I wasn't able to finish this book, so I decided not to review it on my site or any of the major retailers/Goodreads.

I thouroughly enjoyed this book about what happened to Agatha Christie during her mysterious disappearance in 1926. It was the perfect mix of facts and speculation. I’m excited to read more in this series!

I have been an avid fan of Agatha Christie since I was a child so was quite excited to read a book where Agatha herself is the main character. I did struggle with the way in which it was written. I found the element of twists and suspense missing.

In A Talent for Murder, creator Andrew Wilson gives a fascinating rendition of what possibly occurred during the fateful eleven days of the police seeking and the nation pondering what had happened to Agatha Christie. It is an incredible story which held me under its spell. I loved it. It defies belief that her own story is almost stranger than one of her fictions.

People have been fascinated in the vanishing of author Agatha Christie since December 1926. She was absent for eleven days after her car was found abandoned. It was a period of much upset for Mrs. Christie, as she had just late lost her mother, Archie was taking part in an extramarital entanglement and had requested a separation, and her most recent book was not going well at all. She had picked up notoriety as a writer composing brilliant crime fiction and her story of the peculiar Belgian criminologist Hercule Poirot in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, had been very successful in 1920. Despite there being much speculation about this disappearance, Agatha Christie herself never examined it or clarified exactly what happened...

Andrew Wilson has given his readers a fabulous tale that uses Agatha Christie's ability for first-class murder and allowed us to see her own mystery in a whole new light. It is a clever captivating read that will hold you in its spell. I'm off to explore further now after Andrew Wildon has whetted my appetite to find out whatever I can about this fiendish real-life mystery.

Enticing and intriguing mystery. Well-researched and plotted.

Agatha Christie is heading home from London, consumed by the knowledge that her husband is having an affair. When a man pulls her out of the way of a train, she quickly discovers that he wasn't saving her. Instead, he threatens her life and that of her daughter before informing the acclaimed mystery writer that he wants her to commit a murder for him. While Christie can craft the twists of a novel, she has no intention of actually killing a person. She will need all of her strength and smarts to outwit a man bent on murder.

Agatha Christie really did disappear for 10 days in 1926 and to this day, no one is sure where she went or what happened to her. Andrew Wilson has taken the few details we do know about that period in Christie's life and imagined what might have occurred. While the story itself is compelling, the big reveal at the end is nowhere near as surprising as the ones in Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile.

It's interesting and difficult to write about a person who actually existed, even if you are putting them in imaginary circumstances. But I couldn't imagine that the woman who wrote such delicious twists and such crazy characters would have been the way Wilson portrayed her. She is obviously a woman in crisis, but she comes off as a rather boring individual. It almost seems as if the author was so concerned with not creating an upsetting portrayal of a real woman that he forgot to really develop the character that lives on his pages.

It's always fascinating to debate what happened in history, since we will likely never know the truth. I'm glad Andrew Wilson imagined what might have happened to our beloved Agatha Christie, but I wish he had brought her to life more vividly.


A Talent for Murder
By Andrew Wilson
Atria July 2017
320 pages
Read via Netgalley

Wilson is riding the wave of fictionalized lives of real female authors with this imagining of what happened during the 10 days Agatha Christie went missing. I bet this one will engender a love=hate thing, depending on where one falls on the Christie spectrum. Read simply as a novel where a woman disappears, it's pretty good. Read as a Christie book, well, that's another story. There are no big aha's here nor are there a lot of twists. This is a pleasant read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Date Posted: July 21, 2017.
Blog: The Life & Times of a Book Addict.

REVIEW:

Agatha Christie has always seemed to have a great talent for developing entertaining whodunits with unsuspecting culprits. But for 11 days...and even longer after that, she becomes the story that everyone is talking about…

It’s 1926, Agatha Christie is at the top of her writing game; her sixth novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, was very popular. But unfortunately her life outside of her writing only looked good to outsiders. Having to deal with her husband is having an affair and the passing of her mother is a lot for Mrs. Christie to deal with. Then one day, she decides to go for a drive and "The Queen of Mystery" soon becomes a mystery herself.

Andrew Wilson, a great fan of Agatha Christie manages to create an intriguing story in the same vein as Christie’s mysteries. The author does extensive research into Christie's life and uses that to create his own spin on what he believes occurred during those missing days that no one really can account for except Agatha Christie herself. A Talent for Murder, is a good story if you enjoy a cozy mystery or the works of Agatha Christie, like myself.


RATING: 3 out of 5

A TALENT FOR MURDER by Andrew Wilson is a bit darker than the mystery stories which I usually read, but this cunning whodunit involved Agatha Christie as a prominent character and certainly held my attention. Wilson returns to December 1926 when Christie was front page news due to her unexplained 11 day disappearance. Building on actual events, (Christie's mother had died a few months previously and her husband was having an affair), Wilson creates a fictionalized account to explain what could have happened.

Of course, murder is involved and Christie is at risk of being manipulated by the evil Dr. Kurs. Wilson incorporates clever references ("by the pricking of his thumbs") to Christie's writing and maintains a high level of psychological suspense throughout. A TALENT FOR MURDER is cleverly written: when asked at one point 'Have you got your story straight?' Christie responds, "'I hope so,' I said, somewhat uncertainly. I knew, better than most, how stories were troublesome things to get right."

3.5 stars

A Talent for Murder
Andrew Wilson
Atria, July 2017
ISBN 978-1-5011-4506-3
Hardcover

From the publisher—

“I wouldn’t scream if I were you. Unless you want the whole world to learn about your husband and his mistress.”

Agatha Christie, in London to visit her literary agent, is boarding a train, preoccupied with the devastating knowledge that her husband is having an affair. She feels a light touch on her back, causing her to lose her balance, then a sense of someone pulling her to safety from the rush of the incoming train. So begins a terrifying sequence of events—for her rescuer is no guardian angel, rather he is a blackmailer of the most insidious, manipulative kind.

“You, Mrs. Christie, are going to commit a murder. But, before then, you are going to disappear.”

Writing about murder is a far cry from committing a crime, and Agatha must use every ounce of her cleverness and resourcefulness to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her expertise and knowledge about the act of murder to kill on his behalf.

Real people have been featured as characters in works of fiction before now, pretty frequently, in fact. Having Agatha Christie be the central figure in a murder is taking things a step further considering who she was and her undoubted mind for crime and her well-known yet unexplained disappearance is the perfect backdrop to such a scenario. As a longtime Christie enthusiast, I couldn’t help wanting to see what Andrew Wilson would do with this idea and I was rewarded, with some reservations.

Solving the puzzle of where Dame Agatha was during those few days is one of the holy grails of the mystery world and, hey, this could have happened, right? If anybody was ever born to successfully commit murder, she’s the one, but I think I know too much about her persona and her life to fall completely for the plot. Still, I think Mr. Wilson showed restraint in not letting the premise go too far and become laughable, proving his true regard of this remarkable woman.

The style of this mystery is just right for the times and the then-existent quirks of society with a despicable villain, a wandering husband, a shameful mistress and a heroine who’s not exactly helpless. Think about it—who better to contemplate doing murder and then work to figure a way out than the Queen of Mystery?

Hesitations put aside for the nonce, I let myself go with the flow and found this to be a highly entertaining “what if”. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate this wonderful author, can you?

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, July 2017.

The premise of this book is fascinating that Agatha Christie is blackmailled into committing murder during her famous disappearance. As a whole, it was a good book, but the ending disappointed. I would recommend to any Christie fan who wants to see a more personal side of a beloved author.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the idea of what may have happened to Agatha when she went missing. I'm also very curious if it's going to be made into a series? The ending felt very open to the possibility.

This book actually gets 4.5 stars from me.

First Lines: Wherever I turned my head, I thought I saw her: a woman people described as striking, beautiful even. That would never have been my choice of words.

Summary: One of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries has never been solved: her mysterious disappearance for 11 days in December 1926. She left her home on a Friday evening and one of the largest missing person hunts in history was launched. This novel imagines what might have happened during those days. It begins as she leaves her literary agent and is preparing to board a train in London. She feels a hand at her back that pushes her as an oncoming train is arriving, and pulls her back just before she falls in front of the train. Her rescuer, however, is no hero. Rather, he insists that she is going to commit a murder.

Highlights: I have loved Agatha Christie’s books since I first read What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw when I was in seventh grade. This book is gutsy in taking on telling a story of what may have happened to Dame Agatha during those days she was missing. The story is cleanly told, from varying points of view. Don’t gloss over the “Editor’s Note” before the first chapter, and then go back and read it again after you’ve finished the book. It will be that much more enlightening. This book has a truly vile villain, other interesting characters, and a plot line that completely works for me.

Lowlights: I had just a little difficulty getting into the first dozen pages or so. Honestly, that could have been me rather than the writing. I fully expected a Chrsitie-esque unraveling at the end of the book of how the whole story went down, but that doesn’t happen. However, that didn’t hurt the story at all for me. And there’s a little information that isn’t completely cleared up at the end, so if you like every little thing all tied up in a neat little bow, you won’t get that here.

Just a little more: This is a great imagining of what could have happened during Agatha Christie’s disappearance. I recommend it for anyone who loves a good mystery, and especially for fans of Dame Agatha. I received an advance e-copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Having only read two of Christie’s books, I’m far from being an expert on her books or personal life. It came as a surprise to me that she disappeared for several days in 1926. That fact alone led me to request A Talent for Murder from NetGalley. Andrew Wilson takes Agatha Christie’s odd disappearance in 1926 and weaves a story around this still unsolved mystery.

Agatha Christie is boarding a train when she feels a light touch on her back, causing her to lose her balance, then a sense of someone pulling her to safety. So begins a terrifying sequence of events—for her rescuer is no guardian angel, rather he is a blackmailer. Writing about murder is a far cry from committing a crime, and Agatha must use her cleverness and resourcefulness to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her expertise and knowledge about the act of murder to kill on his behalf.

The more I read this book, the more I felt as if I were reading a true crime book and I do love true crime novels. Fact and fiction began to blur and I could no longer separate the two. A Talent for Murder is well written but did not make this lover of mysterys jaw drop. I did not gasp and say out loud “Oh. My. Gosh!” Those are my signals for a mystery done right. Not knowing Christie, I had a hard time believing she would act the way Wilson portrayed her here. I certainly hoped she wouldn’t but the not really knowing was scary.

A Talent for Murder was a quick read and I would recommend it to lovers of Christie or the mystery genre.

In 1926, author Agatha Christie disappeared. Ten days later she was found, nearly incoherent, in a hotel under an assumed name. She would never discuss the incident, even avoiding the subject in her autobiography. It was reported that she was suffering from amnesia brought about by stress from her failing marriage to Archie Christie, the pressures of her writing career, and severe depression.

Andrew Wilson's book, A Talent for Murder, suggests a different reason.

Blackmail.

This work of fiction takes Christie's factual disappearance and adds in a crazed doctor, a blackmail scheme and murder. Agatha does not want the press to know that her marriage is dissolving because her husband is having an affair. She wants to protect her soon-to-be ex-husband, daughter and precious dog, Peter, from harm and public scandal. They are all in danger from the corrupt, psychopathic doctor who offers the famous author an impossible choice -- the safety and privacy of her family....if Agatha will murder his wife.

Although I think the real Agatha Christie would have taken this matter straight to the police rather than be subjected to this sort of blackmail, I still loved this book! Agatha Christie has been my favorite author since I was 9 years old and read The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I found the story to be both creative and interesting. The mixing of fact and fiction was intriguing. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down! I definitely recommend it to any Christie fan, or mystery lover!

Andrew Wilson is the author of several other books including The Lying Tongue and Flame Thrower.

A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson is a captivating tale. Famous writer, Agatha Christie, becomes a victim in this fictional story. I was intrigued. The plot line hooked me in fast. Murder mysteries are one of my favorite genres then add in one of my favorite bestselling writers into the mix and I was excited. It was very creative.

Inside of A Talent for Murder, I followed as Agatha Christie is being held hostage by a powerful figure. The stranger knows everything about her. Every way to hurt her is at his leisure. Agatha Christie is being forced to committ a crime. Murder. My mind kept racing with possible ways it would lead. Engaging read. Enjoyable to follow as the pages unfolded more suspenseful moments. Overall, this is definitely one mystery novel that I recommend to all.

Agatha Christie was the original gone girl. In 1926 she mysteriously disappeared for a number of days, either to punish and cast aspersions on to her cheating spouse or otherwise. She herself has never discussed the event and famously omitted it in her autobiography. There were only a scarcely few facts about that time from several eyewitnesses and it is onto that scant framework Wilson has draped his fictional imagining of what might have taken place. I have to admit conceptually these sort of stories tend to slightly awe me with their cleverness. This one actually left something to be desired plot wise, it almost wasn't quite mysterious or sinister enough...though surely it must have been more so for the times. I would have liked something darker, stranger, more unimaginable. It was quite good as is, but a mystery written about possibly the greatest mystery writer of all time should really have more of a wow factor, it seems. Otherwise, entertaining quick enjoyable read. Thanks Netgalley.

Having been a fan o=f Agatha Christie since my teens, I was always intriqued, like the rest of her fans, with her mysterious 10 day dispapearance. In all her biographies, there was never a clear answer, just misleading clues and red herrings, and false info from Christie herself. So what really happened?

Wilson takes that conept and imagines the what if- what if Christie became entanged in one of her own mysteries? And not only does he give us a great read, but a viable solution for those missing days, that would make Christie quite proud! Not only for the Christie fan, this is a wonderful mystery within itself- full of misleads and 'wait, I missed that!' moments, that make for a page turner, you will read LONG into the night! So if you love a good musyerty-be sure to add this one to your Summer reading list, when it comes out next month!

Maybe I just don’t get on with fictional sleuths based on real-life characters. In this case, the real-life character is the most famous crime writer of them all, Agatha Christie.

Several people I know really like this book, and it is certainly easy to read, well-written and entertaining. It sets out to use a crime plot as an explanation for the legendary disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926: it is not in any way a suggestion as to what actually happened – it is a story built on the framework of the known facts. It involves Christie in a dark and complex murder attempt, and leaves her at the end [spoiler: still alive] with the prospect of more investigations to come.

Wilson is obviously very  knowledgeable about Christie, and many elements in the book are taken from her autobiography. He has also taken the known facts about her disappearance and tried to include as many as possible in his story.

An evil doctor has got hold of information about Christie, her husband and his mistress, and threatens her with exposure if she doesn’t do what he says. He gets more and more bonkers throughout the book – this is one element that was quite enjoyable in fact: if you’re going to be a villain you might as well be an outrageous one. But none of the plot makes sense. Nor does Christie’s reaction to it – dreading scandal is one thing, but agreeing to commit a murder to keep him quiet doesn’t add up. The two moral dilemmas don’t balance.

There is a story (which as far as I know has never been verified) that while staying in a Harrogate hotel under a false name, Christie danced and sang in the hotel ballroom very enthusiastically. This was reported at the time, but it was hearsay. Wilson incorporates it into his book: Christie has been forced to dance the Charleston, on her own, by an evil blackmailing villain who claims to be secretly watching her, and who says he will harm Christie’s daughter if she doesn’t undertake the dance in full view of a roomful of people.

I keep coming back to this scene in my head. When I first read it I wondered if this was some kind of joke or parody – as a plot device, as an event, it is completely ludicrous. Does it sound remotely real, or possible, to you? The description of the dance goes on and on. My mind was boggling.

Meanwhile, clever old Agatha (book character) is coming up with a scheme to get herself out of her difficult situation: she is going to pretend she has done the murder, but not actually do it. It is Shakespearean, and not in a good way, and here the story completely falls apart. It’s all very tense and scary, but it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever: and the worst thing about the plan is not even that it utilizes a special kind of poison unknown to anyone, very unreal-sounding, and undetectable. The issue is that it doesn’t solve the problem, it isn’t going to satisfy the doctor, it will be uncovered within a very short time, and leaves him completely available still to cause his scandal, harm Christie and her loved ones etc etc. It has no reality. If you are going to invent something out of nothing, why not invent something that actually sorts out the problem you are dealing with? A time machine, an early smartphone, a magic spell.

I kept wondering how the fictional Christie was paying for everything (without being tracked of course) – this is something Wilson might have tried to explain, but doesn’t. 
 
There is a subplot featuring a young woman who is trying to track Christie. This again is based on a real person, and seems to me to be bordering on the tasteless. Christie might (might) be considered fair game, but this woman was not in the public eye: could he not just have invented someone to fill the role? To use her in the book seems unnecessary and rather horrible.

Wilson is not claiming to have solved a problem or to be offering anything new about Christie: he has just tried to incorporate as many real details as possible into a bizarre plot. I don’t really understand the point.

The photographs of Agatha Christie above are used with the kind permission of the Christie Archive Trust.

There are a huge number of entries on Agatha Christie on the blog (she is by far the most represented author) – you can find a list by clicking on the tab with her name on at the top of this page, or start investigating them via the label below at the end of the post.

This book winged along at a great pace, and never lingered too long to get stuck. The intriguing plot, including one of the nastiest "baddies" I've come across, worked well and gave Mrs. Christie a chance to become intimately part of her own genre. The action was of prime importance, and character development took a backseat, but this fits into the mystery. Highly enjoyed it, and hoping it's just the beginning for the likable Mrs. Christie. Thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.