Her life is fascinating for its mysteries and its passions and, as Lucy Worsley says, "She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern. the book is a model of how to combine biographical information, analysis and literary criticism into a propulsive narrative. Notebook 31, for example, has pages dated 1955,1965, then back to 1963, then ‘1965 Cont’ and then on to 1972. Her life is fascinating for its mysteries and its passions and, as Lucy Worsley says, "She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern.

It was the fact that she was shamed for her illness in the nation’s newspapers in such a public way that ever since people have suspected her of duplicity and lies. In her most creative period, before and after the warm it’s almost illegible, as if the ideas come spilling out too fast to be captured in a way that would make sense to anyone else. Having seen the Lucy Worsley TV series I had gained knowledge of facets her life that I was not aware and I am also a great lover of the Christie films and TV series. Pages 327-8: In the last stages of Miss Marple’s life, once she’s detached from St Mary Mead, she develops more and more common ground with her creator: she travels to Barbados, as Agatha fif in 1956; she stays in a luxurious hotel (something Agatha had long enjoyed) and finally, in Nemesis, she becomes rich. But the book also contains a great deal of padding — perhaps because the terrain has been so thoroughly mapped before — and an unsubtle dose of moralizing.

To me (and I am by no means an expert) a good biography is an honest and stark depiction of the subject matter.

She had a huge role in shaping the mystery genre, pioneering devices like the unreliable narrator and psychological profiling. Where Worsley excels is in her descriptions of Christie’s day-to-day life; we hear virtually nothing of her political opinions as she lives through two world wars, for example, but we do glean a sense of her exceptionalism in the news that she consistently ignored air-raid sirens and simply turned over in bed. It seems that male critics, directors, and reviewers were particularly hostile—how dare a mere woman be so successful and yet demand a private life?lucy_worsley, a historian, documentarian + presenter, and Joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces in the UK (coolest jobs ever).

In terms of the novels, Worsley’s focus is on debunking the assumption that Christie invented and epitomised what has become known as “cosy” crime fiction, pointing to the darker elements of her work, its modernity, and its increasing interest in psychological themes. So why – despite all the evidence to the contrary – did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure? Lucy Worsley brings Agatha Christie back to life, revealing a strong, pioneering, highly intelligent woman whose detective novels rank among the best ever written. After the brilliance of Worsley’s Jane Austen biography, weaving together an irresistible focus on houses, wealth and class, I was looking forward to the Agatha Christie equivalent.

The trap the biographer can so easily fall into is the 'heroification' of the subject, and unfortunately for Worsley, I think this is what happened to her. Worsley not only makes you want to reread them all over again, she actually makes you love the talented yet tormented woman who wrote them.