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All About Agatha (Christie)

All About Agatha is a podcast all about, well, Agatha. Agatha Christie, of course: the Queen of Crime, a real-life Dame of the British Empire, and author of sixty-six mystery novels that spanned the Twentieth Century, defining a genre. For five years, Catherine Brobeck and Kemper Donovan revisited these novels in publication order, ranking them according to pre-set criteria (plot, character, etc.). Tragically, Catherine Brobeck passed away at the end of 2021. Since then, Kemper has completed the podcast's ranking project, and now contents himself with celebrating the greatness of Christie by attempting to solve the ultimate mystery where she is concerned. Why Christie--and Christie alone--endures as powerfully as she does.

All About Agatha Christie

Who doesn't love a puzzle? Maureen and Jay have gone *full bore* on the notion of a solvable Golden Age mystery. Call it a mashup between Agatha Christie and Dennis Wheatley's "crime dossiers" (if you know you know). I have a feeling many of you will enjoy the heck out of it.
 
You can check out the book, which is now available in the U.S. and UK, on Maureen's website here.
 
Here are those links I mentioned at the end of the episode to the two previously inaccessible Christie adaptations I'll be discussing in two weeks' time: Estonian Miss Marple from 1990, and Poirot in the U.S. from 1962. Enjoy! I can't wait to discuss.
 
You can now pre-order Sweet Spot, the third book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series! (Coming out July 2026.) At the very least, click on this link to check out the pretty yellow cover! Pre-orders help me a ton, so I thank you in advance.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page (Hound of the Baskervilles coming up next!), click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Interview with Maureen Johnson and Jay Cooper, Author and Illustrator of The Creeping Hand Murder

Rejoice: it is time for another live episode from the Agatha Christie Festival, in Christie's birthplace of Torquay! This time I braved the stage all by myself, to discuss Christie's use of true crime in her fiction. As usual, I had an absolute blast.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

*LIVE!* Episode - True Crime Queen: The Real-life Murders in Agatha Christie's Fiction (Recorded at the 2025 Agatha Christie Festival)

Please enjoy this time capsule from early 2017, all about the real-life disappearance of our favorite author.... See (some of) you in England! Details below regarding my two appearances there.
 
I'll be appearing first, in London, 12-13 September, at Silent Echoes: Golden Age Crime Fiction and Trauma, hosted by Golden Age Mysteries and Florida State University's College of Communication & Information.
 
And then I'm heading down to the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay! My panel will be on 18 September at 4:00pm.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Summer Rerun - Gone Girl: The Notorious Real-Life Disappearance of Agatha Christie

At long last, another episode about YA mystery! If you haven't yet heard of Marthe Jocelyn's Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen series, you are in for a treat....
 
Visit Marthe on her website, or on Instagram, or just check out the Aggie Morton books directly. Marthe wanted me to note that the illustrator is Isabelle Follath, who you can visit on Instagram here. And please note that these books are also available as audio books, voiced by Sarah English.
 
Here is a link to the upcoming Golden Age Mysteries Conference, which Marthe and I will be attending!
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Interview with Marthe Jocelyn, Author of YA Mystery Series Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen

Riley Sager has been producing bestselling mystery thrillers with Christie-like consistency for nine years now. His latest, With a Vengeance, is his most Christie-like yet. It was a pleasure to speak with him about the book, Christie's influence, and what it's like to be a mystery writer in the world of publishing today.
 
You can visit Riley and peruse his prodigious output on his website here.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Interview with Riley Sager, Author of With a Vengeance (and Many Other Mysteries)

I could not be more thrilled to welcome back A+++ listener, and now two-time guest co-host, Helen Frank, to discuss the flesh-and-blood secretaries of Agatha Christie's life. We already covered the ones that Christie created for herself out of ink, so this episode is a completist's delight. So many secretaries!
 
For those of you in the SoCal area, consider purchasing tickets for Christie's adaptation of Towards Zero, directed by former guest co-host Christopher Diehl!
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Click Clack Click Clack DING: The (Real) Secretaries of Agatha Christie (with Guest Co-Host Helen Frank)

How has it taken me this long to talk about audiobooks?! Huge thanks to Gray Robert Brown, for his willingness to share his considerable expertise on this topic. Thank you also to Hugh Fraser, for the many, many hours he has spent speaking Agatha Christie's words into a microphone. We salute you, Captain Hastings.
 
You can find Gray at his website here, and if you aren't listening yet, please do check out his stupendous podcast The Swinging Christies, co-hosted with Dr. Mark Aldridge.
 
I made use of the website Everything Agatha while researching this episode, in particular its informative page about Christie audiobooks.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

All About the Audiobooks of Agatha Christie (with Special Guest Gray Robert Brown)

Steen Just is a Danish gentleman who is passionate about Agatha Christie--so much so that he has spent his retirement contributing hugely to the Danish-language Wikipedia articles on Agatha Christie. I had a great time talking with him about his unique perspective on our favorite author.
 
The following Christie titles are spoiled to some degree in this episode: By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Endless Night, Lord Edgware Dies, A Murder is Announced, and The Thumbmark of St. Peter. We also talk in semi-spoilery ways about The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup, and The Documents in the Case by Dorothy Sayers.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Interview with Steen Just, Wikipedia Administrator for Danish-Language Agatha Christie Articles

There's a decent chance you've heard about the recent online course put out by BBC Maestro, in which a digitally manipulated representation of Agatha Christie teaches the craft of writing a mystery. Yes, really! I was fortunate enough to sit down with the person responsible for all the research that went into this quite heavily researched project: Dr. Mark Aldridge. As many longtime listeners will know, Mark has been a guest here many times, and his appearance on this episode was just as enjoyable and informative as what we've come to expect of him. Let's get into it.
 
BBC Maestro’s Agatha Christie course On Writing can be found here.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram, and me personally at my author website.

Interview with Dr. Mark Aldridge, Project Research Lead for BBC Maestro's Agatha Christie Writing Course

When A+++ podcast listener Helen Frank contacted me about doing a themed episode on the secretaries of Agatha Christie, little did I know there would be so much to talk about. And little did she know that I would hoodwink her into co-hosting the episode in question! But I'm so glad I did. I think you'll be as well.
 
Loose Lips, the second book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, is currently available for purchase.
 
You can also buy The Busy Body, the first book in my Ghostwriter Mysteries series, in paperback at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Instagram.
 
Visit me personally at my author website.

Click Clack Click Clack DING: The (Fictional) Secretaries of Agatha Christie (with Guest Co-Host Helen Frank)

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane, especially since it will help prepare you for my upcoming live episode at the Agatha Christie Festival, concerning which among the many (many!) screen adaptations of Christie's work is the best....
 
To find out more and purchase tickets for my appearance at the Bloody Scotland festival on Saturday, 14 September at 11:30am, please click here.
 
To visit and subscribe to the podcast's Patreon page, click here.
 
Visit the podcast on Twitter and Instagram.
 
Visit me personally on Facebook at Kemper Donovan Books, or at my personal website.
 
You can buy my debut mystery novel, The Busy Body, at your bookseller of choice (make it an indie if you possibly can!) in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia and New Zealand.

Summer Rerun: All About the Adaptations of And Then There Were None (with guest Mark Aldridge)

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