Lucy Mangan on Agatha Christie

[sawyl]

Lucy Mangan has a piece in the Guardian on her struggle to come to terms with Agatha Christie:

Speaking to [Jennifer Bird] sheds more light on why I fail to enjoy the novels. I lack the curiosity that propels her. "With a lot of the crime novels, I work it out before she reveals the murderer," she says. She is the quintessential armchair detective and yes, she does like crosswords, too. For me (a crossword hater), the puzzle is a frustration, a teasing barrier to absorption.

Which, I think, explain my slightly guilty enthusiasm for them: Christie generally gives you the clues you need to puzzle the mysteries out but, just like a cryptic crossword, the clue says what it means but doesn't usually mean what it says...