All About Agatha Christie

It is never a dull episode when Dr. John Curran comes on for a conversation! I had a great time speaking with him about his new book... and sparring over Christie, but of course. Click here for more information, and to register for the upcoming Cozy Con I'll be attending at Avon Free Public Library in Connecticut on Saturday, 14 March 2026. I hope to see you there! (You can also click on my author website events page.) I encourage you to check out Dr. Curran's new book, The Murder Game: Play, Puzzles & The Golden Age. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram. Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my author website. You can pre-order Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, here in the United States. You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every piece of mail I receive from you listeners is like a valentine, so it's fitting that I finish going through my bulging listener mailbag on Valentine's Day this year. Please enjoy... and please keep these messages coming! Here is the link to that 1970 German-language adaptation of The Murder at the Vicarage. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's always a pleasure to have Sophie Hannah on the podcast. And if you're a dog lover and/or Iris Murdoch fan, you'll have reason to be particularly delighted! Visit Sophie's website to learn more about her Lamberts book, and everything else she has going on--including her newest Poirot continuation novel. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series (coming out July 2026). To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I can't think of a better way to start off the New Year than with messages from all of you. And since there were so many--and I want to take my time with every single one of them--I'll be doing a "part 2" in the near future with more letters! Happy New Year, everyone! You can check out that (free!) Estonian version of The Unexpected Guest right here. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series. (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's better than a Christie for Christmas? TWO Christies for Christmas, of course! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series (coming out July 2026). Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's always a pleasure to commune with a legitimate Christie obsessive, and Ragnar is about as legit as they come. You may know him as one of the leading voices of contemporary noir, but he has also translated a number of Christie novels from English into his native Icelandic--starting at the tender age of seventeen, no less! You can find out more about Ragnar and his work here, on his website. In particular, we discussed his most recent (and Golden Age-inflected) work, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series. (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Captains = good. Commanders = bad. Just two revelations made in the course of a very fun episode to research and record. I hope you enjoy. And happy Thanksgiving to all those in the United States! Here is a link to Brad Friedman's brilliant blog post from 2022, about the military men of Christie. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy the first book in the series, The Busy Body, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this Veterans/Remembrance Day, I begin a two-episode series all about the veterans of Agatha Christie, starting with three real-life veterans who meant a great deal to our favorite author.... You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ghosts, second sight, and reincarnation, oh my! I hope you're ready for an extremely spooky tale of Christie's. (And yes, I am standing by the apostrophe in "Hallowe'en" and the "i" in "gipsy.") Enjoy... and Happy Hallowe'en! Also, click here to enjoy, for free, my latest SPOOKTACULAR Patreon episode all about The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle! Should you wish to subscribe to Patreon, either monthly or yearly, use the code "38105" at checkout for a 20% discount. This offer is available through 5 November 2025. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought." Words of wisdom courtesy of Edmund Spenser (and Colonel Brandon, as played by the inimitable Alan Rickman, RIP). And I'm taking them to heart in this episode, as we get to discover two Christie television adaptations that were not readily available to us until quite recently, a Poirot and a Marple. It isn't often that I can say this, but: hooray for the Internet! You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! It comes out in late June 2026, but pre-orders are hugely helpful to me. Thank you, as always, for your support. Here are the links to the two television episodes discussed in this podcast episode: Poirot in the U.S. from 1962, and Estonian Miss Marple from 1990. Enjoy! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Who doesn't love a puzzle? Maureen and Jay have gone *full bore* on the notion of a solvable Golden Age mystery. Call it a mashup between Agatha Christie and Dennis Wheatley's "crime dossiers" (if you know you know). I have a feeling many of you will enjoy the heck out of it. You can check out the book, which is now available in the U.S. and UK, on Maureen's website here. Here are those links I mentioned at the end of the episode to the two previously inaccessible Christie adaptations I'll be discussing in two weeks' time: Estonian Miss Marple from 1990, and Poirot in the U.S. from 1962. Enjoy! I can't wait to discuss. You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) At the very least, click on this link to check out the pretty yellow cover! Pre-orders help me a ton, so I thank you in advance. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page (Hound of the Baskervilles coming up next!), click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rejoice: it is time for another live episode from the Agatha Christie Festival, in Christie's birthplace of Torquay! This time I braved the stage all by myself, to discuss Christie's use of true crime in her fiction. As usual, I had an absolute blast. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Please enjoy this time capsule from early 2017, all about the real-life disappearance of our favorite author.... See (some of) you in England! Details below regarding my two appearances there. I'll be appearing first, in London, 12-13 September, at Silent Echoes: Golden Age Crime Fiction and Trauma, hosted by Golden Age Mysteries and Florida State University's College of Communication & Information. And then I'm heading down to the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay! My panel will be on 18 September at 4:00pm. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At long last, another episode about YA mystery! If you haven't yet heard of Marthe Jocelyn's Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen series, you are in for a treat.... Visit Marthe on her website, or on Instagram, or just check out the Aggie Morton books directly. Marthe wanted me to note that the illustrator is Isabelle Follath, who you can visit on Instagram here. And please note that these books are also available as audio books, voiced by Sarah English. Here is a link to the upcoming Golden Age Mysteries Conference, which Marthe and I will be attending! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Riley Sager has been producing bestselling mystery thrillers with Christie-like consistency for nine years now. His latest, With a Vengeance, is his most Christie-like yet. It was a pleasure to speak with him about the book, Christie's influence, and what it's like to be a mystery writer in the world of publishing today. You can visit Riley and peruse his prodigious output on his website here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I could not be more thrilled to welcome back A+++ listener, and now two-time guest co-host, Helen Frank, to discuss the flesh-and-blood secretaries of Agatha Christie's life. We already covered the ones that Christie created for herself out of ink, so this episode is a completist's delight. So many secretaries! For those of you in the SoCal area, consider purchasing tickets for Christie's adaptation of Towards Zero, directed by former guest co-host Christopher Diehl! To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How has it taken me this long to talk about audiobooks?! Huge thanks to Gray Robert Brown, for his willingness to share his considerable expertise on this topic. Thank you also to Hugh Fraser, for the many, many hours he has spent speaking Agatha Christie's words into a microphone. We salute you, Captain Hastings. You can find Gray at his website here, and if you aren't listening yet, please do check out his stupendous podcast The Swinging Christies, co-hosted with Dr. Mark Aldridge. I made use of the website Everything Agatha while researching this episode, in particular its informative page about Christie audiobooks. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Steen Just is a Danish gentleman who is passionate about Agatha Christie--so much so that he has spent his retirement contributing hugely to the Danish-language Wikipedia articles on Agatha Christie. I had a great time talking with him about his unique perspective on our favorite author. The following Christie titles are spoiled to some degree in this episode: By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Endless Night, Lord Edgware Dies, A Murder is Announced, and The Thumbmark of St. Peter. We also talk in semi-spoilery ways about The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup, and The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There's a decent chance you've heard about the recent online course put out by BBC Maestro, in which a digitally manipulated representation of Agatha Christie teaches the craft of writing a mystery. Yes, really! I was fortunate enough to sit down with the person responsible for all the research that went into this quite heavily researched project: Dr. Mark Aldridge. As many longtime listeners will know, Mark has been a guest here many times, and his appearance on this episode was just as enjoyable and informative as what we've come to expect of him. Let's get into it. BBC Maestro's Agatha Christie course On Writing can be found here. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When A+++ podcast listener Helen Frank contacted me about doing a themed episode on the secretaries of Agatha Christie, little did I know there would be so much to talk about. And little did she know that I would hoodwink her into co-hosting the episode in question! But I'm so glad I did. I think you'll be as well. Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase. You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand. To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here. Visit the podcast on Instagram. Visit me personally at my author website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.