Tea & Murder: An Agatha Christie Podcast

Evil Under the Sun with Sophie Hannah

Tea & Murder: An Agatha Christie Podcast

Show Notes

In the penultimate episode of season 1 of "Tea & Murder: An Agatha Christie Podcast," host Rebecca Thandi Norman speaks with the current author of the Hercule Poirot series (as well as many of her own books!) Sophie Hannah. Sophie discusses one of her favorite Christie mysteries: Evil Under the Sun, why Poirot never gets to take a vacation, and what makes for an ideal murder mystery location. She also talks through the process of taking on Poirot as a character but not taking on Christie's voice, and why she would never try to do that..

See Sophie Hannah's website: https://sophiehannah.com/

Read Sophie Hannah's Poirot series, starting with The Monogram Murders: https://bookshop.org/a/87919/9780062297228

Read more by Sophie Hannah, starting with Woman with a Secret: https://bookshop.org/a/87919/9780062393098

Next episode, we're reading The ABC Murders: https://bookshop.org/a/87919/9780062073587

The upcoming episode will be the last of the season. Season 2 will begin in fall 2023!

Have feedback for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email [email protected]. You can also follow us on Instagram at @teaandmurder.

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More from Tea & Murder: An Agatha Christie Podcast

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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.

Jul 6, 2026

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!).

Sep 22, 2025

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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