Agatha Christie in...Dartmoor

Dartmoor

Not far from Agatha Christie's hometown of Torquay, is the quiet but bleak moorland of Dartmoor. Agatha spent a lot of time here - including a huge family picnic for her 80th birthday. Dartmoor was never far from her mind, descriptions of Dartmoor appear frequently in her books, and she compared Dartmoor to places she visited as part of her Grand Tour. Dartmoor also provided inspiration for some of her novels, short stories and a poem, and, it was here that she completed her first novel.

In 1917, on the suggestion of her mother, Agatha went to the Moorlands Hotel near Haytor in Dartmoor. Agatha spent the next two weeks completing, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which was published a few years later in 1920. This book introduces Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hasting and Inspector Japp. It's strange to think Poirot and co. have been around for nearly 100 years!

***The following contains spoilers***

The Sittaford Mystery (1931) takes place in the fictional village of Sittaford, on the outskirts of Dartmoor. Imagine the scene - there's a raging blizzard, the wind is howling and the snow is coming down thick and fast (creating a closed circle of suspects - so, the characters decide to hold a seance (as you do)! During which, a spirit announces Captain Trevelyan has been murdered! Major Barnaby, an old friend of Trevelyan's, treks through the blizzard, across the moors to make sure he's okay - only to find the prediction is true, and Trevelyan is dead. It's up to Emily Trefusis and Charles Enderby to solve the case.

This novel, like many others, have been adapted for television - but things are a little different. I think I mentioned in some earlier posts that Miss Marple either replaces a character, or becomes an addition to the cast, when Christie's novels are adapted for television, and this is no exception. Miss Marple makes an appearance alongside Emily Trefusis, to solve the murder. It's not a very good adaptation of the novel, there are a lot of changes - including the murderer! Also, it's not filmed on Dartmoor, which is a shame.


Another novel with links to Dartmoor is The Big Four (1927). As part of the investigation Poirot and Hastings travel to the fictional village of Hoppaton, Dartmoor, after finding a letter from a Jonathan Whalley.

'Hoppaton was a small village clustering in a hollow right on the fringe of the moorland. It was reached by a nine-mile drive from Moretonhampstead' (ch3)

In Evil Under the Sun (1941), Poirot organises a day trip to Dartmoor, and notes how 'Christine Redfern sprang lightly from stone to stone' (ch12) - a fact that would come in handy later on in the story.

In the Miss Marple short story, The Idol of Astarte (from The Thirteen Problems), Dr Pender tells the tale of a murder that takes place on a property 'situated on the borders of Dartmoor':

'From the windows of it one looked our over the panorama of the Moor, vast rolling hills crowned with weatherbeaten Tors' (ch3)

Agatha Christie also wrote a poem called 'Dartmoor'. In which she describes it as 'the quiet country where the hills/Are purple in the evenings, and the tors/Are grey and quiet, and the tall standing stones/Lead out across the moorland till they end/At water's edge.' (Poems, 1973).

Dartmoor wasn't far from Agatha's mind when she went on the Grand Tour with her first husband, Archie. While travelling from Bloemfontein to Harrismith, South Africa, she notes in one of her letters:

'Rather lovely scenery in the afternoon all through the hills - rather like Dartmoor round Two Bridges' (Wednesday, March 8, 1922)

Dartmoor was evidently a special place for Agatha - as was much of Devon. This is certainly a place to visit while on the Agatha Christie Literary Trail.

One final note, there's a River Lemon running through Dartmoor - I've been wondering if this was the inspiration for the Miss Lemon's name...? Although, Miss Lemon didn't make an appearance in a Christie story until 1934, and it wasn't as Hercule Poirot's secretary - she was Parker Pyne's secretary!! Miss Lemon didn't start working for Poirot until the short story, The Nemean Lion in 1947. I wonder what she was up to in the interim years? Hmmm, the mystery of Miss Lemon!

So, did the River Lemon give it's name to Miss Lemon....? I'd like to think it did....!