Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie

I thought this was a fascinating story of Agatha Christie's life. I am amazed at how well travelled she was back in the day and how prolific with her writing. The 12 day absence segment was of particular interest and seemed like a plausible scenario.The first half of her life was the most interesting to me.She was a person of many accomplishments.

I began reading and couldn't stop until I had finished the book - it was such a good read. What a pleasure it was, following so soon after my attempt at reading the "authorized" biography by Janet Morgan. Morgan's book is primarily a book of data and facts about Mrs. Christie's life and requires one to skip over all the data to find bits and pieces of words about Mrs. Christie's life. It was difficult to read and after the 2nd chapter, I quite trying to get through the book. With Mr. Hack's book, however, there were no difficulties and no skipping over anything..it was a pleasure to read. It read like a novel and I couldn't wait for more. In the last half of the book there were admittedly more of the data/facts listed but the author didn't let the data take priority over telling the story of her life. By data, I mean the following; listing of each book with dates published and publisher, the number of books written at that point, number of plays written and when, etc. etc. in great detail. I felt that should anyone want to know the details of each book, play, or short story, these should be in a separate chart or list. Fortunately in this book, Mr. Hack kept my interest by providing the story of Mrs. Christie's life and kept the "data" to a minimum. I enjoyed reading about Mrs. Christie's life and found this book very well done. For those who prefer facts and data over a good read, choose Janet Morgan's book.

Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie by Richard Hack. This is a very insightful account of Dame Agatha's life as told through over 5000 letters and notes, interviews with people who knew her, and her autobiography, to name a few sources. Mr. Hack has done very extensive research. I've read all of her mysteries, and most of her other works, including her autobiography and Janet Morgan's biography, and, while I did know a lot of her personal life's events and feelings, I did not know about her eleven day disappearance. I felt that unless it came from her, nothing written would be true. I was very happy to find that Mr. Hack did indeed find letters written by her about the escapade. He also found some people that were willing to speak about it. At times, it almost seems as if Mr. Hack was able to speak to Agatha directly in his recounting of her emotional state at the time, as well as all through her life. Agatha, Hack says, "doubted she could write, yet managed to sell well over two billion books, translated into one hundred five languages, making Agatha Christie the most popular modern author in the world. Thirty-three years after her death, all of her books remain in print -- eighty-four novels and compilations of short stories, six additional novels written as Mary Westmacott, her two autobiographies, and three books of poetry." He even writes about her books without giving away "who-dun-it". I appreciate that, if only for those who haven't read a particular mystery yet. An excellent read for any Agatha Christie fan, I highly recommend it.

I have read several biographies by Richard Hack and enjoy his writing style, so when I discovered his latest book on mystery writer Agatha Christie I added it to my collection. I picked it up the other evening, intending to read a few pages before going to bed, and four hours later found myself still reading!! Christie, as seen through the eyes of this author, is turned into a fascinating (and thoroughly surprising) woman. A romantic, a celebrity despite her need for total privacy, and a charismatic explorer of artifacts in what is now Iraq. This book will certainly appeal to the millions of Christie fans, who will find the author's research impeccable and his writing brilliantly crafted. Compared to the other Christie biographies, this one adds warmth and a wonderfully detailed depiction of a time period when one would rather go without food than servants. I finished the book in two days, and have already purchased a second copy as a gift. Bravo for a job well done on a difficult subject.