AGATHA CHRISTIE ON THE DETECTIVE NOVEL CHRISTIE (Agatha, 1891-1976, Detective Novelist)

Typed Letter Signed 'Agatha Christie' to 'Dear Hilary' sympathising with her in her troubles although she doesn't think she can help much with the issue of giving a talk, she then answers several questions, "No, I do not think there is any golden rule for writing detective novels. They can be frivolous, serious, psychological, anything you please ... It is best to make a complete skeleton of a detective novel before you sit down to write ... you can begin with the murder, or you can begin with a certain amount of your characters. Of course, you, yourself, have to know who the villain is before you start ... I think what you call the 'formula' changes as you grow older. One would get tired of always sticking to the same one ..." the final question she had found "quite unanswerable. Ideas do come into one's head if one is a writer. I do not really know why, or where they come from - they just arrive ..", 2 sides 8vo., Winterbrook House, Wallingford, 21st September

Hilary Styles was a junior school teacher in Coventry. Hilary liked to belong to clubs & societies so this would be a talk she was preparing for one of those.

Item Date:  1968

Stock No:  39494