Agatha Christie’s life and career told through the decades, from the never-before-published original ending to her first book to the unused ideas for her last, complete with two unpublished Agatha Christie stories - including a lost Miss Marple.
In this follow-up volume to the acclaimed Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks, 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.
Starting his investigation in the 1920s, John Curran examines the conventions of detective novels as they existed then and how Agatha Christie's publisher talked her into changing the ending of her very first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a move that almost certainly changed the fortunes of not only her career but the future of the whole crime writing genre. For the very first time, this book prints Agatha's original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks.
Every decade saw Agatha Christie's success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha's writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha's last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book.
Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker's Wife.
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
1. Rule of Three
2. The First Decade 1920-1929
Unused Ideas- One
3. Favourite Stories and 'The Man Who Knew'
4. The Second Decade 1930-1939
Unused Ideas- Two
5. 'How I Created Hercule Poirot'
6. The Third Decade 1940-1949
Unused Ideas- Three
7. Miss Marple and 'The Case of the Caretaker's Wife'
8. The Fourth Decade 1950-1959
Unused Ideas- Four
9. Agatha Christie and Poison
10. The Fifth Decade 1960-1969
Unused Ideas- Five
11. The Dark Lady...
12. The Sixth Decade 1970-1979
Unused Ideas- Six
13. Agatha Christie's Booklists
Appendix 1: Agatha Christie Chronology
Appendix 2: Alphabetical List of Agatha Christie Titles
Index of Titles
魔术师沃兰德(魔王撒旦)带着一只会说话的黑猫空降20世纪30年代的莫斯科,凭借魔力“为非作歹”——爱慕虚荣的市民出尽了洋相,贪婪成性的官员莫名其妙葬送了性命,一...
精彩摘录道德三皇五帝,功名夏后商周。英雄五伯闹春秋,秦汉兴亡过手。青史几行名姓,北邙无数荒丘。前人田地后人收,说甚龙争虎
知名心理学家施琪嘉带你深度疗愈受伤的内在小孩探索自我·解开心结·处理冲突·体验关系·走向疗愈缺自信、缺陪伴、缺力量、缺安全感、缺爱……没关系,缺多少补多少!壹心...
《辩证法随谈》全书28万多字,收录了1412条富有辩证意蕴的精彩段落,分为六编三十六题:一编:发展、改革、开放、稳定、环保、生活;第二编:民主、政党、统战、政协...
Take an unforgettable time-travelling journey through Chinese history with this ...
作品目录第I期 战后复兴时期 第1章 对日占领政策的推移 第1节 对日占领政策的形成 1.战时对日政策设想 2.对日占领方针 3.非军事
展览可以成为小说,在现实空间创设虚构的情境;小说亦可以成为纸上的展览,将虚构成分织入真实的生活。如同为一个浩瀚繁杂的博物馆收集物品,btr在他的小说中观看,想象...
知识产权纠纷-中国法院2017年度案例 本书特色 本书是《中国法院2017年度案例系列》(全21册)的一个分册,物权纠纷。内容包含物权保护纠纷、所有权纠纷、用益...
刘墨闻,青年作家,设计师。吉林长春人,现居深圳。豆瓣上最会讲故事的人,"ONE一个"大赞作者,已出版《我在最温暖的地方等你》《特别不浪漫》。
苏伟贞,台湾著名小说家。曾任《联合报》读书人版主编。以《红颜已老》《陪他一段》饮誉文坛,曾获《联合报》小说奖、《中华日报》小说奖、《中国时报》百万小说评审推荐奖...
水力计算手册-(第二版) 内容简介 水力计算手册(第二版)》,全面系统地汇述了水利水电工程水力设计中的计算公式、参数选择和计算方法等。 全书共分10篇,内容包...
《相遇》收录格非二十余年来中短篇小说十二篇,是他的最新自选集。他早年以短篇小说引起文坛瞩目,《迷舟》、《青黄》都是传诵一时的名篇。这些故事以优雅精纯的语言和清晰...
1994年,华尔街。一家名为长期资本管理公司的对冲基金成立了。这家基金是天才的“梦之队”:掌门人是被誉为能“点石成金”的华尔街“债券套利之父”约翰·梅里韦瑟;合...
★ 扎加耶夫斯基说过,“我们需要诗歌,一如需要美”。而在本部诗集中,他说:“诗是隐藏绝望的欢乐。但在绝望下面——有更多的欢乐。”-★很少有人能像他那样以明晰的智...
胡适( 1891.12.17 —1962.2.24),汉族,安徽绩溪上庄村人。现代著名学者、诗人、历史家、文学家,哲学家。因提倡文学革命而成为新文化运动的领袖之...
经络养生全图解 本书特色 中医认为,人体经络是一套具有强大自我调节能力的系统,五脏六腑都通过经络紧密相连,相互影响。有句中医术语叫“诸病于内, 必形...
南直哉禪僧。1958年生於日本長野縣。早稻田大學文學系畢業之後,經歷過一般上班族的職場生活。1984年皈依曹洞宗,同年進入福井縣大本山永平寺,一直到2003年為...
精彩摘录但每每有空,她还是要悲伤一下。就算完全没感觉的时候也要挤出几滴眼泪。那刻意的掩面而泣在她看来和发自肺腑的一样真实
Cennydd和James都是来自Clearleft公司的用户体验设计师。Clearleft公司是一家位于英国布莱顿的Web咨询公司。他们也都是设计师社团的积极...
我们的世界看上去很坚固,但在《纽约客》怪才格拉德威尔的眼里,只要你找到那个点,轻轻一触,这个世界就会动起来:一位满意而归的顾客能让新开张的餐馆座无虚席,一位涂鸦...