Murder She Said: The Quotable Miss Marple is a stocking-filler published, in extremely good time for Christmas, by HarperCollins. It follows a similar little book of Hercule Poirot quotes, Little Grey Cells, which landed on the shelves a couple of years back. The earlier book was put together by editor David Brawn; the new one is the work of Tony Medawar.
Like the Poirot book, this one includes an interesting bonus feature, namely a short essay by Agatha Christie herself: "Does a Woman's Instinct Make Her a Good Detective?" This piece dates from 1928, and was originally published in The Star newspaper to coincide with final publication of the first set of Miss Marple short stories (there is also a bibliography of the Marple short stories, most of which appeared between 1927 and 1931, as well as an intro to the book by Tony Medawar).
The quotes are grouped into eight sections: the art of conversation, men and women, crime and detection, the young, murder, Marple on Marple, human nature, and life. Here is one of my favourites, from the very first Agatha Christie novel that I read, The Murder at the Vicarage:
"Observing human nature for as long as I have done, one gets to expect not very much from it."
Cynical, of course, but in the past there have been times in my life (especially during my days as a partner in a law firm) when I have, despite my instincts to the contrary, felt much the same!
Showing posts with label Little Grey Cells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Grey Cells. Show all posts
Wednesday, 2 October 2019
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
Agatha and Anthea
Two books today, totally different from each other, but both enjoyable. Little Grey Cells, sub-titled The Quotable Poirot is a stocking-filler for the Christie fan in your life, a small, nicely presented book which includes not only Poirot's words of wisdom on a range of subjects, but also a couple of short pieces written by Agatha Christie herself about her love/hate relationship with the little Belgian.
I was interested in Christie's admission that "I never do see pictorial things clearly". She had an impression of Poirot when she invented him, rather than a complete picture. It may seem odd for a novelist to possess a limited visual sense, but I have to confess that I'm the same. I don't have a clear image in my mind of Hannah Scarlett or Daniel Kind or Harry Devlin, and even when I set out to evoke the atmosphere of the Lake District or Liverpool, I find I have to work very hard to do so. One of the things that has most pleased me about reviews of the Lake District Mysteries over the years is the fact that my descriptions of the Lakes have found widespread favour, even among those who know the area far better than I do. Achieving this has been the most challenging aspect of the series - much more so than dreaming up those convoluted plots.
Agatha found it even easier, of course, to come up with elaborate whodunit plots, though her note books reveal that, inevitably, this involved a degree of trial and error as she played with ideas. Many of the Poirot novels rank among her finest achievements, and this is due in large measure to the fact that, although Poirot irritated his creator at times, his outlook on life largely reflects hers. If you want to learn more about it, you can glean quite a bit of insight from Little Grey Cells, put together by David Brawn, who is the senior editor at Harper Collins dealing with all things Christie-related. He's also, I should disclose, the chap who acquired the rights to The Golden Age of Murder, so you will appreciate that I regard him as a man of impeccable taste!
I turn now to a crime novelist of today. Anthea Fraser kindly contributed a guest blog recetnly about her latest novel, A Tangled Thread, which has been published by Severn House. Although I've read quite a number of Anthea's books, almost all of them have been in the series featuring David Webb, a shrewd and likeable cop. This novel is different, tracing the possibility of an unexpected link between seemingly unconnected deaths. It's written in the smoothly readable style familiar to Anthea's existing readers, and is a welcome reminder of her talents.
I was interested in Christie's admission that "I never do see pictorial things clearly". She had an impression of Poirot when she invented him, rather than a complete picture. It may seem odd for a novelist to possess a limited visual sense, but I have to confess that I'm the same. I don't have a clear image in my mind of Hannah Scarlett or Daniel Kind or Harry Devlin, and even when I set out to evoke the atmosphere of the Lake District or Liverpool, I find I have to work very hard to do so. One of the things that has most pleased me about reviews of the Lake District Mysteries over the years is the fact that my descriptions of the Lakes have found widespread favour, even among those who know the area far better than I do. Achieving this has been the most challenging aspect of the series - much more so than dreaming up those convoluted plots.
Agatha found it even easier, of course, to come up with elaborate whodunit plots, though her note books reveal that, inevitably, this involved a degree of trial and error as she played with ideas. Many of the Poirot novels rank among her finest achievements, and this is due in large measure to the fact that, although Poirot irritated his creator at times, his outlook on life largely reflects hers. If you want to learn more about it, you can glean quite a bit of insight from Little Grey Cells, put together by David Brawn, who is the senior editor at Harper Collins dealing with all things Christie-related. He's also, I should disclose, the chap who acquired the rights to The Golden Age of Murder, so you will appreciate that I regard him as a man of impeccable taste!
I turn now to a crime novelist of today. Anthea Fraser kindly contributed a guest blog recetnly about her latest novel, A Tangled Thread, which has been published by Severn House. Although I've read quite a number of Anthea's books, almost all of them have been in the series featuring David Webb, a shrewd and likeable cop. This novel is different, tracing the possibility of an unexpected link between seemingly unconnected deaths. It's written in the smoothly readable style familiar to Anthea's existing readers, and is a welcome reminder of her talents.
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