The Detective Novels of Agatha Christie

“thoughtful and entertaining...highly useful...achieves its goal”—Booklist “may be the most thorough guide to the 60 novels published between 1920 and 1976...provides thoughtful and helpful commentary”—ARBA “a very worthwhile book for...a good encyclopedic introduction to the world of this most prolific and well loved crime author”--Reference Reviews “excellent”--GAdetection “the writing is lively, the author’s enthusiasm infectious”--Mystery Scene The most popular mystery writer of all time concocted a rich recipe of intrigue, character, and setting. All of Agatha Christie's 66 detective novels are covered here in great detail. Each chapter begins with general comments on a novel's geographical and historical setting, identifying current events, fashions, fads and popular interests that relate to the story. A concise plot summary and comprehensive character listing follow, and each novel is discussed within Christie's overall body of work, with an emphasis on the development of themes, narrative technique, and characters over the course of her prolific career. An appendix translates Poirot's French and defines the British idiomatic words and phrases that give Christie's novels so much of their flavor.