2014 Agatha Christie Festival: Part 2 - Monogram Murders

Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey

On the Sunday evening we went to the book launch of Monogram Murders - a new Poirot novel, by Sophie Hannah. I'd never been to a book launch before so didn't know what to expect.

Sophie Hannah

The event was held in the Spanish Barn at Torre Abbey. It was such a lovely setting. Sophie Hannah spoke about her inspiration for the novel and the daunting task of following in the footsteps of the Agatha Christie.

I'd already ordered a signed copy online, but I queued up to get it signed again. When Sophie Hannah saw it had already been signed, she told me she remembered being called to a warehouse in the middle of the night to sign them. Sounds a bit spooky to me...perhaps a good setting for a murder...?

Mathew Prichard

Mathew Prichard was there too!!! He talked a bit about his grandmother and how kind and generous she was, and that she was quite shy. He said they would sit together in the evening while his grandmother read her stories to them. Then they would all take turns guessing who the murderer was!

After the talk, we went up to ask if we could have a photo with him. I was a little star-struck and didn't know what to say, but he was really nice. We kept bumping into him for the remainder of the festival - at Burgh Island and a couple of the other talks.

Reading on the balcony

I read Monogram Murders while we were in Torquay. Sophie Hannah's style of writing was good and the portrayal of Poirot was about right - his meticulous ways and little French/Belgium phrases here and there. But I didn't find it as captivating as an Agatha Christie novel.

I'm not really sure what it was, maybe it was the plot or the different viewpoint - which kept changing (the book was mainly from the viewpoint of a new character, Edward Catchpool). It could be that it wasn't as believable as a Christie novel. I don't know. All I do know is, it was a hard task and would be difficult for anyone. Maybe I'm just biased - I've been reading Christie novels since I was about 12 years old and have read many of them over-and-over again!!


Time to go now - our next adventure was Burgh Island, where Agatha Christie stayed and based some of her novels - there's even a room named after her! Until next time...