Gasworks and Agatha Christie
Another place I went with my visiting friends a couple of months ago was Gasworks Park. Gasworks is a strange and pretty park, and a good place to take visitors. Actually, before I lived in Seattle or even had any plans to move here, I went to Gasworks when I was visiting with a group of my college friends. We walked to the top of the kite flying hill and watched an eclipse.
I am listening to an audio lecture series right now about detective fiction. I recently finished listening to the section on Agatha Christie. I love Agatha Christie books! She creates well crafted plots with interesting characters. It's impossible to read a Poirot book without being charmed by the egg-headed, lovably egotistical sleuth. I took a break from mysteries for a while because it seemed that every mystery I read or listened to ended up being so incredibly gruesome and disturbing. But Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' revitalized my love for the mystery genre. Yes, her books deal with murder, an inherently violent subject matter, but she doesn't dwell on the details of human suffering (i.e. long, gorey descriptions) or sensationlize the violence. 'And Then There Were None' was one of my favorites of Christies. It was eerie, unsettling and completly unexpected! I had fun trying to guess who was the murderer and why, but I was not even close!
The lecture series I am listening to described a particularly interesting and mysterious incident in Agatha Christie,s life. One evening, Christie found out that her husband Archie was a two-timer with a mistress. He told Christie he wanted to leave her for his mistress. Even though he was a disloyal, Christie was broken hearted. After she found out the devestating news, she dissapeared from her home leaving no clue to her where-abouts. At this point, Agatha was already a well known and respected author. All of England was looking for their beloved mystery writer. She was not discovered untill eleven days later. She was at a hotel registered under the name of her husbands mistress. She claimed to have no memory of the eleven days that had passed. There are many different theories about her what really happened. Some people thought it was a publicity stunt, but this is unlikely since Agatha Christie had no real love for being in the public eye. Some people thought she had a nervous break down because not only was she dealing with the destruction of her marriage, but her mother had also died recently. The most interesting theory is that she was trying to frame her husband! I knew vaguely about this incident because of an episode of 'Doctor Who' but it was interesting to learn more details.
The lecture series I am listening to described a particularly interesting and mysterious incident in Agatha Christie,s life. One evening, Christie found out that her husband Archie was a two-timer with a mistress. He told Christie he wanted to leave her for his mistress. Even though he was a disloyal, Christie was broken hearted. After she found out the devestating news, she dissapeared from her home leaving no clue to her where-abouts. At this point, Agatha was already a well known and respected author. All of England was looking for their beloved mystery writer. She was not discovered untill eleven days later. She was at a hotel registered under the name of her husbands mistress. She claimed to have no memory of the eleven days that had passed. There are many different theories about her what really happened. Some people thought it was a publicity stunt, but this is unlikely since Agatha Christie had no real love for being in the public eye. Some people thought she had a nervous break down because not only was she dealing with the destruction of her marriage, but her mother had also died recently. The most interesting theory is that she was trying to frame her husband! I knew vaguely about this incident because of an episode of 'Doctor Who' but it was interesting to learn more details.