Customer Reviews
For collectors or readers? - By: Welsh Bookworm, 26 Jan 2008 
While I enjoyed the fascinating & sumptuous photography & the potted descriptions of Chrisie's booksin this guide, the lengthy physical descriptions of the first editions of many of the books - page sizes, dust cover font type, lettering colour, binding type - make it more a collector's guide than a reader's guidein my opinion. The fact that the descriptions get shorter & shorter as the book goes on - for example, 8 pages for the first Poirot book(The Mysterious Affair at Styles), but only one paragraph for his final mystery (Curtain) makes the book feel a little unbalanced to me. Good points include the details of how the various stories were received by early critics, & interesting information about the various adaptations for stage & screen of the books. I appreciate the authors avoidance of 'spoilers', but would have enjoyed more discussion about the plots & final denouments - perhaps with a warning about 'spoilers' on the front cover for first time readers!
An excellent aid - By: L. L. M. Almenningen, 04 Apr 2006 
As a fan of Agatha Christie & a voracious reader of her books, I was glad to see this book come on the market.
Christie has written quite a few books (78) & keeping them allin order & apart is not always easy. Having this bookin my library enables me to follow the story of the books & the time periodin which they were written,in addition to making it possible for me to read the booksin the orderin which they were intended. For any fan of Agatha Christie, I would highly recommend this book.
Agatha Christie, A Reader's Companion - By: Jared Cade, 20 Feb 2006 A visually sumptuous coffee table book that will delight Agatha Christie's many fans. It reproduces many of the beautiful first edition jackets that so many afficionados dream of owning,in addition to many others photographs, including those taken by Agatha Christie & her husband Max on locationin the Middle East.
A must-have for all Christie fans - By: , 20 Jan 2006 If you are an Agatha Chritie fan, your collection will not be complete without this book.
This beautiful hard back is a summary of all the books ever written by Agatha Christie,in chronological order. Each summary includes the book background: any relevant facts from Agatha Christie's life & how she was inspired to write the story; the storyline (but the plot & who dunnit is *never* revealed!), and, for the collectors, pictures & descriptions of the original first edition book & jacket. There are also reviews from the time of first publishing & a mine of interesting period photos.
I already know quite a lot about Agatha Christie's life & her writings, but I learnt even more thanks to this wonderful book. The delightful picturesin particular are very good to help one visualise the era for each story & to put everythingin context.
This is definitely recommended to any Christie fan or to anyone who wants to know more about the first lady of crime but who doesn't want to read her (sometimes dreary) autobiography.
