Agatha Christie Plotting Tricks by Judy L. Murray

One of the benefits of a generous writing community is the sharing of resources we come across that can help us improve our work.

Dana Isaacson on CareerAuthors.com discussed Agatha Christie’s plotting techniques in an article entitled ‘Christie Tricks’ as part of a review of Lucy Worsley’s best-selling biography of Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman. Worsley, a popular British historian and bestselling author, covered Mrs. Christie’s life as she evolved from a young debutante, wife, and eventually brilliant mystery writer, including her infamous eleven-day disappearance before her divorce and second marriage. Worsley’s book (Pegusus Books) is now high on my pile of to be reads.

Nicknamed Christie’s Tricks for writing the perfect mystery, this checklist helped remind me of her clever style and the elements that ensured her reputation as the Queen of Mystery. If you’ve read any of my books in The Chesapeake Bay Mystery Series, you know I include an Agatha Christie quote appropriate to each novel as a dedication. I get a lot of writing joy when I try to emulate the master.

Christie’s Tricks:

#1 Hide an object in plain sight: In my Killer in the Kitchen, the murder of a celebrity chef takes place during a television cooking show. I loved working on a plot that divulged how the chef was killed yet those in the viewing audience, and including my readers, miss the how-done-it. I lost a lot of sleep while deciding how to pull this off.

#2 The Hidden Couple: In Peril in the Pool House, I created a relationship that was kept under wraps until my protagonist started to unravel truths.

#3 Authors Should Play Fair with Their Readers: When a villain is eventually revealed as a minor store clerk at the local checkout counter mentioned in chapter three paragraph six of a story, my blood boils. As I’m editing, I keep an eye on how the breadcrumbs are dropped. Sometimes it means I need to reweave those details to be sure my readers have a fair shot at discovering the villain. In all my books I try to give readers opportunity to smell a rat. Am I revealing too little or too much along the way? Occasionally, readers get it right. Often, they get it wrong. But they always know the clues are in between the pages.

#4 The omission of tiny but key facts by someone we trust: Christie definitely walked a fine line by maintaining the information given was not false just omitted. In other words, everyone is a suspect. I find it hard to make everyone a suspect, especially if I like them. Do you?

#5 Clothes Do Not Make the Man: No one does a better job at hiding wisdom and intuition better than Christie with her Jane Marple.

#6 Crime Patterns May Fool Detectives: My readers in all my books enjoy my protagonist’s ability to better understand personality traits to the consternation of the local police.

#7 Steal from the News: Christie’s stories picked up on crimes of her century. True crime is also my favorite inspiration for all my stories. A real-life fraud case involving a builder during my real estate management days was the basis of Murder in the Master. I tucked it into the back of my brain to use twenty years later. Villain in the Vineyard, my fourth, was a perfect example of a past crime coming back to haunt someone. My plots, characters, and settings are different from the true crime. But true crime got my imagination whirling in the direction of ‘what if’. What real news have you used to enhance your mysteries?

#8 Set the Crime in a Place Familiar to You: Whether it is at the top of a lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay, an Adirondack cabin, or a dusty horse stable, incorporating a setting we know well is definitely an advantage as we pull in our readers. The first time I walked out to a lighthouse just a mile from my house, I knew there was a story I had to tell.

When you look at these Christie Tricks, which ones do you think have helped you build your mysteries? I want to hear about them.

A Poetry Month Surprise

April is National Poetry Month.

I honestly can’t say that I’m a poetry reader – my TBR rarely has a collection of poems in it. I wonder why that is? Perhaps poetry makes demands on the reader that a novel doesn’t, requires a different level of attention, a deeper engagement?

 

As my professors used to say, discuss.

 

However, whenever I stumble upon a poem, I can’t help but fall under its spell. Poetry gets under my skin in a way that differs from other literature.

 

I do have one collection of poetry on my bookshelf. I’m a huge fan of Emily Dickinson. When I visited her home/museum in Northampton, Massachusetts last year, I signed up for the house newsletter. While following links from the newsletter, I fell down a research rabbit hole and discovered something I didn’t know about one of my favorite authors, Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie wrote poetry. Quelle surprise!

 

I’ve been a Christie fan for decades and didn’t know this. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that she tried her hand at poetry. The versatile Queen of Crime wrote novels, short stories, and plays. You can explore information about her poetry here:

https://www.agathachristie.com/search/results?q=poetry

 

Her first collection of poems, The Road of Dreams, was published at her own expense in 1925. A critic praised her “lyric gifts” but also told her that it wouldn’t sell. Since only one edition was printed, it seems that he was correct. Luckily for us, she turned her prodigious gifts to other pursuits.

 

Are you a poetry reader? Did you know that Agatha Christie wrote poetry? Have you discovered anything about a favorite author that surprised you?

 

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series set in charming Mystic, CT. As Meri Allen, she writes the Ice Cream Shop Mysteries.

 

Bibliophilic Friday: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (Review by Nancy L. Eady)

 

Agatha Christie is recognized as the grande dame of mystery writers, but I, unfortunately, have not read all that many of her books. One of her books that I have read, and recommend highly, is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Set in a small town in rural Britain, where Hercule Poirot has retired to raise vegetable marrows, the mystery is engaging and has an ending that I did not see coming yet is totally plausible. 

For those of you with inquiring minds, a vegetable marrow is “the mature fruit of certain Cucurbita pepo cultivars used as a vegetable. … The immature fruit of the same or similar cultivars is called …. Zucchini (in North America, Japan, Australia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, and Austria.)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrow_(vegetable)#Nutrition

Marrows in British Supermarket, Photo by Dbfirs, published under the following license:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Poirot does not make an immediate appearance in this book; rather, as is true of most Hercule Poirot books, the narrator is someone other than Poirot, in this case, Dr. James Sheppard. At the opening of the book, Dr. Sheppard only knows that he has a new neighbor that grows vegetable marrows whose name is something like “Mr. Porrott.” Shortly thereafter, Dr. Sheppard is almost hit by a vegetable marrow that Poirot throws over the fence in frustration. He meets Poirot then, but it is only after Roger Ackroyd, one of the leading figures in the village, is murdered, that Dr. Sheppard learns that his neighbor is, in fact. Hercule Poirot, the supposedly brilliant detective from London, who has retired. 

Dr. Sheppard accompanies Flora Ackroyd, the niece of Roger Ackroyd, to Poirot’s house, where Flora implores Poirot to solve her uncle’s mystery. As with most Christie novels I have read, there are a host of possible suspects: Roger Ackroyd’s stepson, Ralph Paton; his niece, Flora Ackroyd; her mother, Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd; the housekeeper, Miss Russell; Raymond, Roger’s secretary; and Major Hector Blunt, a friend of Roger’s. We meet the suspects before we meet Hercule Poirot again through Dr. Sheppard, who is invited to supper by Roger Ackroyd to meet with him privately over a matter of some concern following the death of his former fiancée, Mrs. Ferrars. It is after that supper and the meeting, after the doctor has returned home, that we learn that Roger Ackroyd has been murdered. 

The story winds through the host of suspects, all of whom have secrets they do not wish exposed, to a more than satisfying conclusion that will cause you to sit up and take notice. If you have the time to add this book to your “to be read” list, I highly recommend doing so – and plan for a second reading even if you rarely do so. The book, and the solution to the mystery, are worth it.

SEVENTY YEARS OF AGATHA CHRISTIE'S THE MOUSETRAP

 by Korina Moss

If you’re a mystery reader, you’re surely familiar with Agatha Christie. She is the best-selling novelist of all time, having written 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections. She also wrote several plays—the most famous of which, The Mousetrap, has since become the world’s longest-running show.

This year The Mousetrap celebrates 70 years onstage. First performed on November 25th, 1952 at the Ambassador theater, it had a continuous run until all UK theaters went dark in 2020 during the pandemic. However, it re-opened fifteen months later and is still going strong. Because of its historic 70th anniversary, The Mousetrap was licensed to 70 theaters across the world, and I was able to see an original production of it in Hartford, Connecticut a few weeks ago. 

Agatha Christie has played a large role in my love of mysteries and has had a great influence on me as a writer. I picked up my first Christie book, The ABC Murders, as a child from a box of used books in my family’s basement. Now, I’d read all the Nancy Drew books by then and Encyclopedia Brown, so I thought, at twelve years old, that I was a pretty savvy mystery reader. Of course, I was not prepared for Agatha Christie, and I was certainly no match for Poirot. When I finished the book, I was giddy that she’d stumped me, so I went back and read it again so I could look for the clues I’d missed. Sure enough, she’d laid them all out right in front of me and then proceeded so eloquently to misdirect me. She played fair with the reader, which was my first lesson in writing a good mystery. I was hooked and went on to read every Inspector Poirot and Miss Marple book she wrote. 

When I had an opportunity to visit London in 1990, I knew my first theater experience there would be to see The Mousetrap in the iconic St. Martin’s theater in London’s West End, where it’s been showing since 1974. Since I was a Christie aficionado by then, I assumed I’d be able to figure out the play’s culprit. Just as I had when I was twelve, I underestimated Christie’s ingenuity. 

Dame Agatha's wax likeness at Madame Tussaud's in London,
along with the program and tickets from the West End production, 1990

When I went to see the play again a few weeks ago at Hartford Stage, I wondered if it would still hold my interest since I already knew whodunit. I needn’t have been concerned—in the intimate theater, the cozy set design, colorful costumes, and amusing production made for an enjoyable show. And Dame Agatha struck again—the friend I attended with, cunning fellow mystery author, Shari Randall (who won an Agatha Award for best first mystery novel in 2019), didn’t guess whodunit either. 

The set of The Mousetrap at Hartford Stage

Thanks to serendipity, I enjoyed one more encounter with The Mousetrap this fall. I went to see the movie See How They Run because it looked like a fun Knives Out type of murder mystery. Indeed, it was, but what I hadn’t realized beforehand was that the film centers around Christie’s play. This explains the movie’s title (taken from the nursery rhyme, “Three Blind Mice,” which also plays a role in The Mousetrap). It’s a fictionalized account taking place as The Mousetrap is celebrating its 100th performance. The actors who were in the actual play during that time—Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim—are portrayed, as well as famous filmmaker John Woolf. When a murder occurs in the theater, everyone on set is a suspect. It’s cleverly done, with the final reveal taking place at Agatha Christie’s home. It manages to incorporate Christie’s play but doesn’t dare give it away. After all, the final words of See How They Run are directed to the audience and pay homage to the final line spoken in every performance of The Mousetrap, beseeching the audience to never reveal who the murderer is.

Here are some fun facts about The Mousetrap from the official Agatha Christie website (©Agatha Christie Limited 2022, The Home of Agatha Christie, https://www.agathachristie.com/ ):

• When The Mousetrap opened Mr. Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, much essential food was rationed, and television programmes ended at 10:30pm.

• The Mousetrap first entered the record books on April 12th, 1958 when it became the longest running show of any kind in the history of British theatre.

• In 1959 the cast of The Mousetrap, armed with various props, gave a special performance at Wormwood Scrubs prison. During the performance two prisoners escaped.

• Originally produced in Nottingham at the Theatre Royal, it toured England before embarking on a 32-year run at The New Ambassadors Theatre in London.

• In March 1974 the play moved from The Ambassadors Theatre to the St. Martin’s Theatre without missing a single show!

• In 2000, the set was replaced for the first time during the run at St Martin's Theatre, still to the same design as the original. This task was completed over a weekend without the loss of a performance.

• Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II attended the 50th anniversary performance on November 25th, 2002.

• On November 18, 2012 for one performance only, The Mousetrap celebrated its 25,000th performance (60th anniversary) with a celebrity-filled cast including Hugh Bonneville, Nicholas Farrell, Iain Glen, Tamsin Greig, Miranda Hart, Harry Lloyd, Sir Patrick Stewart and Dame Julie Walters. The Agatha Christie memorial statue was unveiled for this occasion.

• The 28,000 performance in the West End took place on 12th of October 2019.

• On an occasion such as cast changes or milestone anniversary performances, a cake is ceremoniously cut with a sword. The cake is in the shape of a ticker counter that keeps track of the amount of performances.

• Every performance of The Mousetrap sets a new world record for the number of performances and after each performance the audience is asked 'to preserve the tradition of The Mousetrap by keeping the secret locked in their hearts.'

• The contract terms of the play state that no film version can be made until the West End show has been closed for at least six months, and since it is still running—no official film has been made!

Are you a fan of Agatha Christie's work?

MY STUDY OF THE QUEEN OF CRIME FICTION by V. M. Burns

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m a HUGE Agatha Christie fan. Since I read my first Christie novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I’ve been a fan. In fact, I credit her with starting me on my path from mystery lover to mystery author. Recently, I was honored to be selected as the guest professor at one of my alma maters, Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania for their January residency. When asked what I’d like to teach, I turned to my bookshelf, and my Agatha Christie collection, for inspiration.

Christie died January 12, 1976, but I won’t bore you with a biography. Most people, even if they aren’t mystery lovers, have a general idea of who she is. However, what many may not know, is that Agatha Christie is one of the best-selling authors of all time, only surpassed by Shakespeare and The Bible. She wrote at least sixty-six detective mysteries, fourteen short story collections, sixteen plays, an autobiography, and six romance novels under her Mary Westmacott pseudonym. Christie’s play, The Mousetrap, holds the record for the longest running play in history, opening November 25, 1952 and closing March 16, 2020 when the theatre shut due to the pandemic. Whether you’re a Christie fan or not, there’s surely something to learn by looking at such a prolific and successful writer.

To prepare for my classes, I reread three of her most popular mysteries, Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (it’s a rough life, but…). Each time I reread one of her books, I find something I didn’t see the first (or the fifth or sixth) time that I read it. Close to ninety years after publication, even when I know the plot and whodunit, I find the stories enjoyable. I asked myself, WHY?

Her mysteries aren’t great from a literary standpoint. The stories are entertaining and enjoyable, but they aren’t world changing literature like, Uncle Tom’s Cabin or War and Peace. When I read them with a critical eye, I notice she is guilty of head hopping (changing POV). Many of her characters are stereotypical, and she perpetuates the caste system of her time. Yet, I still love these mysteries. She creates characters that readers care about. They aren’t perfect, they’re real. Hercule Poirot’s little grey cells are amazing, but he’s finicky, vain (especially about his moustaches), and a bit silly as he traipses across the British countryside in his patent leather shoes. Yet, there’s something very endearing about this Belgium private detective with his egg-shaped head. Christie’s killers aren’t evil monsters either. They too are real. Perhaps they’re misguided, greedy, and accustomed to getting their own way, but these are characteristics that most of us can, if not identify with, at least understand.

Christie masterfully uses clues, red herrings, and misdirection to weave complex plots and captivating stories. Intriguing characters and cunning plots are a great combination to engage readers and keep them engaged from discovery of The Body in the Library to the denouncement or final Curtain. Reading Agatha Christie is a blueprint for crafting Whodunits. With sixty-six detective stories to choose from, I have many hours of enjoyable research ahead.

While visiting the land of Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes, bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Samantha Washington finds herself on a tragical mystery tour . . .

Sam joins Nana Jo and her Shady Acres Retirement Village friends Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae on a weeklong trip to London, England, to experience the Peabody Mystery Lovers Tour. The chance to see the sights and walk the streets that inspired Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle is a dream come true for Sam—and a perfect way to celebrate her new publishing contract as a mystery author.

But between visits to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel district and 221B Baker Street, Major Horace Peabody is found dead, supposedly of natural causes. Despite his employer’s unfortunate demise, the tour guide insists on keeping calm and carrying on—until another tourist on their trip also dies under mysterious circumstances. Now it’s up to Sam and the Shady Acres ladies to mix and mingle among their fellow mystery lovers, find a motive, and turn up a murderer . . .

Buy Links: Amazon, Apple, BAM, Bookshop.org, Google Play, Hudson, IndieBound, Kobo, Nook

About the author
V.M. (Valerie) Burns was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Dog Writers Association of America, Thriller Writers International, and Sisters in Crime. V.M. Burns is the author of the Dog Club Mystery series, the RJ Franklin Mystery series, and the Agatha Award nominated author of Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. She currently resides in East Tennessee with her two poodles. Readers can keep up with new releases by following her on social media.

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vmburnsbooks/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmburns

Website: vmburns.com

Five Things You Might Not Know About Agatha Christie, The Queen of Crime

 By super-fan Shari Randall

Tomorrow – September 15 -  is the 130^th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s birth. Please join me in raising a cup of tea in an early birthday toast to Dame Agatha, one of the most influential and successful novelists of all time. Her genre, the traditional mystery, has remained popular with readers since she published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920.

Most are familiar with the outline of her life. The mega-selling (over two billion copies) author’s work is rediscovered by every generation and celebrated with a splashy, star-studded movie (the latest, Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile, is slated for October). Born to a middle class family in Torquay, England, she was homeschooled and taught herself to read at age five. She had an ill-fated whirlwind marriage to Royal Flying Corps aviator Archie Christie and her disappearance when she discovered his affair caused a sensation. Her work in pharmacies during the war gave her a wonderfully deep and useful knowledge of poisons. Her happy second marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan, and their travels, inspired some of her most popular books.

 

Her work continues to delight, inspire, and yes, confound 44 years after her death – from natural causes - in 1976 at age 85. In honor of the day, I thought I’d share a few lesser known facts about the Queen of Crime.

 

Dame Agatha had a rose named after her: “Agatha Christie” is a “Beautiful rich, pink Hybrid Tea shaped blooms that are lightly fragrant. A strong growing disease-resistant climber with outstanding dark-green, glossy foliage. Repeat Bloom.”

 She is the only female dramatist to have had three plays – Spider’s Web, Witness for the Prosecution, and The Mousetrap - running simultaneously in London’s West End.

 

She owned many dogs and her favorite breed was the terrier. Her first dog was named George Washington. Her favorite was a short-haired terrier called Peter that she wrote into Dumb Witness as “Bob.” I have no idea what she's doing with the dog in the photo.

In 1922, her first husband Archie was asked to tour several areas of the British Empire to promote the British Empire Exhibition. He and Agatha stopped in Hawaii and the couple learned to surf, possibly becoming two of the first Europeans to master the sport.

 

Her only child, Rosalind, fiercely private like her mother, had one son, Mathew Prichard. Mathew received the sole rights to The Mousetrap for his ninth birthday.

 

There’s a misspelling on her gravestone. See if you can spot it.

https://cemeteryclub.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/a-visit-to-agatha-christies-grave/

 

 

What’s your favorite Agatha Christie book? Mine’s Murder on the Orient Express.

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series. 

 

 

 

Cozy Mystery Day is Coming!

By Shari Randall

Mark your calendars - Cozy Mystery Day is September 15. This new holiday, created by author Sarah Weldon along with the hashtag #cozymysteryday, celebrates one of the literary world’s most popular genres.

The date couldn’t be more appropriate: September 15 is Agatha Christie’s birthday. Her work is seen as the ultimate traditional mystery – a play-fair puzzle set among a defined group, preferably in a small village in the English countryside, solved by an amateur sleuth. Cozy authors honor that tradition, as well as the requirement that there be minimal gore and bad language, and sex behind closed doors only, please. I’ve heard that the term “cozy mystery” springs from the tea cozy, an often ornamental covering for teapots.

Christie, known as the Queen of Crime, is the bestselling author of all time. According to Wikipedia, her 66 novels and 14 short story collections have sold over 2 billion copies, a number surpassed only by the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. She gave the world the occasionally irritating but brilliant Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, and the outwardly docile but devious Miss Marple. 

This mystery superstar is feted every year in  #3 on my bucket list, the International Agatha Christie Festival, taking place September 12 – 15 in Devon, England. Here’s the website so we can plan better next year: https://www.iacf-uk.org/festival/

Christie continues to fascinate. This mild mannered woman, educated at home in a quiet, genteel family, somehow concocted intricate plots and murder scenarios that continue to baffle readers today.

Here are some quick facts in honor of Agatha’s upcoming birthday:

Her first book languished five years before publication and was rejected by six publishers.

She was immortalized in Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

She never allowed any representation of Poirot to appear on book jackets.

She was the recipient of the first ever Grandmaster Award from the Mystery Writers of America (1954).

There is a memorial to Agatha Christie and her play, The Mousetrap, at St. Martin’s Cross near Covent Garden. http://www.agathachristiememorial.co.uk/home/4594369421

She wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.

Agatha Christie’sThe Pale Horse is currently being adapted for television. Rufus Sewell will star as Mark Easterbrook, a man who finds a piece of paper with a list of names in the shoe of a dead woman. The list leads him to The Pale Horse, a mysterious pub in the isolated village of Much Deeping.

Are you a fan of Agatha Christie?

First Lines by Nancy Eady

            One of the most prevalent pieces of writing advice I’ve heard for those of us who wish to be published is to pull your reader into the story immediately. I am still working on learning how to do that, so I skimmed through some of the first lines of books that I’ve read. Can you match the first line or phrase below with the correct book?

1)         “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

2)         In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized portion of mankind.

3)         It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

4)         As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream.

5)         In a hole in a ground, there lived a hobbit.

6)         When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.

7)         There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

8)         It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

9)         It was five o'clock on a winter's morning in Syria.

10)       In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

11)       One summer evening in the year 1848, three Cardinals and a missionary Bishop from America were dining together in the gardens of a villa in the Sabine hills, overlooking Rome.

12)       On the first Monday of the month of April, 1625, the market town of Meung, in which the author of Romance of the Rose was born, appeared to be in as perfect a state of revolution as if the Huguenots had just made a second La Rochelle of it.

13)       The Jebel es Zubleh is a mountain fifty miles and more in length, and so narrow that its tracery on the map gives it a likeness to a caterpillar crawling from the south to the north.

14)       In the corner of a first-class smoking carriage, Mr. Justice Wargrave, lately retired from the bench, puffed at a cigar and ran an interested eye through the political news in the Times.

15)       Petronius woke only about midday, and as usual greatly wearied.

            How do you think you did?  What is your favorite first line of a book?

A)        Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

B)        The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

C)        The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

D)        Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

E)        Ben-Hur:  A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace

F)         Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

G)        The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

H)        The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I)         And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

J)         Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

K)        Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

L)        The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

M)       A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

N)        Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

O)        The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Answers:  1) F, 2) G. 3) D, 4) B, 5) H, 6) L, 7) A, 8) M, 9) N, 10) O, 11) J, 12) C, 13) E, 14) I, 15) K.

The Body Drop

by Shari Randall

When I signed the contract for my mystery series, one requirement from my editor for Book One jumped out at me: The body drop must happen by page 30.

Body drop? I was so new that I wasn’t exactly sure what that was. I mean, I could imagine – and I was right – but I had no idea that in mystery circles this was a “thing” and that it was expected to happen quickly. The body drop, the appearance of a mysteriously dead body, has also been a topic of discussion in the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

People talk about formula when talking about mysteries, especially cozy mysteries. I happen to enjoy the formula, both as a reader and a writer. As a reader I enjoy it because I like to see how each writer makes the formula her or his own.  As a writer, I enjoy the challenge of taking that formula and seeing how I can put my own spin on it. 

Considering the body drop got me thinking about Agatha Christie.

One of the things I enjoyed about Agatha’s work and that of other Golden Age writers was that part of the fun was guessing who the victim would be. The garrulous old army major? The businessman with a scheme for a flashy new motor car or a vague scientific invention? An exotic, most likely Russian, ballerina who may or may not be the love child of a financier and that milkmaid who once “did” for Miss Marple in St. Mary Mead?

Christie would introduce us to her cast of characters and give us time to observe them, like a bettor at the race track. We’d meet them and weigh the possibilities. Who would the victim be? 

Once the body dropped – well past page thirty -  then we could dive into collecting the clues alongside the detective, watching the alibis unravel until the gathering in the library when all would be revealed. This set up also helped avoid the problem of the “mushy middle,” a slowing of pace and tension when no big dramatic events or reveals occur in the middle of a story.

I liked this set up, which, sadly, is not possible with a page 30 body drop.

I think Christie and the Golden Age authors were on to something. Giving the reader that first signpost to look for – who would be the victim? -- and then moving on to whodunnit created a very satisfactory pace and structure.

What do you think? Readers, do you like an early body drop? Writers, do you like to drop the body early? How do you keep this formula fresh?

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz: A Review

By Shari Randall

Writing a review for a mystery is a tricky business. How to keep the review spoiler free while at the same time giving readers a taste of the ingredients that make a book a tempting dish?

This is especially true of Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders. Some reviewers called Magpie Murders “a puzzle within a puzzle.” It was certainly that, but more importantly for me and other fans of classic British mystery, it was a book that better channeled Agatha Christie than any other I’ve read in years.

I read once that when Horowitz was a young man, he traveled around the world, reading Agatha Christie novels as he went. He certainly absorbed all the elements that make Christie’s Poirot books catnip to the mystery reader: the omniscient-but-irritating investigator, the cozy English village, the simmering resentments and crimes barely covered by a lace tablecloth of respectability and good manners. More than that, he’s mastered Christie’s deft and delicate planting of clues in broad daylight.

Horowitz is well known for his work on television’s Foyle’s War and Midsomer Murders. He was chosen by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle to write The House of Silk and Moriarty, and completed one of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels to acclaim. Plus, he’s known to millions of young adults as the author of the exciting Alex Rider spy novels. Talk about writing chops.

I couldn’t wait to dive in.

The story opens with an editor, Susan Ryeland, reading the latest book in her best selling author Alan Conway’s Atticus Pünd mystery series. The book-within-the-book is called Magpie Murders. One begins to feel the proximity of a rabbit hole. One doesn’t mind. One jumps in with both feet.

The novel within the novel is perfection. Atticus Pünd (yes, with an umlaut) is just as brilliant, irritating, and pompous as Poirot. He may be German instead of Belgian, but he’s the guy. His assistant, James Fraser, was actually an improvement upon the dim but good hearted Hastings — younger, more sympathetic, more perceptive.

All the usual suspects are there in the village of Saxby-on-Avon: the doubting vicar, the vicar’s bossy wife, the stately home, the aristocratic boor, the aristocratic boor’s unfaithful wife, the snooping maid. There’s even a suit of armor. I positively wallowed in the Christie-ness of it all.

That’s why it jarred a bit every few chapters to be tossed back into the current day, “real world” with Susan Ryeland. She discovers that the last few chapters of Magpie Murders have gone missing. Susan’s search to find them leads her into the twisted world of the author and another constellation of suspects.

Verdict? I give Magpie Murders four and a half teapots out of five. It would have been five but the framing story was bogged down by just one too many red herrings, especially one that just didn’t ring true.

But honestly, reader, you won’t care. If you are looking for a perfectly entertaining and pitch perfect channeling of the great Agatha’s Poirot, look no further. Get the book, make yourself a lovely cup of darjeeling, and dive into Magpie Murders.

Have you read the Magpie Murders or any other great mysteries lately? Please share in the comments below.

Double Dare You

Do you remember when you were a kid and your best friend dared you to kiss a lizard, a frozen light pole, or a boy named Johnny? With your honor on the line you stupidly agreed…and it didn't turn out well. Johnny ran away screaming about girl cooties then gave the other boys on the playground cootie shots. The lizard ran up your arm and got caught in your frizzy hair. Your lips stuck to the pole and your “friend” laughed and snapped a photo.

But can a dare be useful? I never thought so, but I changed my mind after reading that challenges have been the catalyst for an author to break out or begin a career.

Agatha Christie wrote her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, as the result of a challenge from her sister, Madge, who dared her to write a detective story that kept the reader guessing the killer’s identity until the end. Christie accepted the challenge with gusto. Her book featured detective Hercule Poirot who would appear in twenty five more novels. As an aside, Madge also enjoyed making up stories and told tales about a fictional, mentally deranged sister.

Dr. Seuss enjoyed a good challenge.

William Spaulding, director of Houghton Mifflin’s educational division, dared him to “write a story that first-graders can’t put down.” He wanted it to contain only 225 words selected from a first grader’s vocabulary list.

Ultimately, Dr. Seuss used 236 unique words and it took him nine months to write what became The Cat in the Hat. The story was supposed to be about a king and queen cat but “queen” wasn’t on the acceptable word list. “Hat” was, and it rhymed with cat, so he made a story out of it.

Another challenge was issued by his editor, Bennett Cerf. He bet one dollar per word that Dr. Seuss couldn’t write a book using fifty unique words or fewer. Green Eggs and Ham resulted from that wager. According to some sources Seuss won the bet, but Cerf never paid up. Since the book was a best-seller he probably didn’t need the $50.

When Stephen King first began writing, his short stories were published in risqué centerfold magazines such as Cavalier. This earned him a reputation as a writer just for men and criticism from readers. “You write all those macho things,” one said. “But you can’t write about women. You’re scared of women.”

King took it as a challenge and Carrie was born.

Why were these dares successful? I’m not entirely sure, but they have a few things in common:

-          A highly regarded person (in King’s case a reader) issued the challenge/bet.

-          The author was held accountable for the end product and might have been ridiculed if it was bad.

-          The dare encompassed specific parameters or goals for what would be considered successful.

-          Each author had a problem to solve. My guess is the subconscious mind was constantly working to find a solution.

-          It wasn’t a competition. The writer didn’t compare her/himself with anyone else.

So, I double dare you to write one sentence of that scene, book, or short story that you have been procrastinating because it’s scary or overwhelming. Even though I can’t pay you, success is its own reward.

Has someone ever dared you to do something?