The Year of Agatha: Phase Two | What Comes Next

Hello all,

Because we have enjoyed delving into the world of books and mystery so much, we aren't really going to let the Year of Agatha end! Here are our plans for The Year of Agatha, phase two, in 2017:

1) More reading, blogging, and social media about mysteries and thrillers!
Agatha is the Queen of Mystery, and at this point is widely regarded as one of the absolute greatest writers of crime fiction of all time. She has inspired legions of fans, and many of those fans have gone on to write their own intricate, clever, fascinating mystery and thriller novels. In 2017, we've decided to dig further into the genre. We'll be posting about our reads each month here on the blog, and on our other accounts, just as we've been doing with Agatha's work this year. We plan to read contemporary as well as classic mysteries so we can learn more about the genre and continue to explore what it is about a good mystery that continues to draw people in. Though we've appreciated the challenge, the pace of a book a week has been intense, so while we'll still remain just as active on social media, we are planning to shoot for each of us reading at least one mystery or thriller a month.

2) Our very own mystery novel!
The project has also required both of us to write on the regular. Obvi, we both love words, and through graduate school and our careers, there's a professional outlet for that, but little of that writing is particularly creative. The blog has given us a reason to think about how what we read gets our wheels turning, allowing for analysis, jabbering about our opinions, and thinking through and attempting to express what has made Agatha's work special and lasting. This works out well, considering we pledged to ourselves at the beginning that after devoting ourselves to every bit of the Queen of Mystery's canon for a year, we would try our hands at writing our own mystery novel in phase two. So, that's part two of what's happening in 2017, which we'll share updates about here on the blog and social media! We are super excited and super nervous to see if we've learned anything from the Queen, and to see how it goes. Feel free to send us some good vibes.

3) A Survey: THIS PART IS FOR YOU - YES, YOU!
We've learned a lot through reading and thinking about Agatha's books, writing about them, and hearing from new friends across the world about their opinions and insights on each one. We'll also be writing more in 2017 about our thoughts on Agatha as we digest the completion of the project, and this is part of it. To wrap up this year of immersing ourselves in Agatha's work, we are creating a survey that we will REALLY APPRECIATE your participation in. It will help us gain a fuller and more nuanced understanding of why today's readers still read, chat about, and love Agatha Christie's work. Stay tuned for more on this soon - don't worry, we won't let you miss out on it!

We can't wait to keep in touch with the #bookstagram community - it's been such a pleasure to get to know you all better this year!

Cheers to 2017!

- E. & A.