Mrs McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie
published 1952
Spoiler Warning with Jim and Brad
Another of my Top 10 Christies, I was so happy to talk about it…
Jim Noy (Invisible Event), Brad Friedman (Ah Sweet Mystery) and I get together every couple of months to discuss a Christie book in startling detail – Jim, our team captain, edits it into a podcast and puts it out under the name Spoiler Warning.
So if you want to listen to this one, head over to Jim’s blog here, bearing in mind always that we are serious about spoilering – only listen if you have read the book.
Tragically, this may be the last of this series of podcasts.
Spoiler Warning – Mrs. McGinty’s Dead (1952) by Agatha Christie | The Invisible Event
I blogged on Mrs McGinty in the early days of the blog, and again when discussing best introductory books by Christie – we discuss in the podcast whether it would make a good book for a new Christie reader. (Obviously my answer is the correct one.)
If you have read the book you will know how important old photos are – these are the ones I chose for that first blogpost, and since then these two have been fixed in my mind as two of the actual characters in the book.
How interesting - fake roses that look like Charles Rennie Mackintosh roses.
ReplyDeleteOh they do, well-spotted!
DeleteI love the photos you chose, Moira. And I have a soft spot for Mrs. McGinty's Dead. I was the first Christie I read, and you never forget your first... You folks are the perfect people to de-construct Christie's work, so I'm glad you chose this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words - I had an idea it was one of your favourites too.
DeleteAside from the novels mentioned in the podcast, Murder on the Links is heavily inspired by a real-life case. Usually Christie lets a real-life case be inspiration for the background to a new murder, she does not do like Tey in The Franschise Affair and suggest a solution to a real historical case.
ReplyDeletethanks, yes, exactly, that's the point I was trying to make but you put it much better and clearly than I did!
DeleteI've always been a bit puzzled by the fact that Mrs McGinty is supposed to be based on a very popular/widely known nursery rhyme or playground chant - because I've NEVER seen it referenced anywhere outside this book, not even in Iona & Peter Opie. It literally seems to only exist in the vacuum of this book.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent point Daniel - I remember thinking that years ago but wondering if it was just me and a lack of knowledge... but I think you are right. We need to check in the Secret Notebooks perhaps...
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