Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making

By John Curran

Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks is the fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie’s long hidden notebooks, including illustrations, analyses, and two previously unpublished Hercule Poirot short stories. Not only will Christie’s legions of ardent fans find a treasure chest of new material from the author of such classics as And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Death on the Nile, but Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks is also a must-read tutorial for writers who want to learn the intricacies of constructing crime novels.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9780062006523

John Curran

John Curran is the long-time literary advisor to Agatha Christie's estate, often giving talks and appearing on documentaries about her life. He has spent the last few years unpicking the notebooks and deciphering Agatha Christie's handwriting for this, his first book.

Reviews for Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks

[murderbydeath · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I stopped reading this book after about a hundred pages - not because it wasn't good, it was, but because I haven't read all of Christie's canon yet, and this books is 100% geared towards those that have (or have at least read a majority of it). The author states from the beginning that there are massive plot spoilers throughout every chapter; he even goes so far as to list the books a particular chapter is going to spoil. I didn't care about the plot spoilers; when it comes time for me to catch up on Christie's canon, I will have long since forgotten who did what to whom (I've read some of her books twice - The Body in the Library for one - and I still can't remember who the murderer was). The fact of the matter, and why I DNF'd the rest of the book, was that Christie's notebooks and the author's commentary on them are largely meaningless to anyone who isn't familiar with the particular work in question. I did read the two short Poirot stories at the end, (I'll review them under separate posts) and what I did read at the beginning was interesting and well written. If you're a huge Christie fan and know her work well, I'd recommend this book as a way of delving deeper into how this master of mystery's mind worked. Otherwise, most of the book reads a bit like someone's coded grocery list.

[sandi julian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

good

[cbl_tn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Author John Curran was given unprecedented access to Agatha Christie's notebooks. Labeling them “secret” seems to stretch the point. “Private” would be more accurate. As Curran describes them, they sound like memorandum books. The notes and the notebooks themselves are mostly undated. Notes for any one novel may be scattered among several notebooks. Christie apparently used whichever notebook was closest to hand when she wanted to jot down an idea. It's unlikely that Christie expected anyone else to read these notebooks. Her handwriting is difficult to read, and apparently Christie sometimes had trouble reading her own handwriting.The book is more descriptive than analytical. Curran sifted through the contents of the notebooks and organized Christie's notes around themes such as nursery rhyme murders, games, transportation, and travel. Through his study of the notebooks, Curran is able to identify the inspiration for many of Christie's novels and the linkages between them. If some of her novels give you the impression that you've read them before, it's probably because Christie often reworked her short stories into full length novels (usually with a change in the murderer or even the victim).Curran necessarily includes spoilers for the novels and short stories mentioned in the books. It's a book for long-time Christie readers, not for those new to Christie's work.

[upstairsgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Curran rambles and assumes savant-like knowledge of Christie's oeuvre, but what's here is fascinating, if not that well-organized. I was expecting more of a biography, I think; Curran is more interested in a critical approach, which is fine, but perhaps not as satisfying from a curiosity standpoint. Well worth reading, still.

[mrtall_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Here's an immediate warning: if you're not a real Agatha Christie fan, and by that I mean someone who's read and re-read at least three-quarters of her many books, then John Curran's new look into Christie's notebooks is not for you. On the plus side, however, at this point there are still many of you right here with me. Such is the scope and depth of Christie's popularity!John Curran, a Christie enthusiast and scholar, made a remarkable discovery: a cache of Christie's original hand-written notebooks in which she sketched out story ideas, plots and characters -- and grocery lists and doodles. He spends nearly 500 erudite and very well-written pages taking us through these notebooks, with frequent scanned excerpts included. The result is a fascinating archeological expedition for Christie fans.Curran wisely makes no attempt to organize his explorations chronologically, since Christie worked seemingly almost at random at any given point in several notebooks at once, and would come back to them years later and add material. He therefore sets things out thematically, i.e. notes on stories with similar themes are discussed in discrete chapters, since it's on this track that we can best see highlighted the way in which Christie's mind worked, often expanding the genesis of an idea into a story, and then into a full-fledged novel. Perhaps the most revealing and fascinating insight here is how Christie was in many ways the antithesis of her best-loved protagonist, i.e. one Hercule Poirot. Whereas for the latter all must be order assembled by the motions of the little grey cells, Christie's mind was a chaotic grab-bag of inspiration, sometimes futile stabs at organization, and outright detritus. An added bonus here is the text of two heretofore unpublished Poirot short stories, including a fascinating variation on the final story of The Labours of Hercule Poirot. I found this book good fun to read through, and well worth holding on to as a reference.

[mkschoen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Juicy details for any Christie fan. Although -- in many cases Curran gives a brief blurb about the book being discussed, similar to what would be on the jacket cover, then starts in on how the book appears in he notebooks. A more detailed synopsis would be useful, because, really, just saying something like "Poirot investigates mysterious affairs at a country house, where a wealthy family bickers over an inheritance," narrows it down to, oh, all of her books. Little help here! *Which* adenoidal housemaid are we talking about? *Which* absent-minded vicar? And ok, I know it's bad form to say who did it, but seriously, these books are 50 years old. I doubt anyone who is reading Curran's book is really that concerned with spoilers.