts of topics--from the rigors of film acting to the ravages of time. Oh, and Dark Marple, of course. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were thrilled to speak with Martin Edwards, one of the foremost scholars of detective fiction of the Golden Age. He is also a mystery novelist in his own right, and the current President of the Detection Club. What is the Detection Club, you ask? Take a listen and find out! This episode is sponsored by Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It isn't often that we focus as much on an adaptation of a Christie story as the story itself, but if ever there were an episode to do so, it's this one. Join us as we gush over the very first episode of the David Suchet series, including a lengthy discussion as to why this short story was such an excellent choice for the pilot episode of this excellent program. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We had such a fantastic time discussing this late-career Christie gem, as creepy and unsettling as the story may be.... Beware the Pale Horse! This episode is sponsored by YARN and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Miss Marple short story is always cause for celebration, and this one is no exception. Come with us--to St. Mary Mead, of course--where Miss Marple finds herself at the center of a local murder, the solving of which will uncover a long-held secret from the past. In other words: all is exactly as it should be in the Christieverse.... This episode is sponsored by YARN and Best Fiends. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While there is so much we hope will be different about 2021 as compared to 2020, our passion and appetite for Christie do not feature on that long, long list. Happy New Year, dear listeners: we hope you enjoy our leisurely ramble from Meadowbrook to Ramat and back again for this late-career "turducken" of a Christie that we quite enjoyed. Also, how did Kemper manage to shoehorn not one but two clips from Jurassic Park into this episode?! Listen, and be amazed…. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Consider this our "Christie for Christmas," an original episode all about what it's like to read Christie in the here and now--in particular, those aspects of the texts that may strike us as seeming "stuck in their time" or otherwise difficult/awkward to negotiate. This is something we've talked about a lot over the years, and we're so grateful to be able to add more voices to the conversation with this episode--YOUR voices, in fact. Thank you again to the listeners who contributed their thoughts; it's our hope that you all get something out of the endeavor. Happy holidays! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This episode completes our review of The Labours of Hercules collection. We also took the opportunity to comment on the somewhat disappointing--but not entirely disastrous--Suchet adaptation. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's been a while since we've had Mark on our show, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to fawn over his new book, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World. This also gave us as good an excuse as any to chatter on about Poirot for an hour or so.... If you feel so inclined (and we wager you will), go to https://bookshop.org to (pre-)order a copy for yourself, if you don't have one already. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are both HUGE Tana French fans, so we suspect many of you are too. This interview was a joy to record; we hope you enjoy it half as much as we did. And if you haven't yet bought Tana's latest book, The Searcher, or any of the titles mentioned in our conversation, we encourage you to check out https://bookshop.org/, which is a safe and streamlined way to buy books online from independent bookstores in both the U.S. and UK. Happy reading! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We had A LOT to say about this undeniably striking offering in the latter half of the Christie catalogue--not all of it good, but all of it quite heartfelt. Oh, and we also had A LOT to say about the adaptations, too. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Visit our Patreon site at: http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. We hope you enjoy the episode! (If you've been jonesing after LOTS of Angela Lansbury clips, you should be very pleased.) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're thrilled to have gotten to speak with author/screenwriter/producer Anthony Horowitz, who has brought us so much joy--and not only for the Poirot episodes he adapted in the course of the David Suchet series. Anthony is in the midst of two separate contemporary mystery series, both of which we discussed, with a particular (and spoiler-free!) focus on his most recent novel, Moonflower Murders. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In a perfect world, we could apply Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" drugs campaign referenced in our first story to the questionable art restoration techniques discussed in the second. Alas--and this is probably not a newsflash--but the world we live in is not perfect. (Don't worry, this will make a lot more sense after you've listened to the episode. Enjoy!) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Normally we use this space in our anniversary episode to bemoan the passage of time, but when it comes to 2020 we can all probably agree that we'd like to keep things moving right along, yes? At this point we have quite a roster of titles to discuss, and no shortage of opinions about them. As always, we welcome yours too. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We apparently couldn't stop talking about what Mrs. McGillicuddy saw! (Especially because this is in some ways still an open question by the end of the novel.) Sometimes the flawed Christies give us more food for thought than the superlative gems, and this was definitely one of those times.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We encourage you to take a moment to check out not only our three interviews, but all the offerings available starting Tuesday 15 September via the International Agatha Christie Festival's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbc5NjYWmTw6VYlc2R9G3qw. Enjoy! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It was a pleasure to revisit our dear old Aunt Jane in short story form... especially in a mystery like this one, which features deceptive appearances, gruesome violence, and a particularly snooty Raymond West (which as we all know by now is really saying something). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are truly excited for the opportunity to hear directly from you, our dear listeners, about how you negotiate the "stuck in its time" aspect of reading Christie. Please e-mail us your recorded submissions at [email protected]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Reading this Poirot novel was like revisiting an old friend. So come along with us to the riparian oasis of Nasse House (a.k.a. Greenway), where all our analysis of the Christie canon up to this point will serve us well in figuring out whodunit. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our dear Hercules is still labo(u)ring his way through the twelve tasks in this standout short story collection, hooray! Appearances can be--and usually are--deceiving in any Christie, but we'd do well to remember this adage in both tales on offer here.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Real talk: this was not our favorite Christie. (That may in fact be a massive understatement.) But we will always cherish the opportunity to discuss any Christie text... even one as problematic as this one. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We have two more enjoyable entries to cover in The Labours of Hercules collection. Join us as we follow Papa Poirot up into the airy heights of the Swiss Alps, and then down into the very deepest and darkest depths, that special place in hell inhabited by [cue organ] the British tabloids!! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We can't say we particularly relished reading this mid-career Christie thriller, but we CAN say we relished discussing our reading of this mid-career Christie thriller.... Make sure your tray is secure and your seat's in an upright position, because we're leaving on a jet plane for Morocco and things are about to get real bumpy, real fast! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You get two Poirot short stories in this episode for the price of one--but the bargain gets even better, because the first of these felt very much like a Miss Marple story, while the second felt even more like one of our beloved Quin/Satterthwaite tales.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were delighted to get Ruth Ware on the phone, author of five recent--and already quite beloved--psychological crime thrillers. (This is her preferred term for the books she writes; just one of many topics we discussed!) And we of course couldn't pass up the chance to talk Christie with a fellow aficionado.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We're not sure what to say about the length of this episode except that we seem to have a greater bandwidth for gabbing on about Christie these days.... Fortunately you, dear listener, probably have more time and inclination to listen too. So let's settle in together to discuss this incredibly bitter-tinged mystery novel inhabited by such unpleasant characters, because we nonetheless quite appreciated it! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are making our latest Patreon episode, all about the Anthony Horowitz mystery Magpie Murders, free to download (and distract)! This glorious nerdfest of a novel is VERY much inspired by Christie, so chances are if you listen to this podcast, you will very much enjoy the novel itself, and (we hope!) our discussion. You can find it at http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. Enjoy! And please stay safe. (And sane.) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are so excited to be starting in earnest, at long last, The Labours of Hercules collection. Especially as it begins with such a charming Foreword and an even more charming--and intriguing--opening story. We also threw in some D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths for good measure; why not, right? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We both adored this (somewhat) unsung Christie gem... though not without reservations. Fortunately, for purposes of discussion, those reservations turned out to be slightly different. It's a truth universally acknowledged that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and that certainly holds true for the various familial arrangements portrayed so vividly in this sprawling novel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There is a lot going on in the world at the moment, but there will always be Agatha Christie. Join us as we celebrate our final Christie novella, which just may be more remarkable than it appears at first glance (or read, as it were). We also took this opportunity to clip heavily from the hijinks-riddled Suchet series. So let's all bask in the lightness together, shall we? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While we never do get the mirror the title seems (out of context) to promise, there was so much to adore in this imperfect yet rollicking early '50s novel. Take a deep breath, get out your Freud and Jung, and maybe take an umbrella for the trip down memory lane you're about to embark on with one Miss Jane Marple. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The love detectives are back--and in a story titled The Love Detectives, no less! Join us as we puzzle over why this perfectly delightful serialization was the only one not to be included in the Mysterious Mr. Quin collection… and potentially figure it out in real time! (Clearly the magic of Mr. Quin, that wily catalyst of problem-solving, was with us.) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's time for another novella, this one full to bursting with characters, incident, and puzzle mystery elements. We also get a guest appearance from Mr. Satterthwaite (!!!!), so you know we were both dementedly pleased.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We couldn't stop talking about Mrs. McGinty being dead! Mainly good things, though not all good things. But what a delight it was to reach, at long last, this first of the "late Poirots" featuring Ariadne Oliver. Come for the drive-by fruiting, stay for the sick Poirot burns as to "feminine intuition." Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We begin the year in style with one of Dame Agatha's leaner puzzle mysteries--especially among those featuring our favorite grandstanding Belgian detective. It's been a while since we've had the pleasure of discussing our dear Papa Poirot in short story form, though this one is a bit super-sized, as it is in fact one of the few novellas within the canon. This year we all get to celebrate ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE, so you know we have high hopes for 2020. Happy New Year to all! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most people know the apocryphal tale of Agatha's sister challenging her to write a murder mystery, but years earlier--1912 or thereabouts--her mother is supposed to have challenged her to write as a way of entertaining herself while recovering from influenza. Apparently this lead to an extended bout of neophyte creation that included this rather spiritual yarn, which just may remind you of another classic Christmastime story.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Real talk: this is not one of our favorite Christies. Alas. But it features some excellent scene setting in and among Baghdad and Basrah; whenever Christie takes us to the Middle East, we know we're in good hands as far as mise en scène goes. We just wish we could say the same about the plot (or lack thereof), and the characters populating this globe-trotting thriller.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've been looking forward to this film for months... and are happy to report that on the whole it did not disappoint! Let's swoon together over cleverly employed Christie tropes, perfectly weathered white cable-knit sweaters, and everything in between. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We had so much fun speaking with Sophie Hannah a year ago, we had her on again! Tuck in for a free-ranging conversation that starts with Sophie's new mystery novel and ends--as all conversations should--noodling over the finer aspects of moral culpability in And Then There Were None. (DOES Emily Brent get a raw deal?) With lots of chatter about lots of Christie titles in between. (Are Evil Under the Sun and Five Little Pigs diametric opposites as to style? Is The Body in the Library secretly the best Miss Marple? Which should we be more excited about reading in the future: The Pale Horse, or After the Funeral?) We could go on... and we do! See you in the episode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Somehow, we've reached our penultimate Parker Pyne story. As we won't be covering the last one till that far-off, misty era when our podcast ends, this will be our last Parker Pyne for quite some time.... Which may be welcome news or a disappointment, depending on your point of view. Much to our surprise, we find that we fall into the latter category. Until we meet again, Mr J. (or is it C.?) Parker Pyne.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You know the drill by now: long episode = lovefest episode. In 1950 a murder was announced, and the world was never the same.... Join us as we gush over this gem of a Marple novel (and lovingly identify its flaws). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We have two creepy and unabashedly supernatural short stories for your spine-tingling pleasure this Hallowe'en season. And even though this is Christie off her regularly beaten path of logic and reason, the lessons to be gleaned from these two macabre tales are fully on brand for our beloved Dame Agatha. Beware: 1) a mother's love; and 2) a real estate bargain. [Insert banshee keen here.] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We went a little long with this one, which is as good an indicator as any of how much we adored this gem of a Christie (Kemper especially). And what better time of year for such a twisted, creepy tale?! Take a listen... IF YOU DARE. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do it, Rockapella: Well he glides around the globe from Paris to Damascus. He's a double-dealing sleuth with a taste for trickery He'll take you for a ride on a slow boat down the Nile Tell me where in the world is… Parker Pyne, heart specialist? This week he's in Greece, in close proximity to an oracle, no less. You know what that means: a kidnapping, an impersonation, and an attempted jewel heist, of course. Enjoy! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How is it possible that another year has passed? We lay the blame squarely on Dame Agatha, whose light prose and masterful puzzles have made the months slip silkily on by.... It's time for another nerd-fest as we assess the state of our rankings, having just passed the three-year mark (!!) on our literary trek through the Christie-verse. We hope you all have as much fun listening to this podcast as we do creating it. Onward, to Year 4! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are back with another Poirot novel! And we were on the whole quite pleased with this twisty-turny post-WWII puzzle mystery, perhaps most notable for its searing evocation of a specific time and place in history. So travel back with us to 1946 and the tiny village of Warmsley Vale where--spoiler!--all is not as it first appears to be.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

'Tis time for the final story in the Mysterious Mr. Quin collection, and while technically things end with a thud rather than a bang, we were by no means disappointed by what we found in this crazypants tale of love gone SERIOUSLY awry. Oh, Mr. Quin. It's a good thing you're a supernatural being intent on haunting us till the end of days, because at this point we'd be lost without you.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've got an early short story involving supernatural premonitions, inherited insanity, and an early example of the very Christie-ish imperative to read closely. All we're missing is an actor, but hey, there's always next time. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sometimes when Christie takes to the short story form, she gets a little loose, a little wacky. We saw that in our last Miss Marple short story, and we see it again here, in a story that features... well, we won't be specific about the number, but let's just say there are a fair amount of maids in this one. Are any of them perfect? Let's find out! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, whenever we go beyond an hour of nattering away about a title, it's a good sign, and this episode is no exception. Come and bask with us in the many splendors of The Hollow, a much-beloved, mid-career masterwork of Christie's with rich characters and yet almost no puzzling to speak of, despite the presence of our dear Poirot. If this one is a Christie "crown jewel," it's one with all sorts of imperfections, but everyone knows it's the flaws that make a thing more interesting.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You know the drill by now: we've got Quin; we've got Satterthwaite; we've got spooky intrigue; we've got thwarted lovers. How's it all going to end? With an abrupt departure by our favorite proto-Tyler Durden, of course. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's been a while since we visited the enchanting city of Petra by way of Christie, and this one is definitely a much simpler, slighter puzzle mystery than what we encountered in Appointment with Death. But there is always a healthy amount of intrigue where the wily Parker Pyne is concerned.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's better than a tale of twin poisonings like we had in our last episode? Twin tales of twin poisonings, of course. This short story is substantially similar to Sparkling Cyanide, which we just covered, but it actually came first, and as a precursor to that novel it also has some fascinating differences. Journey with us not only to New York but--in the Suchet adaptation--to Argentina too as we explore all that this Poirot story has to offer. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We both relished this glittering tale of twin poisonings set within a posh circle at a swanky London restaurant, though it comes with a few problems/weaknesses all its own. Come geek out with us over the intricacies of cyanide, the later career of Nancy Marchand, and so much more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You'd be forgiven for mistaking the bucolic English country estate where this story is set for the Borscht Belt of upstate New York, because this Miss Marple yarn (see what we did there?) is pretty darn funny. Poor Edward and Charmian had no idea what they were in for when Jane Helier (!!) recommended they consult with the very best of amateur sleuths in the attempt to recover a modern-day buried treasure. Take cover, because the hijinks are flying fast! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As Mabelle Annesley could perhaps sing for you herself on her ukulele, it's time to "Get Ur Freak On," and how, in this remarkably cuckoo Monsieurs Quin & Satterthwaite tale. Enjoy! We always do when it's these two.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bar the gates, because Parker Pyne is still abroad, flitting here, there, and everywhere in the Middle East. This time we find him in Persia (i.e., Iran)--specifically, the lovely city of Shiraz. But not so lovely as to prevent it from harboring one who is some combination of murderer, lunatic, and/or impostor. Let's sort it out together before our peripatetic PI jets off someplace else for further adventures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

While we did not love this one, we do appreciate what an outlier it is within the Christie canon, and the fact that it was the first "historical whodunit" to combine the genres of detective and historical fiction. Also, like most murder mystery fans we love a high body count, and at seven murders (and eight deaths), this one definitely does not disappoint in that area.... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It has been too long since we visited with Miss Marple in short story form, which Christie herself identified as our favorite spinster sleuth's natural milieu, after all.... And we get more of Miss Marple than we normally do in this outlier of a short story, written as a script to be read out by Christie herself (!!) on the radio. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mr. Quin has decided to haunt our podcast yet again with one of his trademark spooky tales involving a seemingly locked-room suicide, a talented (yet extremely grumpy) artist, and a book that Mr. Satterthwaite authored called Homes of My Friends. There is A LOT to discuss in this one; let's get to it! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are excited to announce that we have started a Patreon account for bonus or extra episodes of our podcast. Please listen for a more thorough explanation, but our first episode is a VERY lively discussion of the recent John Malkovich adaptation of The ABC Murders.... We hope to see you over on the Patreon account, http://www.patreon.com/allaboutagatha. And have no fear: our regularly scheduled programming will resume right here next week. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Parker Pyne is still abroad, spreading his statistician-acquired cynical know-how the same way his forebears spread smallpox, this time on a "Pullman coach" across the desert from Damascus to Baghdad in which a sock may or may not have been used to murder someone. Where's Rob Kardashian when you need him? Fortunately, he's right here! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Christie rarely deals in psychopaths, but when she does she tends to handle them with panache, and this novel is no exception. (Not a spoiler, as we are put on our guard almost immediately that a psycho lurks in these pages....) While it is by no means one of our absolute favorites, we quite enjoyed this one, which features a number of familiar Christie tropes spun/twisted in ingeniously dark ways. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We were so thrilled to have a special guest on the podcast for a fascinating interview about reading Agatha Christie in a way that may (or may not!) be a departure for some listeners. Jamie's book Queering Agatha Christie (which we've referred to many times on this podcast) applies a subset of literary theory called "queer theory" to Christie's works, and it is a truly thought-provoking way to analyze what is happening in these beloved texts. We hope you enjoy our discussion as much as we did. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.