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Dead Ringers

Dame Agatha Christie sat in a lush, turquoise armchair, sipping a cup of tea with a mischievous glint in her eye. A helpful, local librarian at Cholsey Library — a soft spoken Ms. Gardner — helped arrange the Zoom call for the interview. “It was a bit of a startle at first and I wasn’t convinced she wasn’t a lookalike pulling one over on us, but the likeness was too uncanny for it to not be Dame Christie herself,” Gardner stated. “Does devalue my signed first editions a bit, but it’s been lovely getting to know her.”

Despite her recent resurrection, Christie was free of any desiccation and insisted on embroidering while we spoke. “After being dead for nearly fifty years, it’s such a pain to be too still. Idle hands and all.” She insists that while she enjoyed embroidery in the first round of life, in her second she has come to love it even more. Ms. Gardner introduced her to various embroidery patterns accessible through the internet, including some with “hilariously colorful” language. At the end of our conversation, she showed me the series of French knots that bordered a word I cannot share here, but know it was artfully rendered.

Since her “return from retirement” as she casually refers to her coming back to life, Christie has acted as though she’s on a mission to make up for lost time. We sat down to discuss her latest book, Dead Ringers, a possible revival of Ms. Marple and her fascination with oat milk latte culture. I couldn’t help but feel a bit star struck through the process, but she maintained an air of complete collection.

A NOVEL UNLIKE ANY OTHER CHRISTIE HAS WRITTEN

To begin the conversation, we dove straight into her latest release, which comes out next week. Dead Ringers is unlike anything she has previously crafted and seems heavily influenced by her recent transition back. Instead of trying to solve who has been putting victims in the ground, a new detective on the scene is solving the mystery of who is bringing them back — and how? The main character, Detective Bourdain, is a striking woman with a sharp tongue and even sharper intellect. With her background in studying cults and the occult, she stumbles onto a series of unexplainable cases that leave her city in turmoil. I would love to say more about the plot, but it would do a disservice to the reader. Be assured that you will not see the twists and turns Christie guides the reader through as if she is driving breakneck speed through the mountains.

When asked about her writing process, she waved a hand dismissively. “I spent decades being asked that question. My answer hasn’t changed nor has my disinterest in the question.” I moved on from any questions about her writing process other than to ask if she has any plans to pick up where she left off with old characters. Would she be interested in reviving Ms. Marple or Poirot in any way? She sat thoughtfully when considering if she would reinvigorate the detectives. “I have thought about bringing back Ms. Marple, but I want to drop the ‘spinster’ title associated with her. Not that I intend to have her married, but I want her labeled simply as an independent woman.” I pushed further and asked if that’s why she wrote Detective Bourdain as she had and she nodded slowly. “I suppose it could have played a part. Of course, Bourdain is much younger than Ms. Marple and doesn’t have nearly the same background; however, I wanted to see more clever women in writing. I have come to understand that it is more common now, but I wanted to throw my hat once again into the ever-growing ring when it comes to women in writing.”

INVARIABLY RELEVANT, EVEN BEFORE REANIMATION

On the topic of Ms. Marple, whose film adaptations notably disappointed Christie the first time around, I asked if Christie was pleased that her stories held their own against the test of the time as they continue to be adapted for the big screen even now. A remake of Death on the Nile hit screens in early February of this year following Murder on the Orient Express, released again in 2017. Both, admittedly, struggled with their mediocre ratings, unable to capture the audience like the text had and continues to do.

“I was never one for cinema or television when I was here the first go round. That hasn’t changed,” she said with a dismissive wave. “Ms. Gardner informed me that my stories continue to grace the screen, but I’ve abstained from watching them or much else.” She did say that she has found some interest in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Killing Eve, but she hasn’t partaken of much modern media. She said there was too much noise and distraction when she was alive before now, and the modern explosion of distraction is not something she plans to engage with. 

In terms of modern culture, however, one thing she has taken to is café conversation and oat milk lattes. “There’s a whole culture around non-dairy milks and, for some reason, it fascinates me. I know it sounds so trivial on the surface, but from what I have experienced, the people that tend to congregate in cafés to enjoy things like oat milk lattes crave a sort of slow living that I’m more accustomed to. They talk about books — sometimes my books — and politics and music with a sort of languor that rouses the mind and compels the soul without feeling rushed.” I laughed at the earnestness and asked her if the milk substitute and the conversation were merely correlated rather than one causing the other. She smiled and said, “Either way, I quite enjoy a slow Sunday with an oat milk latte and candid conversation.”

A LONG-AWAITED EXPLANATION FOR HER DISAPPEARANCE?

As we were working toward the end of our time together, I said, “You know I must ask — what did happen during your eleven-day disappearance? Was it truly a fugue state or an emotional breakdown or merely a PR stunt like they claim?” She sighed in response.

“My life as I had it was unraveling in that moment. Have you ever longed to simply disappear? I wrote — and now still write — mysteries like that. At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters to confirm the details. Whether it was a concussion or amnesia or being so fully fed up with my life that I simply left, none of it matters now. At the end of the day, it was a much-needed respite. Surely, everyone can relate.”

I smiled and responded, “My friends and I keep threatening to run away to Iceland and become sheepherders or lighthouse keepers. Perhaps both if we can manage it.”

She looked pensive for a moment and said, “That could be an interesting basis for a story.” We hung up shortly after that, promising to share an oat milk latte if we cross paths in the future.

 

Genre: Potpourri, Thrillers
Madison Hill

Madison Hill graduated from the University of North Georgia with a degree in English Writing and Publication. She currently works full-time as a legal assistant, where she enjoys causal chats with insurance adjusters and looking at pictures of crunchy cars. In her free time, she prefers to read books, write, and rewatch the same four TV shows. Her favorite books feature a good laugh with a side of existential crisis.

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