Agatha's Dearest Companion

Hello dear readers!

This week we are making our way through Dumb Witness (stay tuned early next week for our recap and review!) For those of you not familiar with this story, it includes a terrifically endearing character in Bob the dog, the family pet of one of Poirot's clients. In our Agatha studies this year, we have enjoyed learning about her personal love of dogs - most particularly her own pets throughout her lifetime. In fact, she dedicated Dumb Witness to one of her favorites, inscribing:

To

Dear Peter,

Most Faithful of Friends

and Dearest of Companions,

A Dog in a Thousand

You can learn more about Agatha's enchanting doggie friends in this wonderful video from Agatha Christie Trust in their The Essence of Agatha Christie series!

Have a lovely weekend, one and all!

-A. & E.

The Essence of Agatha Christie: Writing (A VIDEO!)

We've been doing lots of research on Agatha and her books for this project (duh), and one of the best and most delightful spots to spend an hour (or so...) in an Internet rabbit hole is the official site of the Agatha Christie Trust (aptly housed at agathachristie.com), which is managed by Agatha's only and blessed grandson, Mathew Prichard. 

One of the most interesting things we've been considering is how the untrained Agatha got so good at her craft, and what her creative process was like (especially since we're hoping to wrap it up by taking a stab (get it?) at mystery fiction ourselves). When we came across this video, a quick intro to Agatha's notebooks and writing process by said grandson, we loved it and wanted to share it with you guys! 

Be sure to visit The Year of Agatha again on Saturday (January 23) for our recap of The Sittaford Mystery and Monday (January 25) for The Man in the Brown Suit.

-A. & E.