Footsteps of Agatha Christie

Beginning with text and photograph headers presented in the old manual typewriter fonts, Francois Riviere successfully transports her readers back to the Devon countryside of Agatha Christie's childhood. Early family pictures are interspersed with gorgeous color photos of the south of England, each one representing an event or memory which provided Christie with the germ of her intricate plots. Ms. Riviere provides a rare treat for devoted fans and casual readers alike: the personal life and environment of an author who guarded her privacy and was able, like her books, to keep us guessing. The Devonshire home of Greenway, not visible from the road but glimpsed by boat from the river Dart, is described in detail with ample color photos, as is the Burgh Hotel, the setting for "Evil Under The Sun" and "Then There Were None". Her relationships with both husbands, her daughter and friends are good reading; they provide the bones. The real meat in this book is the author's ability to invoke a past which we already feel we know so well, make it come alive and provide the visual counterpart. Actually seeing the physical locations which sparked her imagination and translated into complex narratives is an opportunity not to be missed by anyone who has enjoyed being transported to that very special time and place where Christie lived and then created in print for posterity. Ms. Riviere also provides a detailed color map of Devon which includes Agatha's special "haunts" and a list of hotels and road directions in the areas most frequented by her and her characters. It is a singular offering for mystery fans to truly "walk in the author's footsteps": along the beach in Torquay, boating on the River Dart, tramping through the heather atop Dartmoor, staying at the Haytor Hotel where she wrote her first book. The book is a pleasure in itself but also a definite Must Read for anyone familiar with Agatha Christie's work or interested in the formation of a Mystery author.