Books

Thursday, 23 July, 2015 - 20:22

Agatha Christie's house

by FrancesS

I love a good murder mystery. It is so fun to watch or read a gripping detective story and try to solve the murder yourself. Agatha Christie is undeniably queen of the whodunit genre given that she wrote over eighty books. Many people have fallen in love with her creations – Hercule Poirot, a famous Belgian detective and Miss Marple, an old lady who is also an amateur sleuth.

As I am a big fan of Agatha Christie, I was thrilled to visit her house in Devon called Greenway. I travelled to her house by steam train. We went through a dark tunnel and there was lots of smoke. It was a perfect setting for a murder like in her famous novel Murder on the Orient Express. Fortunately all the passengers arrived safely!

After a pleasant walk through the woods, I reached the splendid house. I did a tour and I loved seeing where she wrote her books. Many first editions were on display in a revolving bookcase. However, my favourite part of the estate was the boathouse. There was a lovely view of the river but the boathouse also served a more sinister purpose – inspiration for a crime scene. In the Poirot novel, Dead Man’s Folly, a girl’s body is found in the boathouse. They even filmed the TV adaptation of the book at Greenway.

I really enjoyed my visit to Greenway. It was such a beautiful place and I was fascinated to see where Agatha Christie was inspired to write so many thrilling stories.

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Discussion

Do you like murder mysteries? Can you recommend a good detective story?

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