The Christie Affair: an disappointing retelling of Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont is a story centered around the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926. Agatha Christie is one of the most famous mystery writers of the 20th century. When she was last seen on December 3, 1926, her disappearance was the type of mystery you would expect Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple to be able to solve. She would be located on December 14, 1926 at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel with no memory of how she got there or why she was there. Those eleven days would be debated for years as Christie refused to answer any questions about that time. Perhaps the greatest mystery wasn’t her disappearance at all, but what she discovered. Nan O’Dea was Archie Christie’s mistress. A woman who lured him away from his devoted and very famous wife. But why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage? Why hatch a plot years in the making? Why resort to murder? How was Nan tied to Agatha Christie’s disappearance? A story of star-crossed loves, heartbreak, revenge and murder. 

Agatha Christie was the first mystery writer I had read and her disappearance has always been a point of fascination. And I looked forward to reading The Christie Affair as a possible explanation of what happened. Ms. de Gramont’s story is marketed as a “brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.” However, it fails to deliver. I was bored and confused from the start. The story is told from the perspective of Nan O’Dea, the fictionalized version of Nancy Neele, the real life mistress and second wife of Archie Christie. An omnipotent narrator, Nan is able to tell the reader about scenes where she is not present and the thoughts and feelings of other characters, which was very off-putting. In my opinion, the 2008 Doctor Who episode, “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” did a much better job at an fantastical and imaginative explanation about the famous author’s disappearance. The Christie Affair is less about Agatha Christie and more about Nan. I do not recommend The Christie Affair . 

The Christie Affair is available in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook