— Agatha’s Anti-Novels

“Her life, on the surface, was as grey and dreary as a prison exercise yard, her mind a prey to a daily succession of torments” is how Laura Thompson describes Christie’s reaction to her divorce.

Lindsay Duguid, in the TLS, is perhaps more objective:

“In the abstract, these novels can seem intriguing; their sameness tempts one to deconstruct them as examples of a sort of anti-novel, in which certain elements – the village, the country house, the poisoned chocolates, the gentleman’s gun collection – are not meant to be considered as representing real life but are self-consciously manipulated for the reader’s pleasure.”

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