Agatha Christie historian and speaker
On 8 February I’ll be giving my Miss Marple talk at Bromley Little Theatre, in between performances of their production of The Mirror Crack’d. Tickets are £5 and I’ll be signing books afterwards – you can book your ticket here!
I’m very excited about a special treat for the end of this year – I’ll be visiting the glorious Burgh Island to talk about Agatha Christie at Christmas on the afternoon of 10 December. What could be a better treat for the festive season?!
For those who don’t know, Burgh Island has many Christie connections, from influencing the likes of Evil Under the Sun and And Then There Were None, to as a filming location for adaptations in the Joan Hickson Miss Marple and David Suchet Poirot series.
You can book a special stay for the event on the Burgh Island Hotel’s website, or call/email them to book my talk and afternoon tea if you’re not able to stay (details at the link). I have a long history with the island but this will be the first time I’m actually staying at the hotel, and I can’t wait!
It’s been a busy couple of months with the launch of my new book Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness, now out worldwide. The UK publication neatly coincided with the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay, which meant there were plenty of opportunities to discuss my work. This included sell-out talks on both Miss Marple and, with Gray Robert Brown, our podcast The Swinging Christies. We even teamed up with Kemper Donovan of All About Agatha for a special crossover episode!
Elsewhere, I’ve been doing plenty of publicity, including an appearance on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh, which you can watch below. We were keenly overlooked by quite the collection of Miss Marples!
It had been lovely to see the positive reception that my book has received. I was particularly thrilled to get such a good write-up from Nicola Upson in the Times Literary Supplement.
I have plenty of plans in place for next year, including two projects that I was the consultant for. I’m very excited about them, but can’t say much more yet! All will be revealed in the next couple of months…
I’m excited to say that I now have copies of my new Marple book, and am thrilled by how it looks in the flesh! And yes, it matches the Poirot book perfectly..!
The book is out in the UK on 12 September (Amazon UK link) and in North America on 8 October (Amazon US link). Please consider ordering from a local bookseller if you can.
As we move towards the publication of my book Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness, so I start to give more talks, and I’m delighted to return to Wallingford’s Corn Exchange on 6 September.
I’ll be discussing all things Miss Marple, followed by questions and then a signing. You can book your ticket here!
I’m very happy to be giving a FREE talk about Margaret Rutherford’s Miss Marple on 14 June as part of Solent University’s Open House month. You can register for tickets here. Hope to see you there…
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.
It has only been just over a month since we launched The Swinging Christies, but we have already been invited to give our first live talk! In September, Gray and I will be in Torquay ready to share some material that we couldn’t fit into the podcast.
Tickets are on sale now – hope to see you there! The main Festival events haven’t yet been announced but I have had a sneak preview of some of the highlights and know it’ll be great year. You might even see me popping up elsewhere…
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.
Dr Mark Aldridge 