The Gentle Art of Murder: The Detective Fiction of Agatha Christie - Paperback

by Earl F. Bargainnier (Author)

This study of the technique of Agatha Christie's detective fiction-sixty-seven novels and over one hundred short stories-is the first extensive analysis of her accomplishment as a writer. Earl F. Bargannier demonstrates that Christie thoroughly understood the conventions of her genre and, with seemingly inexhaustible ingenuity, was able to develop for more than fifty years surprising variations within those conventions.

Author Biography

Earl F. Bargainnier was Fuller E. Callaway Professor of English Language and Literature at Wesleyan College. A former president of the Popular Culture Association, he was the author of more than sixty articles and edited Ten Women of Mystery and Twelve Englishmen of Mystery and co-edited Cops and Constables. Professor Bargainnier died January 3, 1987.