We are lucky enough to have Carolyn Hart (Agatha Award winner and Edgar Award Grand Master) answer a few questions about Agatha Christie and her own books! -Thank You!
1.A. You have won several Agatha Awards and have a book titled The Christie Caper; my question is this, has Agatha Christie influenced you writing?
Yes.
B. And if so how?
I have used many of her techniques, such as using readers' prejudices to fool them, including an important clue in the midst of a descriptive scene with another focus, beginning a book with small vignettes featuring those involved, remembering that murder is never funny but people are often very funny.
2. A. Christie was called the queen of poisons, do you have any method of murder which you prefer using (or gravitate twords) in your books?
My favorite method of murder is bashing a victim with a blunt instrument.
B. If so, any particular reason why you favor it?
It avoids the technicalities of guns and I personally find poison very harsh. Christie saw the horror of a person dying in agony, knowing someone in a close circle admistered death but not knowing who was behind the pain and suffering.
3. Many authors (including Christie) over the years have used previous training/employment as inspiration and for believeable details in their writing. Have any of your previous jobs influenced or served as direct inspiration for you?
I intended to be a journalist and worked briefly as a reporter. That accounts for Henrie O's status as a retired reporter. I also taught journalism for a few years and used that background in two books.
4. Christie’s characters were often based on brief impressions of people she saw, but she could not create a character on anyone she actually had a conversation with. Are you as a writer able to base characters on real people, are they wholly fictional or a blend of the two?
They are wholly fictional though we all draw on our knowledge of people we know and understand.
5. You recently(ish) just published your 51st book do you have a favorite book or books out of the lot? And why? (For bonus points do you ever reread any of your books?)
I have several favorites: ESCAPE FROM PARIS, LETTER FROM HOME; DEAD DAYS OF SUMMER, and GHOST AT WORK.
I was a child during WWII and that shaped my life. The impact of the war resulted in Escape from Paris. I wrote Letter from Home because I wanted to provide a picture of the reality of the homefront and the attitudes and mores that actually existed. I think Dead Days of Summer is the best in the Death on Demand series. A close second would be SOUTHERN GHOST. GHOST AT WORK is the first in the series about the late Bailey Ruth Raeburn. I wanted to write a light hearted-series about a cheerful ghost and I am thrilled readers like her.
I only reread a book if I need to check a CE or galleys. When a long ago suspense novel RENDEZVOUS IN VERACRUZ was republished, I truly found it fun to reread as it was based on my first quarter in college at Mexico City College an eon ago,. I felt like a kid again.
6. Is there any Christie book you wish you had thought of first?
7. In your writing career have you ever wanted to break out and write something completely hardboiled?
Actually I did and it has been republished. I suppose it qualifies as pretty hardboiled if not completely hardboiled. DEATH BY SURPRISE pits a savvy young street lawyer against ghosts from the past and a hard-edged blackmailer who knows too much about a gilt-edged family.
8. What are you working on right now?
I have just turned in GHOST WANTED for fall 2014. Bailey Ruth plunges into three mysteries while trying to gently encourage a long ago romance. Coming out in May 2014 will be DEATH AT THE DOOR. A doctor looks across a room and sees evil in a glance. What can he do? I am hoping to start a new Annie and Max, CHARMED DEATH. A literary author comes to the island to revisit the past but some will do anything to make sure he keeps their secrets.
9. Any final words?
I very much appreciate you and JB and everyone at Seattle Mystery Bookshop. Thank you for being my friends and for telling readers about my books.
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