Agatha Christie’s Poirot
The Greatest Detective in the World
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
From the very first book publication in 1920 to the recent film release of Death on the Nile, this investigation into Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot celebrates a century of probably the world’s favourite fictional detective.
This book tells his story decade-by-decade, exploring his appearances not only in the original novels, short stories and plays but also across stage, screen and radio productions.
Poirot has had near-permanent presence in the public eye ever since the 1920 publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. From character development, publication history and private discussion concerning the original stories themselves, to early forays on to the stage and screen, the story of Poirot is as fascinating as it is enduring.
Based on the author’s original research, review excerpts and original Agatha Christie correspondence, Poirot: The Greatest Detective in the World is a lively and accessible history of the character, offering new information and helpful pieces of context, that will delight all Agatha Christie fans, from a new generation of readers to those already highly familiar with the canon.
Reviews
‘Delightful, detailed and compulsively readable.’ MARK GATISS
‘What a magnificent book! An essential component of every Poirot fan's book collection. I couldn't put it down.’ SOPHIE HANNAH
‘Exhaustively and entertainingly surveys the book, stage, radio, magazine and film appearances of that fussy little Belgian.’ MICHAEL DIRDA, WASHINGTON POST
'This quirky, trivia-filled look at a touchstone of detective fiction will have Christie fans young and old in heaven.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
About the author
Dr Mark Aldridge is Associate Professor of Screen Histories at Solent University, Southampton. His previous publications include the definitive book about the film and television adaptations of Agatha Christie’s work, Agatha Christie on Screen, which was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016. Originally from Devon, he now lives in Hampshire with his partner, James, and is currently writing Agatha Christie’s Marple.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Aldridge (Agatha Christie on Screen) celebrates the centenary of Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot with a comprehensive yet lighthearted romp through his very busy career. Working chronologically, Aldridge takes readers through the Poirot oeuvre, starting with the 1920 publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, for which Christie needed a detective "unlike those that had gone before," and ending with such modern Poirot torchbearers as film adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Aldridge offers a detailed overview of Poirot's appearances on the page, and also discusses radio and stage versions of the Belgian detective, as well as a fictionalized biography written by Anne Hart in 1990 and nods to recent graphic novels and computer games in which he figures. Christie-devotees will be piqued by the novelist's thoughts on Poirot's egg-shaped head ("When people say to me ‘Which way up is this egg?' do I really know? I don't... but nevertheless I know that he has an egg-shaped head"), several novels' cover art in various editions over the decades, and excerpts from reviews of Christie's novels. This quirky, trivia-filled look at a touchstone of detective fiction will have Christie fans young and old in heaven.
