The Case of the Christie Conspiracy by Kelly Oliver Book Review

About the Book:

1926 – Christie is a darling of the literary circuit and the most desired guest in London’s glittering social scene. She can often be found at meetings of the Detection Club – where mystery writers come together to share ideas, swap secrets and drink copiously. But then a fellow author's initiation ceremony takes a gruesome turn, and one of the group ends up dead. Now, Agatha is no longer just the creator of great mystery plots – she’s a player in one.

And when Agatha disappears the day after the murder, she’s widely assumed to be guilty. Only Eliza Baker, assistant to the Club’s enigmatic secretary, Dorothy Sayers, is interested in investigating the case. But in a world where murder is the ultimate plot device, can Eliza piece together the evidence and find the killer before it’s too late?

My Review:

I grew up honing my love of mysteries by reading Agatha Christie. I have always been interested in that mysterious period of her life in 1926 when she went missing for a while. Oliver has created an interesting mystery plot around it. I did not know about the Detection Club nor the chess dens popular in London at the time. Oliver has included a number of historical characters in this novel. Dorothy Sayers runs around on a motor cycle and Gilbert (G.K.) Chesterton talks about God. It was fun to see how their fictional characters corresponded to what I knew about them.

This is an entertaining novel involving historical mystery writers actually solving a mystery. They revealed some of their own ideas and rules for mystery and plot development. I enjoyed it.

My rating: 4/5 stars.

 

About the Author:

Kelly Oliver is the award-winning and bestselling author of three mystery series: the seven-book suspense series, The Jessica James Mysteries; the three-book middle grade kids’ series, Pet Detective Mysteries; and the four-book historical cozy series, The Fiona Figg Mysteries, inspired by those trips to the Green Hills Library.

Currently, Kelly is the Vice President of Sisters in Crime.

When she’s not writing novels, Kelly is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Boldwood Book, 256 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)