Review: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

Title: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie

Author: Marie Benedict

Published: December 2020, Sourcebooks Landmark

Format: ARC Paperback, 288 pages

Source: Publisher

Summary: 

Marie Benedict, the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room, uncovers the untold story of Agatha Christie’s mysterious eleven day disappearance.

In
December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her
empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues some tire
tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car—strange for a frigid night.
Her husband and daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and
England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming
mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously
as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for
her time away.

The puzzle of those missing eleven days has
persisted. With her trademark exploration into the shadows of history,
acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha
Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the
center of such a murky story.

What is real, and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?

A
master storyteller whose clever mind may never be matched, Agatha
Christie’s untold history offers perhaps her greatest mystery of all.

My thoughts: Marie Benedict is an author I have come to love. This is the second book I’ve read of hers and she is now a must-read author. I love how meticulously researched and well-written her books are and this latest one is just brilliantly crafted.

I admit that I am late to the Agatha Christie party, but after reading this book, you can be sure that I will definitely be making a point of reading ALL her books. Who knew just how clever and fascinating a woman she really was? I sure didn’t but after reading this book about the eleven days she went missing, I have such a new-found appreciation for her and her writing.

What I love about this book is how well it combines fact and fiction. There is no dispute that Agatha Christie went missing. What is unknown is what really happened during those 11 days. What Marie Benedict has given us is her version of events based on all the research she has done in a book that is so captivating that I could not stop turning the pages. I loved the way she told the story, alternating between the time Agatha went missing and to earlier when she first met Archibald Christie. Having the two timelines really gives a clear picture of all the players involved and allows you to see who is involved in Agatha’s life and what was happening leading up to her disappearance and what happened when she did disappear. 

I loved that I had so many different theories as to what might have happened. The way this story is written really keeps you on your toes, which is not so different than Agatha Christie’s books, which I found to be so very clever. And it has left me so intrigued about Agatha’s life that I just know I will be searching out more books about her. I think I saw somewhere that she wrote an autobiography? Anyway, I highly recommend picking this one up…it is an excellent read!