Trailing Agatha

Years ago, in the youth of my childhood, Baba bought me 'And Then There Were None' on one of our annual outings at the Kolkata International Book Fair, which, at that point in time, used to be held at the Maidan. Baba used to be the indulgent parent, taking me to the book fair, buying me the books I wanted. Not now, though, when I buy my own books and Baba laments about the lack of space in the house and berates me about not using libraries. But that's not the point of this post. I read my first Agatha Christie book courtesy of Baba. 'They Do It With Mirrors' didn't have a very engaging beginning for me who had till then only read Enid Blyton. But I persevered and found a new love. 

In recent years, with crime fiction books mushrooming across the world, and Japanese classics in the genre being translated with enthusiasm, I have been overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of books with the "cut-off-from-the-mainland-and-there's-been-a-murder" trope. Notably, these books are mostly by authors of the West while Japanese crime fiction stresses on the "locked-room" trope. There are, of course, outliers in the latter genre, like 'The Decagon House Murders' by Yukito Ayatsuji, which was quite good. 

A large number of contemporary mystery and crime fiction releases say "lovers of Agatha Christie will love this" on their cover, or on the back, and yes, lovers of Agatha Christie WILL love them, not because they come close enough to the Dame's talent or style but because we miss them. They fall short, inevitably, but some of them do hit close to the mark. 

And then there are the pastiches. Sophie Hannah's resurrection of Poirot admittedly had me in a quandary, battling the urge to reacquaint myself with the Belgian detective with an intense elderly mindset of "why must they ruin a masterpiece?" There's no prize for guessing which won because my bookshelves now boast of several new Hercules. And they aren't bad, exactly, although they don't match up to Christie. But the stories themselves aren't quite logic-driven. Nonetheless, I know I'll read more of them. 

More recently, though, I came across a book of new short stories starring the indomitable Miss Marple. Harper Collins, in 2022, brought out 'Marple', with 12 original stories written by 12 contemporary authors, each with their own style but more-or-less sticking to how Christie imagined Jane Marple. And I would absolutely love to read more of them. 

The queen of crime continues to reign supreme but some of the princes and princesses riding on her coattails have indeed managed to come into their own. And I, for one, am deeply grateful to them for even trying.