Tag: Agatha Christie

  • When Authors Tire of Their Characters (But Can’t Just Kill Them Off)

    Holmes and Moriarty, 1893 illustration by Harry C. Edwards in McClure’s I’ve been enjoying Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes in “The Final Problem.” That’s the one, you’ll recall, based on the famous story where Holmes is tossed over Switzerland’s Reichanbach Falls by Moriarty, his arch-nemesis. Watson is left to re-trace his steps and mourn his…

  • Nancy Drew Enters the Public Domain

    Ninety-five years after their original publication, the first four Nancy Drew novels (all published in 1930) have just entered the public domain in the United States. Without having glanced at them in more than four decades, I can still picture all of the covers and conjure up some plot details from The Secret of the…

  • “A Christie for Christmas”: Why Murder under the Mistletoe Appeals to Readers

    Since not a creature is stirring in my household this early morning, I have time for a holiday post, and Agatha Christie is on my mind. During the early part of her publishing career, Christie not infrequently published more than one novel (or a novel and volume of short stories) each year. Once it was…