School of English Researcher Wins Agatha Award 2011

May 18, 2011

A postgraduate student in the School of English, John Curran, recently won the prestigious Agatha Award in the ‘Best Non-Fiction’ category at the 2011 Malice Domestic Convention held in Washington DC, for his book Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making.  The Agatha Awards, which are awarded in five categories including Best Novel, Best First Mystery, Best Short Story, Best Non-Fiction, and Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers whose writing style is similar to Agatha Christie’s.

Speaking about the book Agatha Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard said: “What is so exciting about the appearance of this book and the existence of the notebooks and two virtually new stories is that it will add something to that aura and be of great interest to her fans everywhere.”

Curran’s book is an exploration of the contents of 73 of Agatha Christie's private notebooks that were recently discovered among her affairs at the family home of Greenway.  The handwritten volumes of notes, lists and drafts outline her plans for many books, plays and stories.  Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making includes a wealth of extracts and pages reproduced directly from the notebooks and her letters, plus two newly discovered complete Hercule Poirot short stories never before published.