Welcome to All About Agatha, a podcast dedicated to reading and drinking, every single mystery novel written by the Queen of Crime, Dame Agatha Christie.

I am Kemper Donovan. It is Veterans Day 2025, or Remembrance Day, as it's called in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries.

Poppy Day, Armistice Day, all of the above. Let's be as inclusive as we possibly can.

Welcome to part one of a very special two-episode series, all about the veterans of Agatha Christie.

I'd like to start with an email that I got from a listener a while ago, which has been

burning a hole in my inbox ever since I received it. Here goes.

Mr. Donovan, hello. I'm a longtime listener of the podcast, and I hope to

meet you one day at some future Agatha Christie Festival. I really enjoy the show, and I'm always

intimidated by the incredible knowledge of the people who write into you, as I'm more of a casual

fan of Agatha. But I wanted to give you a suggestion for an episode topic in the same vein as the Dogs of

Christie episode, Military men and veterans of the Christie Canon.

It seems like a lot of the military men and Christie are blustery old men who are never the

smartest or most competent of the bunch.

Since Christy wasn't in the service herself, was her most contact

with the military through Archie or some other friends? What does the military man archetype

provide Christie as a writer that another type of character would not? As my husband and I are both

in the military, we would really enjoy an episode on this topic. Maybe around

Veterans Day? Thank you and thanks again for such a great podcast. Well, what a wonderful idea.

Thank you for this message, listener. And by the way, maybe it's due to your military background,

but no need for the formality. Mr. Donovan is my dad. You can just call me Kemper. And while I'm on

the topic of my dad, I'll mention that he too was in the military. He was in the Marine Corps and

served during the Vietnam War. And while figuring out what to say on Veterans Day to those

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