Agatha Christie lived close to Chelsea Physic Garden during the 1920s and 1930s and was almost certainly a regular
visitor, so it seemed fitting that it should host the above-named event on
Tuesday, 2nd February. It didn’t disappoint.
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Chelsea Physic Garden almost certainly
counted Agatha Christie as a regular visitor
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“It's always great to talk Christie and
poisons but it's even better when you have such enthusiastic and knowledgeable
fellow panel members,” said Kathryn Harkup. “The audience were brilliant and
came up with some very intriguing questions. A great night all round.”
(The following day, Kathryn was
nominated for a prestigious Agatha Award in the Best Nonfiction category.)
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A full house for the panel that
featured Rebecca Chance, Kathryn Harkup and Helen Smith
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Rebecca Chance made wide-ranging use of
her knowledge of Golden Age detective fiction, showing how inventively Christie
deployed poisons. “The audience was very enthusiastic and curious about the
twin subjects of Christie and poison, with a sidebar to other Golden Age
authors,” commented Rebecca. “We could have talked all night!” Rebecca also
paid tribute to current leaders in the genre such as Val McDermid, whose
Beneath the Bleeding got a prominent
mention.
Taking a cue from Christie’s founding role
in the Detection Club, Helen Smith talked about starting up BritCrime,
the popular crime author collective. The panel was honoured that Jane Isaac,
a BritCime author, had travelled from Northamptonshire to be there.
Helen Smith also emphasised the
importance of settings in both Christie’s stories and her own. “The Chelsea
Physic Garden was the perfect location to discuss Agatha Christie and poisons,”
she said. “I'm always looking for inspiration for inventive ways to murder
people in my Emily Castles mystery series. Poison is a very useful murder
weapon because there's no need for physical strength to administer it, so its
use casts suspicion on the widest number of suspects. The lively discussion
generated plenty of ideas for future books.”
The speakers agreed that central to
Christie’s enduring appeal was her plotting, but also noted both the darkness
of her writing and, contrastingly, her sense of humour. The audience asked
plenty of questions at the end, particularly on the relative advantages of different
poisons. A gastronomic theme emerged. How much garlic does it take to kill
someone? What about potatoes?
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A full twenty minutes of audience
Q&A followed … and! … Rebecca Chance found her light
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With that in mind, the panel members retired
to a local pub afterwards. Curiously, the private dining room that they were shown
into bore a striking resemblance to the set of And Then There Were None …Thankfully the food at The Coopers Arms
was excellent and everyone returned home safely.
It was a magical and authentic evening,
the more so as Abi Onatade (@Abi_Spks), Caroline Raeburn (@RaeburnCaroline), Claudia Clare (@ClaudiaCeramics),
Ian Patrick (@imdambassador), Jeanette Hewitt (@jmhewitt), Joy Kluver (@JoyKluver) and No Exit
Press were there too. Here’s hoping for other such events, soon!
Daniel Pembrey moderated this event, which forms part of an ongoing series, the next
one being a Salon littéraire at the Luxembourg Embassy in London on May 12th
featuring the (currently) Luxembourg-based crime writer Ruth Dugdall.
Best Hardcover Novel
