Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks: Stories and Secrets of Murder in the Making

— —

John Curran Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks

Stories and Secrets of Murder in the Making

John Curran, Agatha Christie, David Suchet

$32.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

HARPER360
02 April 2020

Biography; Diaries, letters & journals; Crime & Mystery; Classic crime; Historical mysteries

Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss Marple.

When Agatha Christie died in 1976, aged 85, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide in more than 100 countries, she had achieved the impossible – more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller.

So prolific was Agatha Christie's output – 66 crime novels, 20 plays, 6 romance books under a pseudonym and over 150 short stories – it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those 55 years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes?

Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable secret was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, 73 handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in her unmistakable handwriting, are revelations and details that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story.

Christie archivist and expert John Curran leads the reader through the six decades of Agatha Christie's writing career, unearthing some remarkable clues to her success and a number of never-before-published excerpts and stories from her archives. This book features Agatha's original ending of her very first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. It also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker's Wife.

By: John Curran
Introduction by: David Suchet
Contributions by: Agatha Christie
Imprint: HARPER360
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Revised edition
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 135mm, Spine: 46mm
Weight: 710g
ISBN: 9780008129637
ISBN 10: 0008129630
Pages: 784
Publication Date: 02 April 2020
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

John Curran is the long-time literary advisor to her Agatha Christie's estate, often giving talks and appearing on documentaries about her life. He has spent the last few years unpicking the notebooks and deciphering Agatha Christie's handwriting for this, his first book.

Reviews for Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks: Stories and Secrets of Murder in the Making

'Many of Curran's discoveries will shape how Christie is read in future... This book is fascinating.' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY `Agatha Christie's notebooks have had to wait for the meticulous attention, dedication and prodigious knowledge of John Curran to achieve publication.' THE TIMES `A meticulously detailed study that is packed with shrewd perceptions about Christie's fiction... Curran has produced an enthralling miscellany of a book, in which her fans will rummage to their heart's content.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Curran has organized his material as efficiently as an Agatha Christie mystery... His enthusiasm for his subject carries us along.' IRISH TIMES `Something unimaginably unique: an unknown Poirot story, one that had lain silently between its covers for over 60 years.' THE SCOTSMAN