Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie

Written by Richard Hack

Narrated by Nicholas Coster

She is the most popular novelist in history, yet the drama and torment of Agatha Christie's private life remains a mystery even to her most ardent fans. She made no secret of her disdain for the press and for those who wished to intrude on her private life. Nonetheless, in this immensely readable and intimate biography, best-selling author Richard Hack reveals the romance, scandal, and betrayal that drove one of the 20th century's most celebrated literary figures. Drawing from over 5,000 unpublished documents, Duchess of Death provides the most complete and knowing portrait of Christie to date.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phoenix Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781607471028

Reviews for Duchess of Death

[gothamajp · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A passable attempt at a biography of the astoundingly prolific mystery writer. The first part covering her childhood, first marriage, and her early career is well done and engaging. Unfortunately the post World War 2 era when Christie became a self-described reclusive ‘sausage factory’ churning out multiple books a year is a little tedious. But it did spark enough interest in the subject to make me want to read a more in-depth and insightful biography on Christie at some point.

[lostinavalonor · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this excellent and very thorough biography of Agatha Christie. It was really interesting to get a clear picture of her life from birth to death---with so many interesting details in between. I felt ashamed of her at the time of her first divorce and her "accidentally" staged disappearance, joy for her when she found love with her second husband, sadness for her at the critical spirit of her daughter, and triumph with her great success. Though some would probably pass out at the idea of me saying this, the destruction of her first marriage seems to have had a lot to do with her success. She chose to focus her attention to things outside her roles as wife and mother---and those two most important relationships suffered. I think the success of her second marriage had a lot to do with the fact that she poured herself into her husband's research and found joy in the same adventures that he did. There's a lesson to be learned here for sure. "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands." ~ Proverbs 14:1

[r0bin_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book is well written and, judging from the end notes, well researched and includes an enormous number of short quotations but, having read Christie's autobiography and two earlier biographical works, I don't really feel that I've learned anything new about Agatha Christie. This book did say a little more about her daughter, Rosalind, than previous books. I wondered if the publisher added the subtitle, The Unauthorized Biography, to imply that dirt would be dished. It wasn't.

[picardyrose · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Eventually I lost interest. It presumed a familiarity with the books that I don't have.

[cylonvamp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This the is the first biography I have read about Agatha Christie. Before this, I didn't really know anything about her. Her life was almost as full of mystery and suspense as her books. I think Mister Hack did a wonder job writing about her life and the back story of her family's lives. It is well worth picking up. It made me want to hunt down some of her books and read them again.

[heyjude_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Surprisingly well-written. The author seems to have stayed to the facts most of the time although I cringed at times when he was attributing certain emotions to people or making implications about certain behaviors. His explanation for the "disappearance" seems plausible.

[hillmeredith_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a marvelous read. Hack's pacing of Christie's life was perfect; going into the perfect amount of detail without dewlling on unnecessary analysis. The tone was informative but decidedly undogmatic. Notorious for her shyness, Hack allows fans of the writer to see her life but from a respectful distance. The work commences in media res at the most sensational turning point in Christie's life and goes backwards and then forwards from there. While it seems to be sensationalist at the start, Hack proceeds with respect and no small affection for the writer. The current system of footnotes and endnotes is somewhat jarring (this may change for the published copy), but this is a small irritation in what is truly a fascinating and factual read. The manner in which Hack corrects earlier biographical works (including Christie's own autobiography) could be seen as snotty but I doubt this is his intention. The book is full of quotations from the grand dame herself, giving an intimate feel to the biography. The work is shorter than it could have been glossing over certain of the less pleasant aspects of Christie's life and relationships. I believe this to be due to the Hack's intent to produce a balanced history of the authoress and not a warts and all sensationalized piece of gossip. A must read for fans of Agatha Christie's works. I especially appreciated the complete works and bibliography at the end.

[jbealy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

From the Prologue to the Epilogue, Richard Hack has written a fast-paced, entertaining, and informative biography of one of the most prolific writers of our times. Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie paints a portrait of a woman more complex than she herself would have had us believe, yet in that complexity we never lose sight of the simple woman with simple dreams. Agatha Christie guarded her privacy fiercely, as did her family and now her estate. But Hack, drawing on unpublished letters, diaries and other documents, has proven his investigative chops. Duchess of Death begins with a Prologue reminiscent of a good Agatha Christie mystery with the never before explained disappearance of the writer in 1926 and continues on to show us a woman full of adventure, spontaneity and fascination with the world. Hack clearly has great respect and admiration for Christie and while he doesn't shy away from mentioning language in one of her novels that smacks of racism, he brushes it aside as a result of the times in which she lived. Likewise, we never fully understand the tension that exists between Ms. Christie and her daughter. Those quibbles aside, Duchess of Death is a great read and left me not only wanting to read Agatha Christie but also Richard Hack.

[eawsmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was delighted to receive an ER copy of this book; Agatha Christie is the first "adult" mystery author I remember reading, after devouring the likes of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in my younger years. (When I was cataloging my books on LibraryThing, I found an inscription in one of my Christie books from my sister, who gave it to me for Christmas in 1974 when I was only 11 years old!)I found the book quite entertaining and enlightening, especially about her later years. It was interesting to read the many quotes which Mr. Hack cites from her various letters and other unpublished documents. It gave me more insight as to how she felt about writing; I had not realized before that she sometimes felt like "a sausage factory." I was also interested in the tax manipulations which brought about the creation of Agatha Christie Ltd. These topics may have been covered in Christie's autobiographies, both of which I own and have read, but if so, I had forgotten about them. The author did have an annoying tendency to write about a set of dates and then in the next paragraph or next chapter, revert to events which occurred prior to those dates just cited. For instance, in Chapter 11, he discusses activities which occurred in 1971, such as Agatha Christie's honoring as a Dame of the British Empire. In the subsequent paragraph, he returns to events which occurred in 1968, 1969, and 1970. This happened quite often throughout the book and made it rather hard to follow at times. Other than this quirk, however, I was pleased with the book and found much to admire. It certainly makes me want to dust off my Christie books and reread them!

[jjwadore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Richard Hack’s Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie is an exceptional read. Her life is portrayed in a tasteful way, allowing the reader to see the faults in our lady, and yet not judge her for them. The biography is written with a startlingly honest approach, making Christies motives and actions human rather than untouchable, cold, or remote. This book is intricate in nature, containing not only the well documented professional triumphs and tragedies, but also giving a glimpse into the mind of this great author. In the early chapters, the opulence of Agatha’s youth, followed by an unhappy marriage to her first husband during WWI, leads to a crisis of self. Through Mr. Hack’s use of a literary device, we jump out of sequence and start where her life begins to change – the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie. Then we are quickly transported back to her youth so as to build the understanding in the reader of how these circumstances came about. Having been brought up to speed by the back-story, we see the evolution of the woman, and are eventually introduced to the Agatha Christie so loved by so many – and due in large part to her second husband. Happy in this second marriage, the emotional instability that marked her dissapearance fades, and her behavior after this is more reminiscent of a deep-seated desire for privacy than a psychosis. Though the time in which this author lived and the circumstances of her life played a part in her success, Agatha Christies travels also lent themselves to the development of her clever characters and vivid descriptions of setting. She had a certain je ne sais quoi about her; an elusiveness that still draws people to her work. Agatha Christie is portrayed as a passionate, sometimes vulnerable woman, but also one who has starch, an observer, yes, but also a participant in life.