An interesting read on the writing style of Agatha Christie. I like how the authors mention in the beginning about reading her books at least three times, with different approaches: looking for the puzzle (clues), the craft (how she leads the reader), and the inspiration (her writing in order and over time). Each chapter breaks down different parts and gives examples of her methods. Enjoyed this one, and would have happily taken a class like this back in the days when I was going for a degree in literature. Fun read and one I highly recommend.

Agatha Christie: Plots, Clues and Misdirections explores the way Agatha Christie structured her detective novels in order to deceive us as readers. It also looks at more general techniques used in most crime fiction.

This book made some really interesting observations and as a huge Agatha Christie fan I found it fascinating learning about the tactics she used in her whodunnits. It was also intriguing to learn about Christie’s influences and where the inspiration for some of her most famous novels came from.

However the same few books were used as evidence for each point so it began to feel quite repetitive and some of the points being made felt too similar to each other. Furthermore I did find some of the medical analogies used throughout slightly tedious and it did feel like it went off on a bit of a tangent at times.

Overall this was a fascinating read if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie but I wish a wide range of examples had been examined.