![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Aug. 21st, 2019 08:58 pmBook Review: A Talent for Murder, by Andrew Wilson
This was a work book sale selection. The premise was interesting - an imagination of what caused the disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926 and what happened during those ten days - though, admittedly, other versions are available. I found the book's start rather weak, as an insipid Christie is pushed towards a train on the London Underground, then saved from it, by a doctor, who turns out to have other motives, blackmailing Christie into her actions through fear of details of her failing marriage becoming public. The first-person narration is not very convincing and it's hard to keep the suspension of disbelief, which is unfortunate, as other aspects of the book, narrated from other perspectives, feel better written - two strangers Christie meets in London who turn out to have significant roles in the story; the local bumbling police force in Surrey; Christie's undercover stay in a hotel in Harrogate; and another long-suffering woman who turns out to be of strong character. There were some clever twists and some though went into tying up the loose ends, and there's a useful postscript which outlines the known facts to explain how the novel dovetails into them, but to be honest the book struggled to recover from its disappointing start.
This was a work book sale selection. The premise was interesting - an imagination of what caused the disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926 and what happened during those ten days - though, admittedly, other versions are available. I found the book's start rather weak, as an insipid Christie is pushed towards a train on the London Underground, then saved from it, by a doctor, who turns out to have other motives, blackmailing Christie into her actions through fear of details of her failing marriage becoming public. The first-person narration is not very convincing and it's hard to keep the suspension of disbelief, which is unfortunate, as other aspects of the book, narrated from other perspectives, feel better written - two strangers Christie meets in London who turn out to have significant roles in the story; the local bumbling police force in Surrey; Christie's undercover stay in a hotel in Harrogate; and another long-suffering woman who turns out to be of strong character. There were some clever twists and some though went into tying up the loose ends, and there's a useful postscript which outlines the known facts to explain how the novel dovetails into them, but to be honest the book struggled to recover from its disappointing start.