I am a huge Agatha Christie fan. I have read all her detective titles including her biography Come Tell Me How You Live. So, imagine my luck when I chanced upon these at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2013.

These books took me back to my school days when I would get obsessed reading her novels. If I had issued an Agatha Christie from the library (and this happened quite often) I could think nothing else but how fast I could reach the last page. This meant I would be found reading at the dining table, in the quilt, quietly at night, through holidays foregoing homework. In short I would be possessed unless I finished it.

Although these titles that she wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott are not crime thrillers I went through the same obsession. Besides of course the igneous plots what I like about her books are that they are peppered with insights into the many shades of the human mind. Her close observations of human nature and life in general are weaved together in the stories and into her characters.

It seems she wrote anonymously as Mary Westmacott because she wanted to prove to herself that her books could sell on merit rather than on her fame alone. For me whatever name she may choose her books remain compelling reads forcing me to turn one page after another. Looking forward to laying my hands on the rest of the four titles in this series. And when I do deadlines and household chores can take a break ????

#Agatha Christie, #Mary Westmacott, #Sharjah Children’s book fair, #Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival 2013