I finished reading Richard Hack's Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie this week. (I don't usually read the "unauthorized biographies," but it was summer. And the title was interesting.)  I was intrigued about her 1926 disappearance caused by her first husband's affair with a younger woman. Richard Hack did a good job of capturing the essence of Mrs. Christie (or how I imagined her).

Mrs. Christie came from a privileged life, but she struggled with writing, finding places to write, and paying taxes. She was an incredibly prolific writer of articles, mysteries, romances, and plays. She also wrote romances under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott. She kept that identity secret for many years until it was leaked. She spent a great deal of time on archaeological digs with her second husband, Max Mallowan.

I loved the references throughout the book to the "technology" that she used throughout her writing career. I can't imagine creating thousands of pages on a manual typewriter. In her later years, she started dictating her manuscripts. Manuscripts were extremely valuable when there was only one original.

I read most of Agatha Christie's mysteries in my teens, but I think I want to reread some of them this summer.

Happy Thursday! Keep reading!