Book Review: A Talent for Murder

A Talent for Murder Book Review

By Andrew Wilson 

"“I wouldn’t scream if I were you. Unless you want the whole world to learn about your husband and his mistress.”

Agatha Christie, in London to visit her literary agent, is boarding a train, preoccupied with the devastating knowledge that her husband is having an affair. She feels a light touch on her back, causing her to lose her balance, then a sense of someone pulling her to safety from the rush of the incoming train. So begins a terrifying sequence of events—for her rescuer is no guardian angel, rather he is a blackmailer of the most insidious, manipulative kind.

“You, Mrs. Christie, are going to commit a murder. But, before then, you are going to disappear.”

Writing about murder is a far cry from committing a crime, and Agatha must use every ounce of her cleverness and resourcefulness to thwart an adversary determined to exploit her expertise and knowledge about the act of murder to kill on his behalf." (Goodreads) 

The most well known mystery writer is about to become the main character in her own story, when Mrs. Christie is approached boarding a train in London she is blackmailed to commit a murder in order to keep the secret that her husband had a mistress.  

I thought the story was clever, taking the real life disappearance of Agatha Christie in 1926 and writing a mystery story around it, brilliant. As per the "afterword: the facts" section, not everything in the story was related to real facts of the author however, Wilson takes some true facts and spines them in. 

Wilson has a great way of twisting the truth to make a true mystery, not unlike Mrs. Christie did in her own novels. I felt A Talent for Murder was highly enjoyable. 

I am a true Christie fan and Wilson took the real life disappearance that Christie never talked about and built a story around it.

I give A Talent for Murder a ⭐⭐⭐⭐★ (4.5) star review! Overall, i really loved this novel. The adventure Wilson puts Agatha Christie on is enjoyable.

Andrew Wilson's newest Christie adventure; "I Saw Him Die" is being released July 21, 2020