Literature Network » Agatha Christie

Murder most horrid ; Torture, blackmail, sadism, gore - and that's just the policemen. Paul Vallely visits Harrogate's celebrated Crime Writing Festival, and finds that today's bloodthirsty authors are a far cry from Agatha Christie

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From: The Independent - London
Date: 20070730
Author:Paul Vallely

I think I need to get out more. Certainly I can't be doing with the violence and gore, drug-taking, sexual deviancy and dysfunctional behaviour I've been getting at home lately. Before my family revolts against such disclosures, let me explain. I have been venturing out, an innocent abroad, into the imaginative realms of crime fiction.

This, it has to be admitted, is not the kind of book to which I naturally turn for edification or entertainment. But one of the most esteemed prizes in the genre - the Theakston's old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year - has just been awarded. So I decided it ...

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