Thank you to Andrew Wilson and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Discover the real-life mystery centered on the queen of crime herself: Agatha Christie. In this tantalizing new novel, Christie’s mysterious ten-day disappearance serves as the starting point for a gripping novel, in which Christie herself is pulled into a case of blackmail and murder.

“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.

In A Talent for Murder, Andrew Wilson ingeniously explores Agatha Christie’s odd ten-day disappearance in 1926 and weaves an utterly compelling and convincing story around this still unsolved mystery involving the world’s bestselling novelist.

Oh wow, this was great. I love Agatha Christie, and to see her in my mind, written out in her own stories was fantastic!

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Agatha Christie, in London to visit her literary agent, boards a train, preoccupied and flustered in the knowledge that her husband Archie 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. Her rescuer is no guardian angel; rather, he is a blackmailer of the most insidious, manipulative kind. Agatha must use every ounce of her cleverness and resourcefulness to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her genius for murder to kill on his behalf.

As a long-time fan of Agatha Christie, I have to admit that I was very disappointed with this story. Expectations for anything to do with AC will carry a certain element of mystery - this had none. No tension, no suspense, nothing that could be called a "thriller", that's for sure. While the narrative was fast-paced, there were just no surprises here.

Sadly underwhelming...


Paul
ARH

This is the second book I’ve read this year that imagines what really happened during Agatha Christie’s eleven missing days in 1926. This one is more faithful to Christie’s voice, as well as to the net of connections she manages to draw between her minor characters until they tighten like a noose at the climax. But no one can match the original, and while I enjoyed reading this book, I felt like the wheels fell off a little towards the end, when minor characters proved more red herring and plot knots become unravelled far too easily. However, I did enjoy reading the ‘facts’ that this story was woven between.

The formatting needed attention but I'm sure that would have been corrected before publication.
An interesting subject is Agatha Christie. This fictitious story about a slice of Christie's life was compelling and well written. I did feel in some places that the pacing was slow but the writing was such that it held my attention.