Agatha - The Grand Dame of Detective Fiction
Today is the 123rd birthday of the grand dame of detective fiction, Dame Agatha Christie . What a wonderful repertoire of detective fiction novels, starting from 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles'! I have always marvelled at her genius in devising and unravelling complex mysteries replete with dramatic and romantic tension. Her quirkily brilliant Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot , and the good old homely, solidly English Jane Marple are two of English literature's greatest fictional detectives. One could not be more different than the other. Poirot is proud, often rude and unapologetically vain about the quality of his " little grey cells ". While one marvels at his genius and unparalleled acumen in solving puzzling cases, his attitude to poor Hastings and other police detectives often put us off. His nose up in the air, he looks down upon all us ordinary mortals, often mocking us for not being able to deduce the "logical conclusion". But hats off