Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Christie Affair

Not to be confused with The Mystery of Mrs. Christie or that episode of Doctor Who, this trend of exploring what happened during Agatha Christie’s mysterious 10-day disappearance in 1926 nonetheless continues with Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair.

I really enjoyed the characters in this. Despite my initial skepticism of having this story told from the POV of Archie’s mistress (and I’m still skeptical of the moments where she’s telling us what certain characters are thinking and feeling), I did really come to sympathize with Nan. Her own tragic love story was quite sad, as is the general commentary on how unwed pregnant women were treated back then. I also enjoyed the murder mystery here, with all its little nods to Christie’s famous stories.

That said, this book messed with history a bit too much for me. I know you have to spin a yarn when writing historical fiction, but I don’t like when authors change the hard-set facts to fit their own narrative. Saying what major facts get changed here spoils the twist of the book, so I won’t reveal it, but I wasn’t a fan.

In my opinion, a successful historical fiction uses the facts as a starting point and then fills in the gaps. Otherwise, just create a whole new story that is “inspired by” true events.

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briannareads1342's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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jukietoss's review

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emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I really like the concept of telling a story of Agatha Christie's 11-day disappearance, and I thought the story de Gramont conjured was quite compelling. It incorporated both romance and mystery in really satisfying ways. Where it fell down for me was in how it executed that narrative: the book's structure was really disjointed which made it hard to stay engaged. I understand what de Gramont was trying to do and why she told the story asynchronously, but the way it played out was disruptive and led to some reveals that felt premature or repetitive. De Gramont didn't just look backward in time to contextualize the present--she also did a lot of foreshadowing or explicitly naming what would take place years into the future. I found these forward-looking reveals distracting. The stories from the past were important to the story, but I think they could have been incorporated or examined more elegantly.

That said, the overall story was fun, and there were glimmers of ambience that showed really strong world-building and the ability to sweep the reader away. These were often interrupted by other locations or time periods, but I enjoyed the moments of respite where I could get swept up in Christie's story.

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