Agatha Christie, She Watched

by

Teresa Peschel

Comprehensive guide with fantastic, down-to-Earth reviews and commentary.

Billed as the only comprehensive guide to Agatha Christie movies, Agatha Christie, She Watched, is truly the only one needed. It provides everything you need to know to hunt down and enjoy the over 200 film adaptations of the world's bestselling author's works. Full of insightful reviews, the guide also provides quick visuals and graphic indicators of the quality of each film entry as well as how closely the result adheres to the original source materials: Christie's books, stories, and plays. 

Like many mystery readers, I am a fan of Christie's work, having come across her books as a pre-teen and early in my mystery-reading hobby, especially enjoying the longer series featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple. Yet, I've seen very few of the literally hundreds of film adaptations, not that I didn't want to! I loved how the book is organized, so even someone new to this massive field like myself can weed through the volume and start with those I would probably enjoy the most: first, by the Christie detective in the film, and secondly, in order of the films' release dates. However, I simply enjoyed reading through the two-page layouts for each film, which not only gave an overview of the film but also which book, story, or play provided its inspiration and how the plots differed. I loved how the author included real-life facts related to the film, such as the addition of the character Jim Stringer to the Miss Marple films starring Margaret Rutherford. The character was played by Stringer Davis, Rutherford's real-life husband. The author also examines how changes to the script affected how well the movie worked compared to the original source material; some didn't fare so well. 

Each film's pages list the cast members and photos of six of the more prominent characters. I was surprised to see how many well-known actors appeared in Agatha Christie adaptations, especially before they had attained their celebrity. Other surprises for me included the number of films with all-star casts and the number of times Peter Ustinov and David Suchet portrayed Poirot. 

With its amazing number of interesting facts, down-to-Earth commentary, and its comprehensive and very useful index, I highly recommend AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED to Agatha Christie fans wanting to experience the film adaptations of her works. (For those really wanting to experience the full cinematic scope of Christie's works, the author has also released an international edition of AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED, which highlights foreign (non-UK/US) films and subtitled "How The World's Best-selling Author Is Seen By Audiences In China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Sweden, and Thailand" (and others.) 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.