AGHATA CHRISTIE S SECRET NOTEBOOKS

When Agatha Christie died in 1976, aged 85, she had become theworld′s most popular author. With sales of more than two billioncopies worldwide, she had achieved the impossible - more than one bookevery year since the 1920s, every one a bestseller. So prolific was heroutput, it was even claimed that Agatha must have a photographic memory.Was this true? Or did she resort over those 55 years to more mundanemethods of planning her ingenious crimes? Following the death ofAgatha′s daughter, Rosalind, at the end of 2004, a remarkable legacywas revealed. Unearthed among her affairs at the family home of Greenwaywere Agatha Christie′s private notebooks, 73 handwritten volumeswhich, though known about for years, had been largely ignored, probablybecause Agatha′s unmistakable handwriting was so hard to read. Butwhen archivist John Curran began deciphering the notebooks, the extent ofthis treasure trove became apparent ... This book lifts the lid on AgathaChristie′s biggest secret -- how her pencilled notes, lists anddrafts led to her many successful books, plays and stories. Alternativeplots, titles and characters, deleted scenes, even her plans for the booksshe didn′t get to write -- John Curran′s investigation revealsa wealth of unpublished material, including two complete Hercule Poirotshort stories never before published: ′The Mystery of the Dog′sBall′ and the unseen thirteenth ′Labour of Hercules!′