Am I the only person who reads Agatha Christie?

[overthinking]

My DH and friends giggle at me but I love her books. Chocolate, sofa snuggles and one of her books and I am a happy lady
Am I the only one?

[drudgewithagrudge]

I am a great Miss Marple fan but only the Joan Hickson ones. They muck about with the plots in the latest versions.

I find it hard to be fond of Hercule Poirot even though I have to admit he is clever. Somehow he doesn't seem quite human.

What always puzzles me is why all the characters agree to gather in the drawing room at the end of lots of the stories. Surely the villain must know that all will be revealed.

[DramaAlpaca]

This is a lovely thread.

Is there any way it could be moved out of Chat into the Books section so all us Christie & mystery fans can keep dipping in & out to talk about the books (I think I'm right in thinking Chat topics disappear after a while?).

[minsmum]

I love Amelia Peabody too. I have a lot of those books on my kindle.

[Engelsemama]

I had an Agatha Christie phase when I was 14 (rural library so little choice - came right before my Danielle Steel pase ).

Thanks for reminding me - now time to load up my kindle

[CatherineHMumsnet]

Hi - yes we'll move this into Books in a mo.

[ariadneoliver]

Nettie maybe there should be an Agatha fan club meet up on the island

www.burghisland.com/about_us_1.html

[DramaAlpaca]

Thank you CatherineHMumsnent!

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

No. I am reading Hercule Poirot in order this year and am thoroughly enjoying finding old copies for pence with interesting cover art.

I read then in between other stuff or sometimes have a Poirot, other fiction and non fiction on the up. They are brilliant.

[aPseudonymToFoolHim]

I love them. I have a memory like a sieve so I can re-read them as often as I like! HP and Miss M are fab! I don't like Tommy and Tuppence though.

I will ALWAYS sit down to watch one when they are on TV (today's The Man in the Brown Suit being prime example) no mattr HOW many times I've seen them before. Same with the wonderful Columbo

[Taffeta]

Read all the books over 20 years ago

Not a fan of any of the adaptations esp. It's not the same when you know whodunit

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

I read quite a few when younger but can't really recall them, Murder in the Orient Express is my current favourite but am only up to The Murder if Roger Akcroyd (1928 edition that should arrive this week - excited beyond what is normal).

[DramaAlpaca]

Ooh, you'll enjoy The Murder of Roger Ackroyd!

1928 edition? You lucky thing!

[Plomino]

I love them all , but its the Miss Marples that are the ones I read over and over . And there was only one Miss Marple on TV , which was Joan Hickson . Julia Mackenzie is ok , but Geraldine Mcewan reduced me to paroxysms of fury , so much so that DH banned me from watching her in his presence because I would shout at the screen " particularly in the ones she wasn't even supposed to be in !

But then Agatha Christie herself liked Joan Hickson for the part , didn't she ?

[DramaAlpaca]

Joan Hickson for me is the definitive TV Marple.

I'm with you about Geraldine McEwan's Marple. I'm actually glad I can't get ITV where I live so I couldn't watch this evening.

[DorisShutt]

Oh lord the "adaptations" where there is plot fiddling... Murder at the Vicarage made me apoplectic!

Least last night's (A Carribean Mystery) was relatively straightforward; but seemed a bit dumbed down? Certainly a couple of the back stories seemed to be missing.

[Plomino]

The one that made me incandescent with rage was the one that had Tommy and Tuppence in it , and they turned him into a complete tosser and her into a right old lush . WTAF ?
And now I can't think what it was called .

Am quite excited at the moment , our local auctioneer mentioned he was going out to a house to look at someone's Agatha Christie collection ... Hopefully they'll sell them locally and I can add to my stash !

[ariadneoliver]

Plomino It was 'By the Pricking of my Thumbs' and there was no need to draft in Miss Marple either T&T managed perfectly well in the book.

[Clawdy]

LondonJax what was the name of your book about Agatha C?

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

I ordered my Roger Ackroyd on Amazon so I am not convinced that I will actually be getting the 1928 copy, particularly as it cost me £4 - but I hold out hope.

[Plomino]

Of course it was ! Thank you Ariadne.

Was rearranging the bookshelves yesterday , dusting off all my Christie first editions , and DH has promised to get me another this year . I'm holding out for the Mysterious affair at Styles first edition, but seeing as the last one sold at auction for about £12,000 , I'm not holding my breath !

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

£12,000 - wow!!! Such a lovely collection though.

[Plomino]

I'm hoping beyond hope that one day I'll find it in a charity shop for 50p!

I can dream !

[Holliewantstobehot]

I too love agatha - just finished reading the third girl last night for the umpteenth time. Also love patricia wentworth and have just bought a gladys mitchell set from the book people. They are my comfort books, kind of like a grown up famous five. I also get very annoyed at the way they mess up the books - I don't mind a little bit of artistic licence but when they put miss marple in books she wasn't in and change all the plot around I get very annoyed.

[mum2jakie]

I love Agatha Christie and have re-read all of the books I own to the point that I know instantly who the murderer was - and still read them! The only characters I dislike are Tuppence and Tommy.

Her short stories are good for nights when I am tired and just want something quick and easy. Has anybody else read her Parker Pyne books?

[ariadneoliver]

I like Parker Pyne, I downloaded one recently on kindle and very quickly had to download the others. They were televised back in the eighties I think and I got them on DVD from Lovefilm. I think they'd be worth updating once the Marples and Poirots run out.