John Curran

Lecturer in the School of Classics and Ancient History John Curran

Agatha Christie''s life and career told through the decades, from the never-before-published original ending to her first book to the unused ideas for her last, complete with two unpublished Agatha Christie stories - including a lost Miss Marple. In this follow-up volume to the acclaimed Agatha Christie''s Secret Notebooks, Christie archivist and expert John Curran leads the reader through the six decades of Agatha Christie''s writing career, unearthing some remarkable clues to her success and a number of never-before-published excerpts and stories from her archives. Starting his investigation in the 1920s, John Curran examines the conventions of detective novels as they existed then and how Agatha Christie''s publisher talked her into changing the ending of her very first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a move that almost certainly changed the fortunes of not only her career but the future of the whole crime writing genre. For the very first time, this book prints Agatha''s original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christie''s success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha''s writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha''s last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife. nts Agatha''s original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christie''s success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha''s writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha''s last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife. draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife.nts Agatha''s original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christie''s success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha''s writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha''s last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife. nts Agatha''s original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christie''s success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha''s writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha''s last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife. draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife.draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife.nts Agatha''s original ending, painstakingly transcribed from her notebooks. Every decade saw Agatha Christie''s success grow to new heights. The emergence of the world-famous Collins Crime Club in 1930 brought with it the very first Miss Marple mystery, the austerity of the 1940s had Agatha Christie preparing to kill off Hercule Poirot, and the 1950s saw her experiment increasingly with formats influenced by more modern thrillers. Focusing on the detail of more than 20 Christie novels to illustrate this, John Curran shows the evolution of Agatha''s writing through the decades, including the influence of the swinging sixties and seventies, concluding the book with a look at Agatha''s last notebook, using his Christie knowledge to speculate about what she had in mind based on her brief notes for an unwritten final book. Also includes a number of short stories from the archives reproduced in full, including the unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife. draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife.he unpublished The Man Who Knew, How I Created Hercule Poirot, and an early draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife.draft for a Miss Marple story, The Case of the Caretaker''s Wife.

Stories and Secrets from Her Archive

Murder in the Making

Tom Adams

The story of one of the world s greatest cover artists told through his iconic 1960s and 1970s Agatha Christie paperback designs, which influenced a generation of readers and artists. Includes a variety of other art and illustration from his 50 year career. The Agatha Christie covers painted by Tom Adams constitutes probably the most famous body of paperback art ever produced by a single artist. Between A Murder Is Announced in 1962 and Miss Marple s Final Cases in 1979, Tom was commissioned by Fontana in the UK and Pocket Books in the USA to paint covers for almost every Agatha Christie book, most of them more than once, totalling around 150 different paintings over two decades. They have been reproduced in many languages all over the world, defining the style of paperback artwork throughout the sixties and seventies and influencing a generation of artists and designers ever since. Tom s unique interpretations of the themes and stories in the books, often hiding clues about the plots within his paintings, have left an indelible mark on those who read those editions, and they are now highly sought after by fans of both Agatha Christie and Tom Adams. And Agatha Christie is only half the story. Concurrent with this extraordinary achievement, Tom was also producing art for other publishers, including an iconic series of Raymond Chandler covers and some brilliant jackets for books by John Fowles (The Collector, The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman), Patrick White (The Vivisector), David Storey (Saville), Peter Straub (Ghost Story), and Kingsley Amis (his James Bond pastiche, Colonel Sun). Tom Adams Uncovered is a showcase of the artist s best work from a career spanning more than 50 years. In addition to his many cover paintings, it features examples of Tom s broader work, including award-winning advertising, portraits, album covers, poster prints, and his work on the films 2001, Flash Gordon and Lifeforce. With captions by Tom and a commentary by the Agatha Christie historian John Curran, and concluding with previously unpublished Agatha Christie paintings, this book is a treasure trove for both crime fans and art lovers, and a fitting celebration of one of the world s finest cover artists."

Lecturer in the School of Classics and Ancient History John Curran

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