Detective Fiction and Agatha Christie
Detective fiction has been a mystery subgenre for over a century. It all started with Edgar Allan Poe and then it became a phenomenon between the two world wars. This era became known as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. This era brought us many great authors. One such author was Agatha Christie the all time best selling author. She is considered to be one of the queens of crime and her works shaped many authors' writing styles. She was a war nurse during World War I and this was where she got some of her ideas for poisons and other tragic plot twists. During the war years she began writing her first detective novels. She did this because her sister dared her to write a detective book. Her sister did not think she could do it (2021). She proved her wrong and went on to write books for decades in the subgenre. The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was all about the plot and details. Christie, like many other authors of the time, would figure out the plot then the characters would come after. The details in the clues and puzzles were key to detective fiction in the 1920s to 1940s. Nowadays detective fiction focuses more on the character and setting than the plot. Some authors will still do the classic writing style and many will look at the older era of detective fiction for inspiration but today's detective fiction captures people's attention for the character's story, not so much the plot.
Readers' Advisory for Detective Fiction
There are many ways to promote detective fiction in the library. I found different ways of promoting the mystery genre and slightly adapted them to fit the subgenre of detective fiction. One way Wabash Carnegie Public Library promotes their mystery section is by having a monthly mystery newsletter of new books. This could easily be adapted by adding a detective fiction newsletter and picking books that are similar to the old school detective fiction of the Golden Age.
Another way that I have seen my hometown library in Huntington, Indiana creatively incorporate readers' advisory is by promoting local productions on their social media and by word of mouth. This is a little unconventional but back in 2019 the Pulse Opera House in Warren, Indiana put on a production of And Then There Were None. The local library and librarians promoted the production to get patrons interested in Agatha Christie and other detective fiction authors. One thing I would note is that the production crew took Christie's work seriously and asked the audience to figure out which of the endings (she wrote a couple) they were using for the night. This could also make people think of detective fiction without people knowing because the audience is trying to remember which ending the actors were acting out.
A library could also have a scavenger hunt throughout the library with a mystery theme. Little Learners blog created one for her open house mystery theme at her school. She made scavenger hunts and gave all her students badges and clipboards to investigate (2010). This could be something that parents could do with their kids at the local library or for adults to do on their own. It would be a great way to promote detective mysteries across all ages. The youth services department could display Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books while the upstairs displays Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham.
A form of passive readers’ advisory is doing wall displays or posters. At the Cedar Park Public Library, they created a poster for the teen area called “Once Upon a Crime.” The librarian adapted it from the normal once upon a time to get teens interested in different mystery genres (de Boer, 2013). This could easily be geared towards detective fiction for adults. The same style could be used, and librarians could switch it out with detective fiction books, new and old, for patrons to look at. Posters are also great ways for passive readers’ advisory because they take up much less space than displays and libraries can personalize their posters for different themes, seasons, or events.
References used in paper:
Agatha Christie Limited. (2021). About Agatha Christie. The Home of Agatha Christie. https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie
De Boer, Emma (2013, August 16). Once upon a crime. https://confessionsfromabibliophile.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/once-upon-a-crime/
Grover, Alex (2015, June 10). How to tell if you’re about to be murdered in this mystery: a flowchart. Quirk Books. https://www.quirkbooks.com/post/how-tell-if-youre-about-be-murdered-mystery-flowchart
Littlest Learners (2010, April 28). Mystery themed open house ideas: Whatever Wednesdays. Clutter-Free Classroom. http://littlestlearners.blogspot.com/2010/04/mystery-theme-open-house-ideas-whatever.html
Martin, R. (2013). Crime and detective fiction. Salem Press.
Riches, Tony (2015). The writing habits of Agatha Christie. Literary Ladies Club to the Writing Life. https://www.literaryladiesguide.com/writing-advice-from-classic-authors/the-writing-habits-of-agatha-christie/
Wyatt, N. & Saricks, J. (2019). The readers' advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.
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