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8th February 2010
The next event in the life of Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks is the appearance of the U.S. edition. Retaining the jacket design, with just a change of font for Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making, it is due out at the end of February/ beginning of March from Harper Collins in New York. It has already attracted attention in Publishers Weekly and USA Today and I am scheduled, nearer to publication date, to do radio and print interviews. I know from e-mails received via this web site that interest in Christie and the book is high in the States. The Incident of the Dog’s Ball, one of the ‘new’ Poirot short stories, has already appeared in The Strand magazine.
Translations are also due in the next year from Japan (this summer), France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia, Vietnam and Korea. And from e-mails received from fans I know that the English version is also on the shelves in Brazil, India, Moscow and Rome.
At home in Dublin, shortly before Christmas, I spoke at a Reader’s Day in South Dublin libraries. This annual event attracts a large crowd of library users to hear writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets and translators talk about their books. And, hopefully, sell copies!
Many Christie fans came up to me afterward to tell me how much they had enjoyed the book. This sort of feedback is always very encouraging – and welcome!
In London for Christmas I spoke to BBC Radio 4 and BBC TV News 24 about the Mary Westmacott play, A Daughter’s a Daughter, which was staged for a month between December and January. This virtually unknown aspect of Agatha Christie’s output is a non-crime family drama and, despite its lack of murder and mystery, is a totally compelling stage play which deserves to be better known. This staging was only its third since a one-week run in Bath in 1956. The reviews were excellent and most of the critics expressed surprise that Christie could write so well when outside her normal area of expertise.
In March I travel to Japan. I am accompanying a major exhibition of Christie’s life and works which will contain many never-before-seen items from the Christie archive – Notebooks and Manuscripts, signed first editions, posters and playbills, letters and artefacts both professional and personal. We have tried as far as possible to show the genesis of particular title. So a Notebook, a manuscript, a first edition, and, perhaps, a play or film poster show the progression of a title from scribbled notes to screen or stage adaptation. Christie is hugely popular in Japan and interest is expected to be high. The exhibition is scheduled to remain for three months. I will attend the official opening and talk to the media about the exhibition and Christie in general. But I will also meet with my Japanese publishers who will do some publicity in advance of summer publication.
On my return I am attending the Oxford Literary Festival where Mathew Prichard and myself will be in conversation about Christie in general and Secret Notebooks in particular. We are scheduled to speak on March 25th. Tickets can be booked at:
www.oxfordliteraryfestival.com
In between these activities I am hard at work on the next volume of Secret Notebooks (although the title will, obviously, have to change!). At the moment publication is tentatively set for September 2011. This volume will cover the remaining 20-odd novels not covered in Volume One, as well as some more plays, including the unknown radio scripts; Mary Westmacott, the Autobiography, some travel accounts and a look at how Christie, throughout her career, broke all the Rules of Detective fiction while producing more classic titles than anyone else. And there are still some unpublished pieces......
In May I will be appearing at Crimefest. This annual convention for writers, publishers and readers takes place at the Bristol Marriott Hotel between May 20th and 23rd It is the perfect opportunity for fans to meet their literary idols and I hope to get a chance to talk to one of mine, Colin (Inspector Morse) Dexter. Apart from panel discussions there are more light-hearted events – a Mastermind Quiz – and endless chances to eat (and drink!) and talk crime. More details at Email: info@crimefest.com
Later again in the summer I am at the Buxton Literary and Music Festival but more of that in the next instalment......
1st November 2009
My book is now, after teo months of events, well and truly launched.
The first event was in Dublin on September 3rd. That morning I did a Breakfast TV interview, which I have yet to watch myself! Much to my surprise, over 200 people attended the launch itself that evening and I signed almost 200 hundred copies; in this I was ably assisted by three of my nephews, to whom the book is dedicated. I was very grateful that both Mathew Prichard and is wife, Lucy, flew over to celebrate the publication. And a dozen friends and Christie enthusiasts also flew from the UK to be part of the evening; and my family, from as far away as Dubai, Rome and London, also made the journey. A private celebration the following evening gave me the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends.
I flew to London the following week and spent a day speaking to various BBC radio stations around the UK as well as ‘podcasting’ for The Guardian website. Of all the interviews I did, that for the BBC World Service was the one most mentioned to me throughout following weeks. As recently as yesterday I had an email from a former colleague now living in Australia who heard the interview and went to his local Brisbane bookshop and bought the book. Never underestimate the power of radio! I rounded off that day in Goldsboro Books signing stock for their pre-orders and in anticipation of the launch event later that week. I then flew home for 24 hours to speak to The Marian Finucane Show, a much listened-to radio show that has been a staple of Irish broadcasting for many years.
I spent much of the next week in Torquay where it was Agatha Christie Week. The opening event was a gala dinner in the Imperial Hotel (where Peril at End House begins) with 2 radio plays - one before and the other after the meal. Roy Marsden and Susan Penhaligon starred in these Agatha Christie Theatre Company productions of Personal Call and Butter in a Lordly Dish. Although I had heard/seen both plays on an earlier occasion they never fail to fascinate; in particular the sound effects man who, deservedly, got a round of applause all to himself. Afterwards I met most of the cast for a drink and spent the rest of the evening talking Agatha Christie with Joe Harmston, the director of the four plays presented to date by the Agatha Christie Theatre Company. On Monday I did some more radio interviews and the following evening attended the launch, in the Grand Hotel, of Hilary Macaskill’s new book Agatha Christie at Home. As no visit to Torquay is ever complete without a visit to Greenway I was delighted to be asked to give a talk there to the stalwart band of volunteers who have worked so hard to make Greenway the success it undoubtedly is. Mathew Prichard arranged a private tour of the house for myself and a small group of personal friends and Christie devotees.
On Wednesday my own book got its Torqauy launch when I gave a talk about the Notebooks in Torquay Museum followed by a very lively Question and Answer session afterwards with lots of intelligent questions from a knowledgeable audience. By the time I got home some of the attendees had already sent me photos of the evening.
The London launch was the following evening in Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court. The owners, David and Daniel, and their assistant Pavla, put a lot of effort into making this evening a great success. Wine flowed, cameras clicked, speeches were made and books were signed. Actor Roy Marsden and Vicky Barnes, the CEO of HarperCollins attended, as did Mathew Prichard and my commissioning editor, David Brawn; David had missed the Dublin launch thanks to a 2-hour motorway delay, which prevented him from getting to the airport in time for his flight. A meal at Browns with friends rounded off a memorable evening.
The following morning I signed 500 copies of my book in the offices of HarperCollins and spoke to a Spanish TV crew. (If, like me, you are wondering about the language barrier, they told me I would be dubbed!)
Reviews (with one nameless notable exception) have been very positive and it is hoped that the book will be reprinted before Christmas. Foreign sales have also been promising with 8 translations planned for next year and a US edition due from HarperCollins America in March.
MORE REVIEWS
Extract from www.killerreads.com
I loved the new book by John Curran, Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks……. It needed someone with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Agatha Christie’s work to make sense of the books, and Curran certainly has that. This is no dry academic book, though, but an entertaining read that will fascinate Agatha’s loyal fans
Extract from The Northern Echo review 21st September
….absolutely engrossing…..Curran is obviously famiiliar with every word of the countless millions Christie wrote. His exploration of the Notebooks….delivers a picture that entertainingly illuminates the making of Chrisite’s murder mysteryies over 50 years – a unique insight into the working methods of the world’s most popular author.
Extract frm The Irish Times review 26th September
John Curran, aficionado par excellence, is on hand with his exhaustive commentary to fill the gaps, to assess the probably impact of the possible variations on each detective theme and provide a good critical account of the books that resulted.[He] has organised his material as efficiently as an Agatha Christie mystery…..[His] enthusiasm for his subject carries us along.
Extract from The Guardian review 26th September
Curran knows his subject backwards….
Extract from The Times Online review 12th September
…the meticulous attention, dedication and prodigious knowledge of John Curran. [His] commentaries are essential companions to Christie’s scribblings
6th September 2009
John and Agatha Christie’s grandson Mathew Prichard discuss Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks in a short video on Amazon. View it here
REVIEWS
‘A meticulously detailed study that is packed with shrewd perceptions about Christie’s fiction... Bristling with information...bursting with enjoyable expertise.. Curran has produced an enthralling miscellany of a book, in which her fans will rummage to their heart’s content.’ Peter Kemp THE SUNDAY TIMES 6th September 2009
‘..he has carefully produced a book that is readable..Many of Curran's discoveries will shape how Christie is read in future ...this book is fascinating’ Tom Sperlinger The Independent on Sunday 6th September 2009
‘His approach is certainly exhaustive. Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks represents
a formidable feat of organisation. Also of great interest is the reproduction of
pages from the notebooks, in Christie’s formidably difficult handwriting.’ Laura
Thompson The Telegraph 4th September 2009
1st September 2009
Promotion for the book began in earnest in mid-August with a day’s filming for video clips for Amazon and the HarperCollins website. During filming I did an interview for the Daily Mail, which appeared in the August 20th edition. This gave some of the background to the discovery of the short story The Capture of Cerberus. The story itself appeared as a 2-part serialisation on August 22nd and 24th. I spent a fascinating afternoon in BBC Broadcasting House recording The Archive Hour, due for broadcast on Saturday 12th September. My fellow panellists included Kevin Elyot, adapter of several of the Marple and Poirot TV films; Enyd Williams and Michael Bakewell, producer and adapter of the wonderful Radio 4 Poirot and Marple series; and Laura Thompson, Christie’s biographer. Val McDermid chaired the discussion.
Back in Dublin the Irish Daily Mail asked me to write a piece for post Cerberus publication and this appeared on Tuesday 25th – a full page of the history of my involvement with the Notebooks and the discovery of the story. This coincided with an appearance on Morning Ireland, the daily 2-hour radio show listened to throughout the country and also accessed online by thousands of Irish people living abroad. As a result of both of these I got quite a few e-mails to my website from readers anxiously awaiting the book’s appearance, including from Canadian, Australian and Russian fans as well as Irish. Lined up for launch day is an appearance on Irish Breakfast TV and a major feature on one of the main Irish dailies.
Foreign sales have been very encouraging with sales to half-a-dozen European countries and U. S. A.
Yesterday I got my author copies and, regardless of content (!) the book looks great – well, I would say that, wouldn’t I? But it does, and it is incredibly exciting after years of reading the books of other writers to hold your own book and stare at your own name on the jacket. And I freely admit I am looking forward to going into a bookshop and seeing it on the shelves!
Launch day in Dublin is Thursday 3rd September and I am very complimented that Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s grandson, and his wife Lucy will come to Dublin to celebrate the launch. My commissioning editor from HarperCollins is also flying in for the event and my family is arriving from as far afield as Dubai, Rome and London. A dozen friends and fellow devotees are coming to Dublin from the UK to get their copies before the London launch and to share in this event.
I fly to London the following week for events in London and Torquay, Agatha Christie’s hometown. I will be launching the book in Goldsboro Books, Cecil Court, off Charing Cross Road on September 17th - Thank You to David and Daniel for hosting this occasion. There will be signed copies available from the shop from Friday onwards.
In Torquay I will give a talk on September 16th at the Museum, home to a permanent display celebrating Agatha Christie’s life and work. Illustrated with many slides from the Notebooks, including some that didn’t make it into my book, this will be a history of the Notebooks and my involvement with them.
I hope to meet Christie devotees at one or other of these events, so please come up and introduce yourself. I am always happy to talk to fellow Christie addicts.
1st August 2009
There have been books on Agatha Christie’s life, her literary output, her husband, her disappearance; we have bought quiz books, travel books, film books, Mousetrap books; books about her poisons, her characters, her cover designs, her garden. There have even been biographies of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. The Notebooks of Agatha Christie is probably the only facet of the Queen of Crime that has not already been discussed in a book. Until now…
My contribution to this ever-growing Christie scholarship has been undertaken with not just the blessing of her grandson, Mathew Prichard, but his active encouragement and practical help. I have been a guest in his home so often during the last year, that I now have my own room! I am very grateful to him and his wife, Lucy. And I am delighted that Harper Collins, Agatha Christie’s publishers today and for most of her working life, showed such instant interest in the book when I first suggested it.
There are over 70 Notebooks of all sizes, descriptions, colours and number of pages. For what they contain they appear remarkably unimpressive…until you open and begin to read. Considering their uniqueness, I was reluctant to work straight from them and decided that photocopying the pages was the better option. This had to be undertaken carefully due to the age and fragility of some of the earlier Notebooks. In fact, 2 of the earliest, containing notes for, among others, Peril at End House and the stage version of Chimneys, could not be copied, as they were considered too delicate. Four trips across the Irish Sea and four visits to the photocopying shop were necessary, copying about 15/20 Notebooks on each visit. And I ended up with over 4,000 photocopied pages. Then the real work began.
The first job was to convert them into a readable format. This took almost six months, as Dame Agatha’s handwriting was, especially during her hugely prolific years (roughly 1930 to 1950) very difficult to read. But I discovered that if I left a page and returned to it a few days later, I could often make sense of a sentence that had earlier baffled me. But certain passages still defied me and in some cases I was reduced to an educated guess. A detailed knowledge of all of Dame Agatha’s output was not just an enormous help but, in fact, a vital necessity. It helped to know, for instance, that a reference to ‘apomorphine’ is not a misprint or a mis-spelling but a vital part of the plot of Sad Cypress. But no amount of knowledge could help in the case of scribbled notes for an unpublished title or for cryptic ideas, later discarded, for a published work. As the weeks progressed I was surprised how used to her handwriting I became and I found converting the last batch considerably easier and quicker than the first.
After creating readable files for each Notebook it was then necessary to extract the information about individual books from these records in order to assemble a file on each title. This took longer than anticipated as most titles are scattered through many Notebooks; very few titles are plotted completely within the covers of just one. As many as a dozen notebooks, for instance, are involved in the cases of e.g. Sparkling Cyanide and Sleeping Murder. So at this stage, I have files on all but half-a-dozen books, over 60 short stories, all of the plays and most of the Westmacotts and the Autobiography. The files vary in length from a few pages to over 100. And they are all fascinating.
And as if that wasn’t enough the book will also include…… 2 NEW POIROT STORIES!
I am enormously proud that my book will also include 2 never-before-published adventures of Hercule Poirot. Although it is impossible to say for certain when exactly they were written I am satisfied that they date from the 1930s; in other words, from Agatha Christie’s Golden Age, when she was at her most ingenious and prolific. And because there are references to both stories in the Notebooks, this enables me to give some background and put them both in context. Who thought that, over 30 years after her death, we would be able to enjoy 2 unknown examples of the unbeatable combination of Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot?