Loved this book! Honestly I have never read anything written by Agatha Christie, but I am very interested now! This story is historical fiction with mystery, written with the husband's lover as the narrator. This in itself adds so much character to this story. Kept me interested to the last page.

"Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?"
This is my first book to read by Nina de Gramont but it will certainly not be my last. There has always been a great mystery surrounding the disappearance of legendary author Agatha Christie and this book definitely has you on the edge of your seat as the author explores the very complicated relationships of Agatha, her husband and Nan O' Dea, her husband's mistress.
Great character development and dialogue draws you in from page one and keeps you quickly reading. I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys historical fiction that includes mystery. Looking forward to the next book from Nina de Gramont.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for gifting this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an interesting read. I have heard of Agatha Christie but never really knew anything about her life. This is a historical fiction story told through Agatha's husband's Archie's mistress and later second wife, Nan's point of view. This was such a great story that was full of mystery, revenge, secrets, and betrayal.

This story is about the 11 day disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926. I didn't even know that this was a real fact and had to look it up. It would be certainly interesting to learn what the truth was about her disappearance. The premise of the book is fantastic and Nan as the narrator is very clever and makes for an intriguing story.

I think my very favorite part of this book is right at the end where Nan says, "A mystery should end with a killer revealed, and so it has. A quest should end with treasure restored. And so it has. A tragic love story must end with its lovers dead or parted. But a romance. That should end with lovers united. Beyond the confines of these pages life will go tumbling forward. But this is my story. I can make anything happen, unbeholden to a future that has by now become the past. I can leave you with a single image, and we can pretend it lasts forever...... Indulge yourself instead, and close this book on a happy ending." I find that so true, those who tell and narrate the story have all the power in how one is perceived in the story.

Great story that had me hooked from the beginning. I love that she wove a murder mystery into the story as well and explained why Nan met and pursued Archie from the beginning and was able to tell what her version may be.

Told from the point of view of Archie Christie’s mistress, The Christie Affair delves into 11 days that Agatha Christie was missing. While this is entirely a fictional account, deGramont tells a tale of love, loss, and trauma that you won’t soon forget.
deGramont weaves together the past and present in ways that are seemingly unconnected, but that come together over the course of the book. deGramont delves not only into the 11 days that Agatha was missing, but also into the impact of The Great War and abusive treatment of unwed mothers by the Church. The story is poignant on so many levels, and served as a reminder of the terrible ways that we treated (and sometimes still treat) our fellow humans. The characters were well-developed and it was easy to root for them to have their happy endings. And of course, a story about Agatha Christie wouldn’t be complete without some mystery thrown in for good measure 😊 This book dropped on 2.1.22, so it’s available for you to enjoy now!

A fascinating story based on true events told mostly from the point of view of the mistress. While no one knows for sure what happened to Agatha Christie for 11 days because she can't, or won't, tell anyone, there is much speculation and a few theories as to why she disappeared. This book, while a work of fiction in and of itself, explores one possibility. I rather enjoyed that it's told mostly from the point of view of her husband's mistress and while it's about Agatha Christie's disappearance, it also delves into the mistress' backstory which leads to them crossing paths.
I recieved this as an ARC. All opinions are my own.

The tale of Agatha Christie's disappearance and the circumstances leading up to it gets fictionalized. It adds a twist in The Christie Affair as the story is told through the eyes of Christie's husband's mistress. 

Honestly, I did not anticipate this perspective when I picked it up. While not necessarily within my genre wheelhouse, it wasn't a slog to get through with some characters standing out and a plot twist a little too late in the novel that will undoubtedly elicit a reaction from the reader. 

I'm usually a very emotional reader, in that the moment the character and story grabs me, I can easily empathize with everything that happens to them. Sadly, The Christie Affair did not manage it. However, I appreciated the deeper connection the two ladies had and felt that it played into the mystery really well.

Ultimately, if you love a murder mystery, unreliable narrators, and the world of what-ifs surrounding real-world events, The Christie Affair is for you.

This idea had so much potential and I wanted so badly to love it, but I just didn’t. I put this book down several times before picking it back up again and eventually finishing it. For something based on a true story it was a little bit unbelievable and not in a better than fiction kind of way.

I did like that this felt like a classic Christie mystery, and the POV being the mistress.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book for review.

3.5 Stars I think, though that might be partially due to the fact that I don't often read historical fiction.

I have actually never read an Agatha Christie book but I saw this on Netgalley and the description seemed very interesting. The setup for the plot is very interesting. I enjoyed reading about this author's take on the real-life people and seeing her creation of characters. I think this is very well written. It definitely has a writing style that takes on the sadder themes of the book and I appreciated that. I have never heard of this author before but I would read more from her.

Ultimately, the reason why this book was just "good" to me and not higher was that I just could not get into the emotion of the story or connect to the characters. I don't mind that they make decisions I wouldn't or anything like that. There was just something keeping me from fully buying into their story. At times, I had trouble suspending my belief with some of the ways the plot lines intersected. I did feel for the characters. Almost all of them, but Nan especially, go through really horrible things and I think the author does a good job portraying the circumstances of women at this time and how they are used and abused by many different institutions. These parts of the story were well done but most of the stuff about the actual disappearance just didn't grab me.

At the end of this, I was still sort of left wondering why the author chose the frame to tell this story. As I said, I would definitely read more from this author in the future. I appreciated a lot of aspects of this story but there were a few things that left me feeling like I couldn't give this a higher rating than 3.5.

The 11 days Agatha Christie is missing is told through Nan O'Dea in 1925. Nan becomes Achie's mistress. Revenge, love, children, murder and tons of secrets are throughout this book. The last quarter of the book takes unexpected twists. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Thank you #NetGalley, #STMartin'sPress and #NinadeGarmont for the advance copy for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc of this book.

I struggled with this book for the first half of it. I felt like the narrator, who is Nan O'Dea was an unreliable narrator of sorts. I was never really sure what to think of her. I found it interesting to read about Nan and her upbringing and her tragic love story and how that eventually led her into the arms of Archie Christie. I am not a fan of cheating so it was hard to get behind this character. However, there is a mystery that unfolds in this book at the same time that Agatha Christie goes missing and to watch that unravel was really fascinating. I like that the narrator lets us know that she has the power to end this story however she likes and I personally liked the way it ended.

There were parts of the novel that were drawn out and writing that was confusing at times. I had to remind myself who the narrator was when she was speaking in first person. It threw me off a few times.

There are themes in this story of infidelity, abuse, rape, religious abuse and misconduct, and murder.

The important fact to remember when reading this book is that it is fiction and not the actual event of Agatha Christie's eleven-day disappearance in 1925. Although Ms. Christie never gave full details of those eleven days, there are many facts that are of record.
I enjoyed this book for the fiction that it is. There is Nan who is determined to marry Archie Christie and Archie is besotted with Nan. There is Nan's background and several mysteries to be solved. There is Agatha but really this is Nan's story. There are side characters of Finnbar, Chilton and the Leeches who add drama to the story as well as some very coincidental happenings. But Nan's harrowing background is what has set everything in motion.
If you are an Agatha Christie fan this fictionalized look at the author May or may not be welcome.

I really enjoyed this fictionalized account of just what happened to Agatha Christie during the days she disappeared in 1926. The mistress/second wife as an unreliable narrator was a terrific twist. I loved the elements of breaking the fourth wall to the reader as well.

Just know that a lot of liberties were taken with the details and facts and such (for example the real life Nancy Neele Christie had a son and the fictional Nan O'Dea Christie had a daughter with Archie Christie) but it was still an enjoyable read.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law

It appears that I’m in the minority with regards to my opinions on this book.

I was so excited to snag this one. I love Agatha Christie and think the time she was missing fascinating. I’ve read other books about that time in her life and they’ve been entertaining.

This one was such a slog. I kept finding other things to read before picking this one up. Nan was unlikeable and I finally found myself wanting to read around the 80% mark. Not sure if that was because I was excited to be so close to finishing or because it was getting interesting. The twist towards the end wasn’t that surprising to me at all. And there was a disappointing end.

I know many people will love it but it wasn’t for me. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

The Christie Affair chronicles the time that famous writer, Agatha Christie, disappeared following her husband demanding a divorce from her. Archie Christie, in love with another woman (Nan O'Dea, our narrator for the story).. Archie confronts Agatha, requesting a divorce. She leaves her home in desperation and disappointment, and once found, refused to say where she had spent the missing days. This book chronicles that missing time, as well as the story of Nan O'Dea, mistress to Archie, and the catalyst for the Christie's breakup.

Generally, I thought this story was creative, and so many of the plot lines were creative and fell seamlessly into place with the telling of the story. There were wonderful surprises ("twists") that I never would have guessed myself until they were upon me. I really enjoyed the story being told from the point of view of Nan. This added to the mystery of the book, and definitely made the book easier to read.

I haven't read anything by this author before, but would definitely love to delve into any other novels she has written. It was refreshing to read historical fiction that didn't focus on the World War II era.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for honest review..

I've held off on rating this as I optimistically thought I'd return to it after reading something else that caught my eye, but it's been months now and it's time to accept that this just didn't pull me into its world the way I was hoping it would. The premise of setting Agatha Christie within her own mystery is truly brilliant, but I didn't connect to the characters. I think it's a massive challenge to empathize with a character who is knowingly breaking up a marriage, and I kept bumping against the significantly more fictionalized than historical rendering.

In the end, I really enjoyed this novel, however, my interest didn't pique until the third and final part of the book so I can't give this one more than three stars.

Archie, Agatha Christie's husband, is in love with his mistress, Nan. On the evening before he is going to leave Agatha for Nan, Archie foolishly gives his wife false hope. So when he breaks the news to Agatha the next morning, not only is she heartbroken, embarrassed, and devastated, but she is also blindsided having thought she won him back. Spiraling from the shock, Agatha flees - and so begins the mystery of her eleven-day disappearance. Told from the perspective of Archie's mistress, Nan, we learn what happened during those eleven days and the events that led up to them.

Everything came together really well and there were mysteries strewn throughout the novel that I wasn't expecting or looking for. However, because they were unexpected for me, much of the novel felt like unnecessary character development and background and I struggled to maintain interest.

Admittedly, I don't have much knowledge of Agatha Christie nor have I read any of her books. I think had I been more connected to the author, I would have enjoyed this book much more and been less surprised by the format/pacing.

If you're a fan of Agatha Christie or particularly love historical fiction, I definitely recommend.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

I did not hear about Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance until it was a Buzzfeed video, so I was eager to read this book. The Christie Affair follows Agatha’s ten day’s missing through the perspective of her husband’s lover, Nan O’Dea.

I can happily say that I read way more mysteries than historical fiction, and I loved the blending of the two in this book. This book cuts between the ten days of Agatha Christie’s disappearance and the events that lead the mistress to her current situation. I would have never thought that reading this story from the point of view of the other woman would be a thing I could stand, and yet…The author did a fantastic job of teasing out details early on that made it easy for me to not only solve the mystery but root against what I know actually happened.

This book has a cleverly dropped-in mystery balanced with an examination of the role’s women were able to inhabit at the time. Book Clubs are going to love this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont is a story centered around the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926. Agatha Christie is one of the most famous mystery writers of the 20th century. When she was last seen on December 3, 1926, her disappearance was the type of mystery you would expect Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple to be able to solve. She would be located on December 14, 1926 at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel with no memory of how she got there or why she was there. Those eleven days would be debated for years as Christie refused to answer any questions about that time. Perhaps the greatest mystery wasn’t her disappearance at all, but what she discovered. Nan O’Dea was Archie Christie’s mistress. A woman who lured him away from his devoted and very famous wife. But why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage? Why hatch a plot years in the making? Why resort to murder? How was Nan tied to Agatha Christie’s disappearance? A story of star-crossed loves, heartbreak, revenge and murder.
Agatha Christie was the first mystery writer I had read and her disappearance has always been a point of fascination. And I looked forward to reading The Christie Affair as a possible explanation of what happened. Ms. de Gramont’s story is marketed as a “brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.” However, it fails to deliver. I was bored and confused from the start. The story is told from the perspective of Nan O’Dea, the fictionalized version of Nancy Neele, the real life mistress and second wife of Archie Christie. An omnipotent narrator, Nan is able to tell the reader about scenes where she is not present and the thoughts and feelings of other characters, which was very off-putting. In my opinion, the 2008 Doctor Who episode, “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” did a much better job at an fantastical and imaginative explanation about the famous author’s disappearance. The Christie Affair is less about Agatha Christie and more about Nan. I do not recommend The Christie Affair .

The Christie Affair is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

A What-If Tale of Agatha Christie’s Disappearance

In December 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared. What happened during that time is still unknown. This is an historical fiction recreation of the events. Agatha’s disappearance was triggered by her husband Archie telling her that he was leaving her and getting divorce. Archie had been having an affair with Nan O’Dea. He planned to marry her In reality his mistress and second wife was Nancy Neele.

The story is told from Nan’s point of view. In the opening she is presented as a scheming home-wrecker, a rather unattractive character. However, Nan has a backstory. It’s tragic and it drives her desire for the kind of life Archie offers. Of course, since this is a Christie story there is a mystery that is solved at the end.

The book is well written. However, there were several aspects that were not what I expected. The period was true to life, but I had expected more about Agatha. Instead the novel focuses on Nan. Although Nan becomes more sympathetic as we learn more of her story, I never completely got over my initial dislike.

This story is more than a murder mystery. The novel is character driven and explores the strength of love and loss.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

One of the greatest mysteries of our time solved! This is a great read, a really compelling page turner that anyone would love.