Bookworm

This is a book for fans only.

It is about the working methods of Agatha Christie, based on a large number of notebooks found in her house, which she is known to have used for noting ideas, outlining plots etc.

It discusses her methods, and some time line questions about when certain stories were written. But after a short while it becomes rather repetitive in the sense that her working method didn't really change, and the book is 483 pages.

It is probably only fun to read if you remember all the referred stories, which I do only to a certain extend. But it is interesting to a dedicated fan as it gives away a few more pieces about her life - which house and which village inspired certain books, etc. Also some inconsistencies in the plots and some reuses of plots are discussed. Some of these I had noticed and I like to see them discussed. Others I had not noticed and now they will bother me when I reread the novels Others again, exists which I have noticed but which are not discussed in the book (like how many children does Mrs. Summerhayes have?), so it is in no way a thorough analysis of her works.

It also contains two non published short stories: The original version of the 12th labour of Hercules (Cerberus), and "The Incident of the Dog's Ball". It is not surprising that the former was never printed - it is not very good and it is very political, but it does show some of her world view and is interesting in that sense.

The basic ideas of "The Incident Of The Dog's Ball" has been used in a novel, "Dumb Witness" I think. It has also been used in a short story I have already read long ago - though with a different killer from the novel - but I am not sure it it the same until I have checked. This short story is basis for the novel, according to the book. So probably it is the other short story which diverges.

I also learned something interesting. I learned that when I see an Agatha Christie movie on TV which I know from the book, and they've changed the killer - she probably did it herself. She helped reworking some of her novels for screen plays and also she wrote plays for the stage which sometimes used part of the plot from a novel. So it is the real thing - she just wrote another version for the screen, it isn't evil TV people who have ruined the novel