Why do Agatha Christie’s novels continue to inspire each generation? The answer is the quality and range of her puzzles: her rich and varied structures of deception. Christie broke the mould of detective fiction and rewrote the implicit rules of the whodunnit. In the sheer variety and profusion of her whodunnit puzzles Christie is without peer. In this talk, Tony and Sally Hope will bring into the open what Christie so cleverly kept hidden: the many ways she helps us solve her puzzles whilst, at the same time, deceiving us.
Sally and Tony Hope are authors of Agatha Christie: Plots, Clues and Misdirections which examines Christie’s skills as a whodunnit writer. It analyses her methods in setting her puzzles. It shows how she uses a combination of diverse plots, cunning clues and subtle misdirections. Sally and Tony have also written on each of Christie’s sixty six crime novels.
There will be a drinks reception following the talk to which everyone is welcome.