2017 Agatha Madness!

(I realize this photo is SUPER hard to see, so follow this link to see the original document!)

If you live in the States, chances are you or someone you know is quite invested in March Madness at the moment. My husband is not really a sports fan, but whenever March Madness rolls around, it's all basketball, all the time. 

In order to feel like we are somewhat commiserating, Emily and I have created our own Agatha Christie Madness bracket where we are pitting all of Agatha's novels (*with the exception of Passenger to Frankfurt...cuts had to be made...*) against each other and using Instagram to help us narrow down the choices with an ultimate Agatha fan pick favorite over the next few weeks!

Head over to our Instagram to help vote for your favorite Agatha Christie novels, and follow along as we update our Agatha bracket over the next few weeks!

-A.

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Thrillingly Exclusive Author Interview: Anton DiSclafani and The After Party | 2016

Image from here

"It's the women who still ask me about Joan. Young women, who have stumbled upon her story and my part in it. Old women, who used to admire her photographs in the gossip columns: Joan the jewel, a glimmer on some man's arm. Frank Sinatra's, Dick Krueger's, Diamond Glenn's. They want to know who she was. First, I tell them, she was Furlow Fortier's little blond darling. From the very beginning, she was adored." - The After Party, Prologue

We are basically swooning with excitement to share below a little interview with amazing author (and professor at Emily's alma mater, Auburn University #wareagle) Anton DiSclafani #suchanhonor #blogfeelssolegit! The interview was born out of questions we debated after reading her most recent book, which she was kind enough to discuss with us. So first, a bit of a summary of The After Party, followed by our discussion in the YOA Treatment section. 

The Sum of It:

On a recent rainy getaway weekend at a pretty fabulous house on the water, I (Emily) had a chance to absolutely devour Anton DiSclafani's newest novel, The After Party. Audrey and I both read The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls a couple years ago during the first year of the two-person book club that eventually evolved into The Year of Agatha and LOVED it, so when we heard Ms. DiSclafani had a new title (with this absolutely gorgeous cover), we were 100% in. 

The After Party is a sumptuous depiction of the high life in Texas in the mid-century, painting pictures of the clothes, hair styles, home decor, and cocktails that period of time immediately conjurs. More significantly, though, the book is an intricate study of the many depths each person holds, and the way those layers impact personal relationships. As with The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, the characters in the book are linked not just by friendship but by more than one secret, which ties the action and narration together and is gradually revealed throughout the story. This book will make you want a stiff cocktail and a chaise lounge, and will also make you think and bring you to tears. Can't recommend it enough. Get thee to your local bookshop today!

The YOA Treatment:

This year, as our faithful readers know, now that we've completed our reading of the entire Christie canon we are trying to explore the broader world of crime and mystery fiction. However, as we dig into our "to be read" stacks, we've run up against the question of what exactly is the line between genre fiction of that nature and just the use of elements of it in literary fiction. The After Party is one of the books we've read this year that raised that question for us, so we were really pumped to discuss that very thing with author Anton DiSclafani! Without further ado: 

YOA asks: Books like The After Party have led us to ask ourselves where the line is drawn between the crime fiction/mystery genre and great literary fiction that uses some element of mystery or crime to advance the plot. What are your thoughts on (as you've so eloquently posed) where this line is drawn, how authors straddle or cross it, and what type of books result when the line is crossed or blurred? 

AD answers: I think interesting, vital books result whenever a line is crossed or blurred. I teach creative writing, and I talk to my students a lot about the difference between literary fiction and genre fiction. I don't care if they write about zombies, or a broken marriage, or the dissolution of a marriage brought about by zombies; I care about being surprised by their stories. I want to not know what's going to happen next. For me, that's genre fiction--turning a page and knowing, more or less, what's on the next page. So any fiction that combines certain elements of genre fiction--in my case, mystery--and then the hallmarks of literary fiction--a character-driven story: well, that's my sweet spot, as a writer and a reader.

I appreciate a good plot. Plot is difficult, but it should also be simple. If I'm not able to explain to you in a few sentences what the plot of my book is about, then it's too convoluted. 

     

YOA asks: Both of your most recent books (The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls and The After Party) have elements of secrecy and crimes that add to the compelling plots and are part of what keeps readers turning the pages to get to the bottom of what really happened in the characters' lives. From where does your inspiration come for these elements in your work (i.e. any authors you're inspired by, stories in the news, photos, strictly your imagination)?

AD answers: I love Kazuo Ishiguro, and his unreliable narrators. I love Kate Walbert, for atmosphere and sheer beauty of prose. (And both these authors are interested in secrets, in their own way.) I'm not inspired by real-life events per se, but I am interested in all the ways women were compelled to keep secrets, historically-speaking, especially when the secrets involved sexuality or children. A friend told a story about a a great-aunt who came of age in the 30s. She had a child out of wedlock when she was a teenager, and that child (a boy) was raised as his mother's brother by her parents (and his grandparents). That's convoluted, I know, but the lengths women (and their families) went to, or were forced to go to, in order to hide children were, well, convoluted. And deeply sad. I suppose THE AFTER PARTY was inspired by a story like that. 

YOA asks: Based on our research over the course of the last year in learning more about Agatha Christie and her peers in the mystery/crime fiction genre, it has seemed that historically, writers of genre fiction such as this have perhaps not received the same level of respect as writers of literary fiction. Do you feel like that has changed/is changing in recent years? And if so, why do you think that might be? 

AD answers: I think I am perceived as writing women's fiction more than I am perceived as writing mystery/crime fiction, though I am flattered by the categorization! I really admire writers who can do plot. I hope the perception is changing, and there are certainly authors who are doing both: John Banville, who writes under the pen name Benjamin Black when he's doing mystery. Sarah Waters is genius at plot, and I don't think anyone could argue with her literary merit. People want to read a good story; I like to believe, as a writer, that readers want to be surprised, not just engaged. Or that their engagement depends on a book doing something interesting, something different. 

YOA asks: Our final question: Have you read Agatha Christie's work in the past, and if so, could you tell us your favorite of her books? 

AD answers: Sadly, a long time ago, and I remember enjoying it but I definitely need to revisit her work. Especially after hanging out on The Year of Agatha!

Well, we are #flattered to hear that, and so, so grateful for Ms. DiSclafani's willingness to share her brilliant thoughts here at The Year of Agatha. We hope you've all enjoyed it as well! 

- E. 

Our Man in Istanbul: Jason Goodwin's Investigator Yashim series | 2006-2014

The first of five in the series, image from here

"Yashim arrived early at the little restaurant beneath Galata Point and chose a quiet alcove that overlooked the channel of the Bosphorus. The Bosphorus had made Istanbul what it was: the junction of Europe and Asia, the pathway from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean, the great entrepot of world trade from ancient times to the present day. From where he sat he could watch the waterway he loved so much, the narrow sheet of gunmetal that reflected back the shape of the city it had built."

- The Janissary Tree, p. 45

The Sum of It:

Having read all five of Jason Goodwin's Investigator Yashim, the Ottoman Detective books over the last month, it's obvi a bit difficult to summarize them all! You see the first one, The Janissary Tree, at the top of this post, but the others are also great: The Snake Stone, The Bellini Card, An Evil Eye, and The Baklava Club. The author studied Byzantine history at Cambridge, and through these books brings his vast knowledge of the past in this unique and gorgeous part of the world to bear along with his personal observations of Istanbul and its surrounding environs. This is easily the most captivating feature of the series. I've never visited Turkey, or Greece (much to my chagrin) but each of these books paints such a clear and detailed picture of the architecture of palaces, tenaments, mosques, Turkish baths, and cathedrals of the cities at the mouth of the Golden Horn, not to mention the bazaars, coffee shops, and scenes along the river, that I can picture it all so clearly I feel an almost startling sense of familiarity when I run across a photograph of Istanbul in a magazine or on Instagram. 

Each of the books in the series feature a eunuch named Yashim who works for the Ottoman Sultan as a bit of an investigative jack-of-all-trades in the mid- to late-19th century. One of the girls in the harem is found strangled? Call in Yashim. A dead soldier found in a giant tin pot? Yashim gets woken up in the night to check it out. The young Sultan wants to track down a portrait of one of his illustrious ancestors across the water in Venice? Yashim better figure out what to do. Along the way, we get to know some of his best friends in the city who help him out of scrapes, tell him stories, and eat dinner with him (more on that in a bit #YUM): the last Polish ambassador in the world, Palewski, a retired transvestite dancer, Preen, a Greek farmer and produce dealer, George, and a range of beautiful ladies who swoon at Yashim's feet (that part of the stories is always a bit silly, but kind of adorbs). In the third book, The Bellini Card, Yashim hands the reigns of mystery solving and carrying the narrative over to his pal Palewski for most of the book, which was kind of tricky to get used to for a while, but came together nicely in the end amid gorgeous scenes of fencing matches with penniless Venetian royalty in crumbling ballrooms and journeys through the canals of the water-bound city. 

What initially drew me to these books in the first place goes back to Yashim making dinner for his friends. I first heard about them a few months ago in a story Mary Louise Kelly did on NPR's Morning Edition about a recently released cookbook called Yashim Cooks Istanbul. She shared her delight in the twisty and clever mystery/thrillers as well as excerpts of the beautifully written text and most of all, the loving depictions of Mediterranean food throughout these books, for Yashim loves to cook. He finds it pleasurable and meditative, it helps him sort his thoughts and provides him a way to clear his head. And boy, if book writing doesn't work out for Jason Goodwin, I'd like to recommend a career as a food critic, because the descriptions of each meal leave me drooling. For example: 

"The rice had gone clear, so he threw in a handful of currants and another of pine nuts, a lump of sugar, and a big pinch of salt. He took down a jar from the shelf and helped himself to a spoonful of oily tomato paste, which he mixed into a tea glass of water. He drained the glass into the rice, with a hiss and a plume of steam. He added a pinch of dried mint and ground some pepper into the pot and stirred the rice, then clamped on a lid and moved the pot to the back of the stove." (The Janissary Tree, p. 16)

I MEAN, I'll have what he's having. This happens all over all these books, and it is truly gorgeous. After I heard the NPR story, I knew I was going to have to read these books and get to know Istanbul and its cuisine a bit better. 

The YOA Treatment:

I have been recommending these books to everyone I meet, basically, because I think they're so special. The Janissary Tree is probably my favorite non-Agatha read in at least a year. Perhaps its having spent a year of reading mostly about the English countryside, which for all its delights, does not tend to pull on one's appetites. While the mysteries are often good, particularly in the first book (the absolute best of the bunch, in my opinion, and very nearly perfect), it's probably not surprising that what I love most about these books is how they provide a unique way to get to know a city across the globe, and across time. The scenes and characters are beautifully drawn, and immerse you in Yashim's world in a truly glorious way. 

Though these books are set in the past, there's nothing musty about the settings or the stories. Yashim and his friends seem like fascinating people you'd like to have in your life, which is one reason I was so sad when I realized there were only five of these books! The author weaves intricate historical detail about politics, religious customs, and even the Byzantine system for transporting water across the city of Istanbul into these stories with an expert hand so that every piece of information feels sparkling and vital. While the intrigue and eagerness for Yashim to solve the crimes certainly keeps the pace up, the joy of learning about this unique place and point in time is just as compelling. 

Now to fetch the cookbook and try my hand at some of Yashim's mouthwatering recipes! 

- E. 

Girls Being Girls Being Girls Being Girls: The Girls & The River at Night | 2016

The Sum of It:
I'll be honest, it was pretty jarring to spend the first month of 2017 not completely immersed in Agatha Christie. Don't worry - I'm still keeping my Agatha obsession alive by working my way through the Agatha books Emily read without me last year (Seven Dials on Audible is my current favorite!) For the purposes of this post, the first novel I tackled in January was Emma Cline's mesmerizing The Girls, followed quickly by Erica Ferencik's thrilling The River at Night.

After a year of (for the most part) strictly mystery reading, I was interested to start 2017 out without the need to be on the lookout for a killer. The Girls centers around a character named Evie in the present-day, middle-age and 1960s. As a teen, Evie is bright, yet bored. It's summertime and her parents have divorced, she's fallen out with her best friend, and she's desperate for a distraction from her woes. The distraction comes in the form of Suzanne, a total free spirit whose dubious role-model/friend skillz get on super thin ice when she takes Evie to meet all her pals at a not-so-subtle cult meet-up. You can tell even teenage Evie knows this probably won't turn out well, and present-day Evie confirms these suspicions by relating cryptic fragments of her memories of that summer, which include, among other things, memories of #MURDER. While in the end there wasn't really much mystery to the murderS (yes, several #yikes), Cline's enchanting writing held me captive until the very last page...and made me a bit wary of making new friends in the park.

The River at Night is also about female friendship. Protagonist Wini and her group of three other besties are gearing up for their annual girls trip. Instead of a ski vacay or even Disney World, the group is going to go white water rafting in middle-of-nowhere Maine. PAUSE: THIS IS LITERALLY MY NIGHTMARE VACATION SO I WAS IMMEDIATELY TERRIFIED WHEN I READ THIS PART! (#shivers) Wini is a bit apprehensive about this particular excursion, but seeing the vacation as a way to reconnect with her friends, and have a break from her heartbreaking personal life, she acquiesces. While decidedly eerie, the beginning of this story gives the four women an opportunity to air some grievances and share some personal hardships. Even when it's discovered that the "leader" of the group, Pia, mayyyyy have decided to take this irregular trip to hook up with the hot young rapids guide (#partyfoul), it seems like the group might get home at the end of the day with some good campfire tales. BUT THEN THINGS GET REAL. I won't say much more for fear of #spoilers, but suffice it to say, things go from like a bummer, sleeping in the woods isn't the most fun kinda uncomfortable story to a things have gotten REALLY, REALLY, REALLY BAD kind of thriller. This book had me reading with wide eyes and heart pounding.

The YOA Treatment:
Many of the Agatha Christie books we read last year featured strong friendships. Obviously you have the ongoing besties saga of Poirot and Hastings, but her books show many other one-off friendships, particularly those between women, such as the one that develops between Ruth and Lenox in The Mystery of the Blue Train, the delicious Tea & Scandal group from The Murder at the Vicarage, and even tragic friendships like Jacqueline and Linnet in Death on the Nile. I wrote last year about how I appreciated Agatha's treatment of the teenage friendship in Cat Among the Pigeons. Though Emma Cline's meditation on the emotional rollercoaster that is being a teenage girl was much more in-depth than Pigeons, it made me smile to think the girls in both books were essentially from the same time period, and still have the same longings, delights, and frustrations as girls today.  The River at Night's Wini reminded me of Destination Unknown's Hilary Craven: riddled with personal tragedy, but in the end defiantly ready to give life a chance, and do what she must for those she has come to care for.

So far, it's really interesting to dig into new books with the perspective of a steady stream of Agatha having coursed through our eyeballs and ears and brains over the past year. We'll continue to be on the lookout for parallels, recurring concepts, and #spookymoments as we move through more mysteries and thrillers in 2017.

There are more classical detective novels to come for me in February, so stay tuned! And Emily has a terrific review of an entire SERIES of detective novels she has flown through so far this year still to come this week.

Happy reading, friends!

-A.

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Ok to Judge by Its Cover: Classic Penguin, Cover to Cover | 2016

This book is so cool!

"Within these pages the artists and writers involved tell you what it was like for them to dive into this material and with their hands, their minds, give it a new continuity to propel these timeless themes and stories into the world you and I are now occupying. You will see what did not make it onto the covers, rough ideas, outtakes, the excellent and the my-god-man-what-were-you-thinking?

This book is a celebration of the marriage of beautiful Art & Design and powerful iconic Literature. There will always be ways to experience things anew -- the fun is finding those who want to help you do exactly that." - Paul Buckley, Classic Penguin: Cover to Cover, Introduction 

The Sum of It:

Obvi this is not a book of crime fiction, but we're considering this post a public service announcement for all the book folk out there (and their friends and family on the lookout for a good birthday gift this year)! 

I'm pretty sure we're all book lovers here, so it seems safe to say that we not only enjoy their contents, the moving, clever, insightful, beautiful words that make up their stories, but we also love them for their exteriors. As we've gotten to know #bookstagram, we've seen so many posts about readers finding yet another beautiful copy of a favorite book, often even posting photos of many different copies of a beloved tale together. This book is an ode to that love, of books as objects of beauty, in addition to their intrinsic value. It travels through a wide range of beautiful classic Penguin covers, from the iconic orange bands to recent redesigns of classic authors, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Graham Greene, and so many more. In addition to showcasing the beautiful covers, this book allows the designers to talk about their work, how they approached each cover, and in many cases shares earlier drafts of different covers as well as thoughts from editors and designers on how the final choice was made. It's super fascinating to learn more about the process of bringing book covers to life in such a way that really speaks to the book's themes and content, and draws in readers. 

The YOA Treatment:

It was such fun to pore through this beautiful book. While I've seen many of these covers in real life, it was so cool to catch a glimpse of others I haven't had a chance to see yet, and add them to my wishlist! It was also just so interesting to learn about how an editor pairs a designer with a particular book or author, knowing that either the designer has a style that reflects the writer's prose, or does a great job with images that will really parallel a book's themes. Even though we're all well familiar with the old adage, "don't judge a book by its cover," so often a cover's look is the first step to encouraging a reader to pick it up, and check out what's inside. It's wonderful to read these designer's thoughts on the deep responsibility they feel to accurately reflect an author's work so that the cover functions as a window onto the words inside. We just know you'll love spending some time with this book over a cup of tea or a glass of wine, and it will make you pay even more attention to the beautiful covers that pull you in! 

- E. 

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.

Wrapping up: The Conclusion of the First Year of Agatha | Our Thoughtz & Feelingz

Hi everyone,

First of all, if you're out there, THANK YOU for reading the blog, following us on social media, buying tshirts, sharing your thoughts, opinions, and photos, and generally being there. The experience of The Year of Agatha has been fascinating and fun and enlightening and empowering and so much more, so we wanted to share some of our #THOUGHTZANDFEELINGZ after this epic year!

Broadly speaking, though we're both admitted bibliophiles, this project has forced us to prioritize reading despite our busy lives working full-time jobs, finishing graduate programs, teaching classes, and (for one of us) planning a wedding! The way we divided the books allowed us each to read a little over one book a week for the entire year, sometimes both reading the same mystery at the same time, sometimes reading different books during the week. We both realized that a lot of the time we spend in boring meetings, riding public transportation, waiting for a friend to meet you for dinner, etc. (which these days we all often spend scrolling mindlessly through our phones) can instead be put to good use as little nuggets of reading time. While we both love television (especially the streaming variety) and would never malign it, making so much time for reading also had us being more mindful of our other media consumption as well. Not to mention an all-consuming project such as this one has been a great ice breaker at parties and in job interviews!

Obviously, reading all of Agatha's mysteries between the two of us in itself has been a really delightful experience. Her books are timeless, the plots engaging, the characters funny, terrifying, clever, alive, and the twists are brilliant, even a hundred years later. We each wanted to share some thoughts about Agatha's books after this year with her work, as well as an oft-requested list of each of our five favorites.

Emily
I was a little less familiar with Agatha's work than Aud going into this year, so many of the books were totally new to me. Knowing Agatha was so renowned as an author, I went into the experience expecting to be impressed. However, after reading 52 of her books over the course of the year, I am just straight-up bowled over by her mind. She has such a talent for creating an engaging plot that hooks you like a melody and keeps you turning the pages that in the few books that aren't quite as catchy, you're totally shocked to be underwhelmed. She is the Queen of Mystery because she has a gift like none other for creating tale after tale with so many quality red herrings and plot twists that even her most avid readers are still kept guessing. I think one of the things I've enjoyed the most about the books, though, is Agatha's skill with dialogue. Creating dialogue between characters that sounds natural and not stilted is terribly tricky, and so many of Agatha's books contain funny, or chilling (or both!) conversations that really advance the plot. She knew people, and how they would interpret situations or conversations or clues. She knew how to explain motives, as well as painting a picture of settings and scenes that could be as cozy as a little, flower-covered English cottage or as bleak as a windswept seaside cliff. She knew what would matter to readers, and what readers would believe mattered to characters. Getting to know her through her work this year has been really something.

After an agonizing narrowing down process, here are  my five favorites, in no particular order: 
1) The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence at their finest, the witty dialogue bubbles like champagne and the action races along, I read this one in one night, staying up way past my bedtime to find out what happened!)
2) 4:50 to Paddingdon (This one is such a good solid mystery, and I loved Lucy Eyelesbarrow, Miss Marple's adorable, clever, brave sidekick who can make dinner for the landed gentry and track down a dead body all in one night without batting an eye #girlboss, plus this is a great Miss Marple, whom I now seriously adore)
3) Endless Night (IT'S SO GOOD AND CREEPY!! I love how deep into character Agatha went to get into the narrative of this story, and what a great sneaky plot it is. Terrifically well done. I'm not a big Halloween person, but I think I'll read this one around that time every year!)
4) And Then There Were None (There is seriously no two ways about it, in my mind, this book is brilliant. I've already shared it with so many friends who have different tastes in books, but they all race through it and proclaim it great. The character development is top notch, the setting is ominous and terrifically well painted, and the reveal is oooh, excellent. An absolute classic.)
5) The Seven Dials Mystery (This was one of  my earliest reads, and a story I was totally unfamiliar with. It's a very interesting set-up, with a mysterious secret society, and its more of a caper, which I really enjoy, but what I liked most was the plucky heroine Bundle Brent, who didn't mind what any man told her was her role, and did as she pleased with calm and cunning. Another #girlboss I adored.)

Audrey
As I've said time and time again (sorry, #brokenrecord), I've been an Agatha Christie fan for a long time now. The thought did cross my mind for a quick second back at the beginning of last year whether or not I would be bored re-reading books I had devoured as a teenager. I couldn't have been more wrong. Spending this year revisiting my favorite author has been the most delightful experience - even more so to share it with one of my dearest friends! There's nothing quite like having a good friend to discuss books with! Not only have I loved my midnight text marathons with Emily about that ending to Sparkling Cyanide I forgot about or Hastings' latest crush, but the Agatha Christie community we have found here on the blog and on social media has given me an even deeper level of enjoyment of Agatha's works. I've loved reading reactions from our #bookstagram pals as they've reached the end of Roger Ackroyd or shared their love for some of my more obscure favorites. Reading is one of my deepest joys, and it warms my heart to no end to have dedicated this year to a genre and an author I have admired for so long!

And now on to my favorites: (Like Emily, this took me FOREVER to decide! I ended up sharing some of my more surprising favorites, because honestly, they're just all so great.)
1) The Murder at the Vicarage (I can't say this enough: go read this book pronto. It has some of the funniest lines I think Agatha ever wrote. And Griselda Clement is literally my hero.)
2) A Pocket Full of Rye (A surprising favorite for me! This year taught me I am more of a Marple fan than a Poirot fan when it comes to the books [even though I adore David Suchet's Poirot performances more than I can say!], and I thought this portrayal of Miss Marple avenging her murdered maid was one of her best!)
3) Crooked House (This book is just terrific. Like And Then There Were None, this was a case where a standalone novel without Agatha's usual crime fighters was a home run. Agatha does creepy/dysfunctional families well, and this was, in my opinion, perhaps her best. Add to that one of the most mind boggling endings and you have a true classic!)
4) Cat Among the Pigeons (Even though Poirot has basically no page time in this later Agatha novel, I really loved the angsty and very realistic teenage girl characters that made up the majority of the story.)
5) Murder in Mesopotamia (This was always one of my favorite Poirot TV adaptations, so I was primed to love this book. While the mystery itself isn't necessarily earth shattering, the Middle Eastern setting is so much fun, and you can tell it was very dear to Agatha's heart.)


People have asked all year if we're "tired of it" yet, and perhaps surprisingly (aside from short story droughts, oof) the answer has always been no. This project has been a joy and an inspiration, for reals, from beginning to end. Which is why we aren't really going to let it end! Our next post will offer our plans for The Year of Agatha, phase two, in 2017. We hope you'll continue to follow us as we make our way further through the world of mysteries and crime fiction!

- E. & A.