Discovering the works of Agatha Christie has been one of my literary highlights of the past year. The journey began with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a book which immediately cemented Christie’s genius in my mind. Here, as elsewhere, she writes with unadorned but compelling prose, and the plot functions like an intricately designed piece of clockwork. As the story reaches its conclusion, the audacious ingenuity of this Queen of Crime becomes readily apparent.
Nowadays it would not be too much of a stretch to say that my initiation into the world of Christie has left me convinced that there must be a special place in Purgatory for souls cruel enough to give away the ending of one of her books. (This happened to me with Murder on the Orient Express, to my great consternation.) Be that as it may, something I would highlight in Christie’s storytelling is the profound psychological insight her novels convey. Indeed, it takes only a passing acquaintance with her work to realise that she is an exceptional student of human nature.
