Is Agatha Christie A Good Writer?

Shedunnit

Caroline Crampton

Arts, Books

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2021

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Her plots are second to none. But is the Queen of Crime a true literary great? Thanks to my guest, Sophie Hannah. Her latest Poirot continuation novel is The Killings at Kingfisher Hill and is available from all good booksellers. Find out more about all of her books at sophiehannah.com and follow her on Twitter as @sophiehannahCB1. There are no spoilers in this episode. My new map and guide, Agatha Christie's England, is available for pre order now in physical form at shedunnitshow.com/map or as an audiobook at shedunnitshow.com/audiomap. Books mentioned and further information: — "The Case of Agatha Christie" by John Lanchester from the London Review of Books, December 2018 — Agatha Christie: First Lady of Crime edited by H.R.F. Keating with a new introduction by Sophie Hannah — Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World by Mark Aldridge — There are two episodes of Shedunnit featuring Mark Aldridge: The Many Afterlives of Hercule Poirot and Swan Song — Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie — An Autobiography by Agatha Christie — Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie — The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/isagathachristiegood Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:23.1	forward slash Spotify to find out more.
0:25.3	Since you're listening to this podcast, I feel fairly confident in saying that you think
0:36.1	Ag the Christie wrote some good books. There's a high probability that you decided to listen
0:41.3	to me talking about detective fiction because you have, at some point, enjoyed a novel
0:46.0	by the so-called Queen of Crime. But just because we enjoy her fiction doesn't necessarily
0:52.6	mean that Ag the Christie deserves to be crowned Queen of the Literary Pantheon. In
0:57.4	fact, it's become a commonplace to say that although Christie's plots are second to
1:01.3	none, her prose and dialogue leaves a lot to be desired.
1:06.0	Leiden, humdrum, repetitive, samey. These are all words I've heard used to describe
1:12.2	it. I don't want to just acquiesce to the prevailing view on this, though. Which is
1:18.2	why today I'm going to investigate whether Ag the Christie is really a good writer.
1:30.4	Welcome to She Done It. I'm Caroline Crampton.
1:41.8	I've been thinking about this question for a long time, as you might imagine. But there
1:46.3	are two pieces of writing specifically that prompted me to go deeper into the issue now.
1:51.9	The first is an article by John Lanchester titled The Case of Ag the Christie, which was
1:56.9	published in the London Review of Books in December 2018. It's a long essay, nearly 6,000
2:03.1	words long. But the main thing you need to know about it is that from the start, Lanchester
2:08.1	sets out his baseline assumption that Ag the Christie was not a good writer, and that
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