Tag: mystery

  • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Turns 100: Suspense and Spoilers

    Agatha Christie published her daring and innovative crime novel in June of 1926. This month there are festivities galore to celebrate the centenary. It’s not like the novel hasn’t already been fêted extensively: in 2013, the British Crime Writers’ Association declared Christie the best crime novelist of all time, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd…

  • Agatha Christie’s Third Girl

    Agatha Christie was in her mid-seventies when she published Third Girl, an Hercule Poirot/Ariadne Oliver murder mystery (of sorts) set in London during the Swinging Sixties. The beatniks and starving artists in velvet pants are singled out for their peculiarities, and there’s a lot of tsk-tsk youth today chatter. But this book really has everything:…

  • Island Crime Fiction: From Scotland to Scylly

    I typically discover new (to me) crime writers in a range of ways: through newspaper and online reviews; from friends who foist favourites on me; and as fortuitous discoveries in Free Little Libraries. But this is my first time finding a terrifically interesting crime writer by happenstance, while arranging to rent her home during my…