Agatha Christie

Which other authors do you enjoy? Discuss them here.
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sixret
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by sixret »

Yes. :D

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The comprehensive collection of GAD books:
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As far as I know, The Golf House Murder has not been republished in ebooks form yet. The physical book is very scarce and commands an exorbitant price. But you can sample Herbert Adams' other 5 books for free below:

http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-a-m.html#letterA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (search for Herbert Adams)
Last edited by sixret on 13 Jan 2018, 18:23, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

That's great sixret.
I have downloaded those books and converted them to kindle format.

Image

I am going to make a start on the earliest title from 1935 shown above.

Many Thanks

Pete
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Re: Agatha Christie

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Show off. 8)
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by pete9012S »

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CY4A7BG/ ... TF8&btkr=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just bought this excellent combined edition of John Curran's work. Reduced to 99p from RRP £30 in kindle version.An absolute bargain for those interested in digging deeper into Agatha's working methods.

If only we had a book like this about Enid Blyton...
Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks brings together for the first time Secret Notebooks and Murder in the Making, two volumes that explore the fascinating contents of her 73 notebooks. This includes illustrations, deleted extracts, unused ideas, two unpublished Poirot stories and a lost Miss Marple.

When Agatha Christie died in 1976, aged 85, she had become the world's most popular author. With sales of more than two billion copies worldwide in more than 100 countries, she had achieved the impossible – more than one book every year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller.

So prolific was Agatha Christie's output – 66 crime novels, 20 plays, 6 romance books under a pseudonym and over 150 short stories – it was often claimed that she had a photographic memory. Was this true? Or did she resort over those 55 years to more mundane methods of working out her ingenious crimes?

Following the death of Agatha's daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable secret was revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenway were Agatha Christie's private notebooks, 73 handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in her unmistakable handwriting, are revelations and details that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story.

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. This book features Agatha's original ending of her very first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. It 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.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by floragord »

Was anyone else taken aback by the recent ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE screened on the BBC? The story had changed completely from the book/earlier versions, even whodunnit was different! Wonder what the author herself would have made of it.....
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Chrissie777 »

I love the old 1980's version of "Ordeal By Innocence" with Donald Sutherland and Faye Dunaway.
The scenes on the river Dart are beautiful! 8)
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by KEVP »

I'm not sure. Often when Dame Agatha adapted her books to TV or film, she would change the ending herself. I think her reasoning was that that way the people who had already read the book would still be surprised.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Moonraker »

Personally, I don't agree with updates. In my opinion there is no need to update a classic work. Strong language and scenes of a sexual nature have no place in Agatha Christie's world.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Chrissie777 »

floragord wrote:Was anyone else taken aback by the recent ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE screened on the BBC? The story had changed completely from the book/earlier versions, even whodunnit was different! Wonder what the author herself would have made of it.....
Floragord, we've noticed the same with the recent BBC TV movies of "And then there were None" and "The Witness for the Prosecution".
They were not bad, but rather different compared with the books and with René Clair's 1945 adaptation and the Marlene Dietrich/Tyrone Power/Charles Laughton version.
Now I'll check Netflix for "Ordeal By Innocence".
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Eddie Muir »

Moonraker wrote:Personally, I don't agree with updates. In my opinion there is no need to update a classic work. Strong language and scenes of a sexual nature have no place in Agatha Christie's world.
Totally agree, Nigel.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by floragord »

Chrissie777 wrote:
floragord wrote:Was anyone else taken aback by the recent ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE screened on the BBC? The story had changed completely from the book/earlier versions, even whodunnit was different! Wonder what the author herself would have made of it.....
Floragord, we've noticed the same with the recent BBC TV movies of "And then there were None" and "The Witness for the Prosecution".
They were not bad, but rather different compared with the books and with René Clair's 1945 adaptation and the Marlene Dietrich/Tyrone Power/Charles Laughton version.
Now I'll check Netflix for "Ordeal By Innocence".
Chrissie, we watched the 3 parter "new" version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE last night, with Charles Dance, and were somewhat bemused at how events unfolded! The original versions are usually much more engaging than the remakes, just a personal opinion! 8)
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Chrissie777 »

Yes, floragord, in most cases I also prefer the original to the remake just like you...with one exception: "Frenchman's Creek" (1944) with Joan Fontaine was not filmed in Cornwall, because of WW II. And viewers who are familiar with the Cornish coast and the California coast can tell the difference. It bothers me each time I watch it.
As this is my favorite Daphne DuMaurier novel, I was very delighted when somebody told me years ago that there is a beautiful remake with Anthony Delon (Alain's son) by Masterpiece Theater which was filmed in Cornwall in 1998:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Masterpiece-Th ... %27s+creek" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I watched it many times since we've purchased it and the beautiful outdoor scenery captures me each time.
Here are the filming locations:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179817/lo ... tt_ql_dt_5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We still liked the remake of "And then there were None" better than the remake with Toby Jones (even though his part is excellent, he's a very good actor) of "The Witness for the Prosecution" (2016) which was very depressing due to the era in which it takes place. Lots of poverty and sickness. And the fashion was kind of ugly way back then. Not as pretty as the 1940's and 1950's fashion IMHO.

Does anybody know if there's a special website where all these new BBC Agatha Christie productions and future Christie projects can be looked up? We would hate to miss one of them.
From what we understood while watching the bonus material is that these were special BBC Christmas events.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by floragord »

Many thanks for those links Chrissie, they're most helpful. There doesn't seem a "central" location for forthcoming Agatha Christie specials, my husband just happened to look at catchup and noticed AND THEN THERE WERE NONE in 3 parts on there. I believe ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE was meant to be shown last Xmas but due to scenes having to be reshot was only on recently.
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Chrissie777 »

floragord wrote: I believe ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE was meant to be shown last Xmas but due to scenes having to be reshot was only on recently.
Floragord, it's not yet available at Netflix nor at the public library, but I will search for it again in a few months.
I think it's wonderful that BBC turns so many of Agatha Christie's crime novels into big TV productions! 8)
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Re: Agatha Christie

Post by Chrissie777 »

floragord wrote:I believe ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE was meant to be shown last Xmas but due to scenes having to be reshot was only on recently.
Too bad, they filmed it in Scotland, not on the river Dart in Devon. :cry:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6118426/lo ... tt_ql_dt_5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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