Show Notes
In this episode of Tea & Murder, host Rebecca Thandi Norman and Professor Caroline Derry discuss A Murder is Announced. One of Rebecca's favorite Marples, this book includes one of Christie's most obvious lesbian-coded couples as well as an in-depth look at English village life in a post-WWII world.
Rebecca and Caroline talk about the wonderful round-robin scene at the beginning of the book (a classic!), other LGBTQ-coding in Christie's work, and what this coding reflects about the time Christie was writing.
Read Professor Derry's book: Lesbianism and Criminal Law: Three Centuries of Regulation in England and Wales
Next up, we're reading: Murder at the Vicarage
Feel free to get in touch with comments, feedback, or ideas for future episodes! You can find us on Instagram at @teaandmurder or via email at [email protected].
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More from Tea & Murder: An Agatha Christie Podcast
Steven Garner, a legal translator also known for his Instagram account, @christie_in_translation, joins host Rebecca Thandi Norman to discuss the beloved Marple mystery 4:50 from Paddington. The two talk about why this is a great example of Jane Marple's personality, the character of Lucy Eyelesbarrow, and whether this would be an easy book to translate.
It's our third play on the podcast, and you know what? We should really do this more often. Host Rebecca Thandi Norman speaks with mystery writer Jamie West about Spider's Web, which is Christie's second-longest running play of all time. It quickly becomes clear why: it's funny, engaging, and exactly what you'd expect from a Christie: a twisty murder in the manor house on the English countryside. Jamie discusses how his work in the theatre led him to write his own mystery series, why Christie plays endure today, and what it is about this one that has always stuck out in his mind.
Writer, historian, and curator Subhadra Das has been exploring the connection between Golden Age detective fiction and eugenics. In this interview, she discusses the late Christie work, Elephants Can Remember. She and host Rebecca Thandi Norman address eugenics concepts across Christie's career, why Poirot would take this case, if "twin plots" ever really work, and which book Rebecca thought she was agreeing to before getting started (spoilers: it wasn't the right one!).
Ram Murali's debut novel, Death in the Air, is not only a fun and glamorous mystery set in an Indian hotel, it's also a love letter to Agatha Christie. Host Rebecca and Ram discuss homages to Christie's work, how characters are created, and the messy-but-sometimes-fun Death in the Clouds.
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