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Book Review of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
reviewed on + 1438 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


Missing for eleven days in December, 1926, the fledgling author reappears with no explanations. Investigators found her car on the edge of a deep, gloomy lake. The only clues are tire tracks and her fur coat which she apparently abandoned on an extremely cold night. Her husband and daughter had no idea where she might have gone and authorities set about organizing a huge manhunt to find her.

The puzzle of the missing days continues even today and many have offered explanations yet the questions remain. Did she do this as a publicity stunt to encourage sales of her mysteries? Was she kidnapped? Is someone, perhaps her husband, responsible for her disappearance?

The author focuses her works on women of our past. While this is a departure from her normal writing, Ms. Benedict decided to research Mrs. Christie's life. What she discovered was that Mrs. Christie was trapped in an unhappy marriage with a man who abused her emotionally. Little about her life pleased him from her writing, her books, her personality or her appearance. Plus, he had a young mistress. The author mused about plausible answers of those missing days. Mrs. Christie's response was that she suffered amnesia but was that the truth? What is written here is an most interesting tale of how Ms. Benedict thought why she left and what happened later. It is an imaginative approach that focuses on Agnes Christie's talent for creating mystery. It's very well done.