In the run-up to the publication of my new Marple book in late summer (sorry for the publication delay, it’s due to pictures taking time and bookseller preferences!), I will be speaking at a few events in June. I’ll give a talk at Bodies from the Library at the British Library on 1 June 2024, and be in conversation at both Belfast Book Festival (11 June 2024) and Felixstowe Book Festival (29 June 2024). More to come!
The (almost) full details for the International Agatha Christie Festival 2024 have now been announced, and I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be speaking about the search for the “definitive” Miss Marple in the evening of 13 September at 7pm. I’ll be discussing Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple and other depictions (including Helen Hayes) sharing new information and some nice clips and illustrations. This is as well as the Swinging Christies event with Gray Robert Brown on the Wednesday. I’m also taking part in the All About Agatha panel on the Thursday evening (debating the best screen adaptation).
There is more to be announced, and I may pop up at another event… It’s sure to be a great week, so do join us in Torquay! Details here.
I’m so excited to launch The Swinging Christies, a new podcast co-presented and co-produced with the writer Gray Robert Brown. It looks at Agatha Christie in the 1960s and, among other things, argues for a reappraisal of her later work. You can find episodes on all major podcast platforms, including Spotify, Audible and Apple Podcasts. More info over at Christietime.com.
I’m also honoured to say that I will be one of the speakers at this year’s Bodies from the Library event, taking place at the British Library on 1 June. Tickets available from their website now.
This year has probably been the busiest yet for me, such is the continuing popularity of Agatha Christie.
In September I had a wonderful time speaking at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay. I arrived straight from the Agatha Christie Conference at the University of Exeter, where I was one of the keynotes, and at the end of the week it was great to give the after dinner speech at Greenway House, Christie’s holiday home, on her birthday.
Most recently I was thrilled to be invited to India to speak at the Dehradun Literature Festival. My wonderful hosts ensured that this was a great event. I particularly enjoyed running a workshop for local children, where we used some of Christie’s techniques to create their own stories.
My next event is the Agatha Christie Festival Internacional in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. It’s always a brilliant event and I can’t wait to talk about Miss Marple. There is much more to come next year in support of my forthcoming book Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness, which you can preorder at Amazon UK now, if you’re keen… There is also The Swinging Christies, a new podcast project that I’m doing with the writer Gray Robert Brown. More on that soon!
All in all, it’s an exciting time to be researching Agatha Christie!
Great to see that tickets for the International Agatha Christie Festival are on sale now! I’m taking parts in three of the events: the All About Agatha discussion (14 Sept), speaking after dinner at Greenway (15 Sept), and giving a talk about Margaret Rutherford’s Miss Marple before a screening of Murder at the Gallop (16 Sept). I have lots of new and fun info to share, so hope to see some of you there!
Tickets available to buy here (at the time of writing, the Greenway dinner is not yet on sale – keep an eye out if you’re keen as it goes quickly). Of course, there are loads of other great events going on as well.
Registration is also open for the Agatha Christie Conference, taking place 12-13 Sept. I’m one of the two keynotes and will be asking what we know about Miss Marple, as I share some of the research for my next book.
California’s Kings River Life magazine has published an interview with me to accompany their nice review of my Poirot book. You can read it here and if you’re a US resident you can even enter a competition to win a copy of the book – if you don’t have one yet!
Although it would be lovely to write a book free from errors of any kind, unfortunately they do creep in when writing about a topic that covers more than a century and draws on hundreds (if not thousands) of sources. I believe in being transparent about corrections, and so here are mine for Agatha Christie’s Poirot! I have not included minor issues such as a few words missing their italicisation, some misplaced punctuation, and a few sentences that have been tweaked for clarity or tidiness.
Some of these have already been corrected for the second or third printings. Others will be fixed for any subsequent printings, including the paperback.
p.45: ‘quite be’ should be ‘be quite’ in the quote
p.82: The summary is misleading as it makes it sound like Poirot was not at the first poisoning but was at the second, when it is the other way round
p.110 & 390: ‘The Second Gong’ was actually first published in Ladies’ Home Journal in the US. The publication in The Strand was a month later (and was its UK debut).
p.140: Simeon Lee is locked inside his ‘room’ not study (which we learn is a separate space)
p.208: ‘be’ should not be in the quote ‘part of the mind to be concentrate’
p.216: ‘Italian proprietor’ should be ‘Cypriot proprietor’
p.274: ‘possibly consider if any of them…’ should say ‘possibly ask if any of them…’ in the quote
p.278: For clarity, ‘just as in the last Poirot book’ should probably read ‘just as in the previous Poirot book’
p.385: ‘increased to commission’ should be ‘increased the commission’
p.410: Helen Baxendale played Elizabeth Cole, not Judith Hastings
Various: ‘Arbuthnott’ should be ‘Arbuthnot’
Also, I didn’t write the captions but there are a few corrections for them as well:
p.91: The Tom Adams cover for Death in the Clouds predates 1974 – possibly 1971
p.189: Caption should say the cover is by Ian Robinson (not Tom Adams) and apparently it is from 1966
p.319: This is arguable, but some may consider that there were four covers for this Curtain paperback, not three, although it is possible/likely that one of these was only used for the (quickly produced) second printing
p.375: Caption should say the photo is from Peril at End House, not ‘The Cornish Mystery’
Thanks to Peter Sheeran, Sven Pehla, Tony Medawar, Kate Jackson and David Morris for first spotting some of these errors.
It has been quite a busy couple of months for me because 12 November saw the publication of Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World in the UK! If you haven’t got your hands on a copy yet what are you waiting for?! It even features a foreword by Mark Gatiss! You can see links to various online retailers here – including The Book Depository, which ships internationally for free for those of you outside the UK. I hope that you enjoy it if you do buy it.
If you need more convincing here’s a lovely review. Also, a reminder that only the hardback will feature the 400+ illustrations – when it moves into paperback, most of those will disappear.
Over the last few weeks I have taken part in a lot of events (all online, of course), which Agatha Christie fans may find interesting. I took part in the Perfect Crime UK festival in an event with Barry Forshaw which was captured for YouTube and can be seen here, while I also spoke to Exeter Library about the new book, for a video chat available here. I wrote an article about the book for Shots magazine, and also took part in two podcasts (with more to come!) – Jim Noy’s In GAD We Trust, and All About Agatha. Also, The New European newspaper used the book as the basis for an article about Poirot, which you can read here.
I’ve also taken part in two forthcoming TV documentaries, and so there’s not avoiding me yet! I’ll share more details when I’m able to, but one is due at Christmas and the other at Easter 2021. I was also in a Channel 5 documentary recently, which has been put on YouTube – my interview was filmed as soon as we came out of the first lockdown, which explains my bizarre hair!
Anyway, that’s enough self-publicity for today – I just hope you enjoy the book! And if you do, feel free to tell others, including through reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. It is very difficult to get the word out when you launch a book while all the bookshops are closed…
I was very sad to see so many exciting events from this year postponed, so I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be taking part in some online events in their place. These talks will tie in with the publication of my new book, Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World, which will be out at the end of October. You can see the beautiful cover design by Bill Bragg below.
I’m honoured to be able to say that the book will feature a foreword by the marvellous Mark Gatiss!
The brand new Virtual International Mystery Festival is running from 12-15 September, and you can see the full programme here. I’ll be giving an illustrated talk on 13 September about Agatha Christie and television, with a short Q&A afterwards.
Also on 13 September Sophie Hannah and I will be taking part in Noirwich Crime Writing Festival, which has moved online for this year. We will be speaking on The Writing Life podcast, discussing Poirot. The festival itself is a partnership between the University of East Anglia and the National Centre for Writing
Then, on 15 September, I’ll be giving another (different) illustrated talk online as part of the International Agatha Christie Festival, and while speaking to a camera may not be quite as good as attending the event in person, I hope that you’ll enjoy my talk about the many faces of Hercule Poirot. You can show your interest here, or go direct to the festival’s YouTube channel here.
On 17 September I’ll be interviewing Sophie Hannah for HarperCollins Australia, and I’ll be quizzing her about her new Poirot adventures – there will also be the opportunity for those watching to ask her questions.
The book is available to preorder just about anywhere you can think of, including at Hive, Waterstones, Amazon UK, Amazon US, and Book Depository. Please order at a local bookshop if you can.
[Post edited and updated 29 August]
Firstly, and inevitably, unfortunately all of my talks for this year have now been delayed until 2021. This includes the Greenway Literary Festival, the Agatha Christie Festival, and Perfect Crime in Liverpool. They are all something to look forward to, at least.
During lockdown I have still been talking and writing about Agatha Christie a lot including for the livestreamed event Murder in the Afternoon from Fantom Films, which you can see here.
I was also asked to write another short article for the Agatha Christie website, this time talking about my recommended film adaptations. You can find it here.
Dr Mark Aldridge 