Agatha Christie Week (with a side order of Sayers)

“She was a lucky woman who had established a happy knack of writing what quite a lot of people wanted to read.”

- Agatha Christie, Elephants Can Remember

I don't go in much for these holidays no one's heard of, unless they celebrate something of which I'm personally fond, in which case I break out the garlands. Apparently it's Agatha Christie Week. You've probably got a paperback of hers lying around somewhere, and it's the perfect rainy Sunday on which to read it. Make some tea and find yourself a cozy chair someplace.

Oh, and surely the woman they call the Queen of Mystery wouldn't mind if I gave a little attention to some lesser-known lady detective writers while I'm at it. The other day, two used books I'd been awaiting came in the mail--Lord Peter, with all of Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey short stories, and The Likeness, second in Tana French's contemporary Dublin Murder Squad series. Plus, I'm literally about ten pages away from finishing Sayers' Strong Poison, and it'd be a shame to put it down now, especially considering how long I had to wait for my copy.

Funny story about Strong Poison, by the way. I continued to await the order, wailing and gnashing my teeth, until I was convinced that it must have arrived when I was out of the house, and that someone must have lost the package. Because I knew that meant I'd stumble upon it sooner or later, I spent a long, weary month refusing to order another copy. Finally I caved in, and the day they shipped it I found the original order, still in its package, in a pile of books beside my bed. It had indeed arrived, and someone had delivered it up to my room without letting me know. I'm no Lord Peter.

So, seeing as I've got two copies of Strong Poison on my hands, I feel I might as well pass one on to somebody. I can't think of a better book to celebrate Agatha Christie Week. It concerns a detective novelist as a murder suspect, and shows how much trouble Christie could have gotten herself into if anyone close to her had died suddenly of the same poison she'd researched for use in her latest.

If you'd like my extra copy, let me know! I'll get it to you ASAP so you can enjoy it before the week is out.