The Agatha Christie Cure: What Reading the Queen of Crime Taught Me About Life

by Cathy Rentzenbrink

A good mystery isn’t just entertainment; it’s a tonic for life’s hardships

Like so many of us living through the upheaval of the last five years, journalist and Sunday Times bestselling writer Cathy Rentzenbrink found that to keep her spirits up, she needed a project to throw herself into—something to keep her from the daily assault that is the always-on nature of modern life. When she found herself drawn to revisiting the work of Agatha Christie, she knew she had found her subject.

The literary legend of Agatha Christie extends beyond the quality of her books, the popularity of her characters, and the wide range of adaptations that her work has inspired. As Cathy devoured anew the powerful, clever, relevant stories of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, she began to see parallels not just between the books’ lessons and the times we were living through but between the comfort and purpose Christie’s writing gave her during similarly tumultuous times and the balm of her books for readers today.

The more she read, the more Cathy admired Agatha Christie and the more the she became convinced that the enduring and sustaining appeal of her work was a kind of skeleton key to unlock better ways to heal and to cope with adversity, no matter what topsy-turvy period of history we’re living through. For aficionados and newbies alike, this charming, endearing book about books reminds us that stories can feed our souls.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Memoir, Agatha Christie, Pop Culture

Hardcover

About the author

Cathy Rentzenbrink grew up in Yorkshire and now lives in London. A former Waterstones bookseller, she is now Project Director of the charity Quick Reads and Associate Editor of The Bookseller magazine.

Reviews

[Susan]

Having previously read and loved Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books by Cathy Rentzenbrink, I was delighted to be approved for her latest title by NetGalley. Like the author, Agatha Christie has always been my comfort read. If I am ill, upset, or facing something I loathe (airports, flights, hotels) then I always have an Agatha Christie to turn to. She is part of my DNA - I started reading her when I was around ten years old and remember crying when she died, while I was still at primary school. I had just discovered her and it seemed appalling to me that she was gone, but I have remained grateful for her work.

Being a huge crime fiction fan, I also visit the Harrogate crime festival each year, and have done so for a few years now. I mention this as the festival is held at the Old Swan Hotel, where Christie herself fled after her 1926 disappearance. Cathy Rentzenbrink considers Christie's disappearance in this book, as it was a turning point in Christie's life. I also think it shows how central Agatha Christie is to crime writing, with the festival giving her a nod - yes, you are still important, still read, still relevant, still on the shelves of bookshops and libraries.

Like me, Cathy Rentzenbrink turns to Agatha Christie in times of crisis. Whilst writing this book - part memoir, part love letter to Christie - the author was facing the end of her marriage and also struggling with her son's refusal to go to school. Her son is dyslexic and, as a dyslexic tutor and someone whose life is spent supporting neurodiverse students, as well as mother to a neurodiverse son myself, I found this a fascinating read. I sympathised with Cathy and her son, as both were made to feel like failures by the education system, and Cathy turned to Christie and decided to read all her books in order. It seemed like something I would do and a perfectly sensible decision. I loved reading her musings on life, on the books and on Christie's life. Christie can teach us a lot as well as giving us such pleasure. We are privileged to have her back catalogue, and I felt equally privileged to share the author's story. Highly recommended.

[Alisha]

I'm going to say that this book will be most appreciated by people who fall into the center of a Venn diagram by being fans of BOTH Agatha Christie and the author whose memoir this is, Cathy Rentzenbrink.
I love Agatha Christie and am reasonably familiar with her life, so I was halfway there. I'd never read anything else by Rentzenbrink. Both lives get a hefty amount of page time, so don't go into this expecting it to be all Agatha. It's more like hanging out with a third party who really vibes with Agatha, giving you glimpses and interpretations of the crime novelist at a bit of a remove. It's interesting and introspective. Sometimes it has an almost stream-of-consciousness feel, which is not my favorite style, but I respect the author's willingness to be vulnerable.

Thanks to Viking Penguin via Netgalley for this advance review copy.

[Jillian]

Goodreads tells me that this book has not been published yet. Goodreads is wrong.

[Nicola Smith]

Unlike Jennie Godfrey, who is quoted on my proof copy of The Agatha Christie Cure as saying ‘Come for the greatest crime writer in history and stay for Cathy’s beautiful writing’, I actually came for Cathy’s writing, not being (shhh, don’t tell anyone) much of a Christie fan.

Rentzenbrink most definitely is a fan of Christie and at a time in her life when she was struggling with several things that threatened to overwhelm her, she decided to undertake a reread of the detective novels, including the very well-known ones like the Poirot and Miss Marple stories. I particularly enjoyed the sections about the author’s own life and her relatable trials and tribulations, which are interspersed with some fairly in-depth descriptions of the plots of Christie’s books and details of her life and how parallels can be found between what she was writing and what was going on behind the scenes.

I think this is a book that will appeal massively to Agatha Christie aficionados who share an obsession with her life and her books. For me, I just enjoyed the beauty and honesty of Rentzenbrink’s writing and observations over the duration of the project. She’s an author whose work I will always want to read.

[Jess]

"I'm feeling physically soothed, just as I always do in a bookshop or library"

Reading that sentence so early on in the novel, solidified my trust in Cathy Rentzenbrink as the author, writer, and sharer of vulnerability in this lovely novel. This is my first by Cathy Rentzenbrink. I've actually had her "Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books" on my TBR for quite some time (and own it... I can see it staring me down from the bookshelf as I write this review). When I mentioned on Litsy, I was reading this, another book friend commented how much they enjoyed her "book on reading" and was looking forward to checking this one out. It made me realize, that Rentzenbrink truly crosses into several areas of the book world. What drew me to this book was my love of Agatha Christie and I wanted to read about her through Cathy Rentzenbrink's experience with loving her as well.

What I also appreciated and truly enjoyed about this book was how easily readable it was in that the reader can place it down and pick it up like nothing happened. Each chapter reads like a small essay, and both builds on prior chapters but also has a separation in the life experiences that Rentzenbrink relays. I started this in the beginning of the summer and gently read it through July at a perfect pace that suited me. It was so well paced of a book, that this part of the reading experience stood out to me.

The book blurb does a terrific job introducing what the book is about. Below I will tell you all the reasons I enjoyed it so much.

What I Enjoyed:
-Agatha Christie novels as a healing balm. Rentzenbrink is incredibly raw and vulnerable as she shares emotional and trying times in her life where she has had to reach for a Christie novel to help her escape. Her thoughts on her own marriage/divorce as well as Agatha Christie's marriage/divorce are so eloquently stated, and you can feel the pain of both women. Reading becomes a solace and therapy. Which as a lifelong reader, that is something ingrained in my DNA and intensely relatable. I truly had never considered examining Agatha Christie's life as a reflective mirror like Rentzenbrink does, and it really increased the depth of my feelings for Agatha Christie. I saw her not as a novelist, but as the woman too.
-Something that I've not encountered in a memoir before, and I think Rentzenbrink does this masterfully is how she chronicles her life experiences and links what is happening to either a Christie novel or character (Poirot, Hastings, and Marple for example) and then gives intelligent literary criticism. She literally is educating the reader while telling her story and then giving the reader some literary meditation to think on. It's truly masterful and I don't think I've read anything quite like that before. It's another reason I slowly read this one. There are truly moments to take a pause and ponder.
-The utter relatability of moments of grief and worry (marriage, children, career, aging, relationships), reinventing oneself when setbacks happen, and the female capacity for innovation and invention. It truly was thrilling to read.
-The last few pages. I read and reread sentences. Rentzenbrink's words just cut right to the heart and you can feel the emotion on the pages. I don't see how anyone can read this book and not feel changed as a reader. Rentzenbrink's incredible willingness to be so open about herself, emotions, life and connection to Agatha Christie is so compelling that I found myself relating to both women. And having a deeper appreciation and respect for both women.

This was a truly a pleasure to read and review. My many thanks to Viking Penguin, Viking, the author, and Netgalley for kindly allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review. It's one of my top 2026 reads so far.

[Shari]

Full disclosure: I love Agatha Christie. I also love books about books, reading, and writing. Furthermore, I've read and loved Cathy Rentzenbrink's previous books on these subjects. As you'd expect, then, I had very high expectations going into this book. I'm happy to report that they were met and even exceeded. I was hooked from the first page right through to the last.

The book opens on the night before Christmas Eve, with the author sitting on her couch feeling deeply depressed and anxious--familiar feelings exacerbated by the season, which is not her favorite, and her life circumstances. Her marriage is crumbling but she's not sure if she should try to hold it together or let it go. She's struggling with maternal ambivalence--how does she meet her son's special needs while still meeting her own? How much of herself is she 'supposed' to give up? How has she gotten here? As she sits with these kinds of thoughts running through her mind, her eyes wander across her bookcase and she thinks about her Agatha Christie collection of books, mugs, tote bags, puzzles, etc. This sparks an idea. She'll read all of Christie's novels in publication order. It's just the sort of project she needs. And so, she begins, finding insight and inspiration in Christie's work and her life.

This is a memoir as well as an exploration of Christie's life and work. While there is necessarily some speculation about Christie's thoughts, in an author's note at the end, Rentzenbrink assures readers that when it comes to her own life, what she's written is the truth as she sees it. She also points out that there are stories that are not hers to tell and that truth can sometimes be subjective. There were several aspects of this book that I loved. First of all was simply the ways in which the author engaged with the novels and described her epiphanies about what Christie might have been trying to do in them--and how she sometimes went back to a novel as new thoughts occurred to her. I also enjoyed the conversations Rentzenbrink had with her son about the books and Agatha Christie and how sometimes his observations led to her gaining new insights. This all made me want to go re-read some of the novels, including the Mary Westmacott titles. Another aspect of the book that had me turning pages was the evolution of the author's relationships with others and with herself. She grows and changes throughout the book, learning things about herself in the process. Her increased confidence and self-awareness was good to read about and created a hopeful feeling.

Rentzenbrink is an excellent writer so I was happy to go along for the ride. I do think one should be at least somewhat familiar with Christie's work, even if in a general way, before reading this book. There are spoilers sprinkled throughout and while major spoilers, such as the solutions to the mysteries, are flagged ahead of time, others are not. As I said above, I love reading books about books and reading and one thing I liked about this book was the fact that the books were by one author. The deep interaction between the current author and the previous author was fascinating to read about. I also found the ways in which Rentzenbrink connected the novels to her own life and to the circumstances happening in Christie's life at the time she was writing them quite compelling. There was just so much to love about this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a digital review copy.

[Chris Bissette]

Thanks to the team at Canongate for sending me a review copy of this book.

The Agatha Christie Cure is a sort of hybrid memoir and exploration of Agatha Christie's novels. One Christmas, as her life is falling apart around her, Cathy Rentzenbrink decides to reread every one of Christie's novels in publication order. It's framed as a literary detective story and a memoir about finding hope in reading, and it was pitched to me as a writer investigating Christie's disappearance in 1926 through her fiction. That's not quite what it turned out to be, but I enjoyed it anyway.

The opening third is exactly what I thought I was getting. Rentzenbrink works through Christie's novels one at a time and writes a little about each. We start to get a sense of the themes running through Christie's work and how her writing develops over time, and alongside that we get glimpses of Rentzenbrink's own life and the ways these books resonate with her across a hundred years of distance.

Then we reach 1926. Christie disappears, she's found in Harrogate, and almost immediately the book-by-book format falls away. The focus on Christie's novels falls away a bit too, and what's left is much more of a traditional memoir that happens to keep circling back to Agatha Christie.

I found that shift quite jarring at first. It felt like I wasn't reading the book I'd expected to read, and I spent a while being slightly annoyed about it. But once I got over my surprise at what this book had turned into, I found myself really enjoying it. That's in spite of the fact that I don't know who Cathy Rentzenbrink is, I haven't read any of her other books, and I don't really read memoir. It's not a genre that interests me. I came to this wanting a deep dive into Christie as a novelist, and that's not what I got. What I got instead was something like spending an afternoon with a friend I'd only just met.

It's lovingly written. Gentle, delicate, tender. It's also very honest, surprisingly so in places, particularly about what it means to be an almost resentful mother - someone who doesn't enjoy the act of mothering, of caring for other people. Rentzenbrink is very frank about that, and I found it illuminating.

And for all that the book drifts away from Christie in its back half, it still made me want to go back to her. It also made me feel a little better about my own author obsessions. I'm deep in a Virginia Woolf phase at the moment, and I'm actively trying to fight off the urge to reread all of China Mieville's novels in order. This book is probably enabling me. It's an ADHD brain's best friend and worst nightmare in one.

Thanks to the team at Canongate for sending me a copy. I enjoyed this a lot and I think it's well worth picking up, especially if you've ever fallen down a rabbit hole with a single author. I'm going to be reading some more Christie very soon.

[Helen]

I love reading Agatha Christie books! In fact, I’ve now read most of her work and only have a few more novels and some short story collections left to read. It’s taken me many years to get this far, though, and I’ve been reading the books in a very haphazard way, picking them up in no particular order as I come across them. In The Agatha Christie Cure, Cathy Rentzenbrink describes her own journey through Christie’s work, which is much more structured than mine!

Rentzenbrink’s project begins at Christmas. She’s feeling tired and miserable – she and her husband, Erwyn, are considering separating; their son Matt is unhappy at school; and because of the Christmas holidays, Cathy has none of her usual work activities to keep herself occupied. Reading all of Agatha Christie’s books in the order they were published seems like the perfect distraction – a way to escape from real life for a while and also a fascinating opportunity to watch the 20th century unfold through Christie’s eyes. Deciding to start immediately, she gets into a warm bath, picks up The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and begins.

The Agatha Christie Cure incorporates a lot. There are discussions of Christie’s novels (usually quite brief but sometimes a whole chapter devoted to one book); other sections take the form of a memoir, with Rentzenbrink talking about her personal life, her family and her relationship with Christie; and we also learn a lot about Christie herself, drawing on her own autobiography, with a focus on her sudden disappearance for several days in December 1926. There’s a good balance between these three different elements of the book, with some crossover between them, for example when Cathy looks for parallels between her own life and Christie’s. I particularly enjoyed Rentzenbrink’s interactions with her son, Matt, discussing Christie’s books with him and sometimes reading or listening to them together. Despite his problems at school, Matt is an intelligent, observant boy and often picks up on details in the books that his mother has missed.

You may be wondering about spoilers. Unfortunately, I thought they were handled quite inconsistently throughout the book. In the chapter on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for example, Rentzenbrink provides a spoiler warning before going on to discuss the solution to the mystery, but later in the book she casually names the culprit from Roger Ackroyd again without repeating the spoiler warning. Because I’ve already read so much of Christie’s work, I mostly felt safe (although I skipped over the sections on the few books I still haven’t read, such as Elephants Can Remember and Curtain) but this could be more of a problem for readers who’ve read less Christie than I have.

I’ve often wished that I had tried to read Christie’s novels in order from the beginning as it sounds like such an interesting, rewarding approach to an author’s work. Not only can you watch the author grow and develop with each book, but when their work spans several decades, as Christie’s does, you can also look out for hints of social and cultural change and technological advancement. Of course, there can also be some disadvantages to reading in order – as Rentzenbrink discovers, most of Christie’s better books were written earlier in her career and the later ones tend to be weaker. Maybe my random approach is better after all, as it provides more variety and keeps things fresh.

I found The Agatha Christie Cure very enjoyable, but if you’re just beginning your own Christie journey (or haven’t started yet) then it would probably be wise to wait until you’ve read more of her books. Definitely read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd first!

[Books By Your Bedside]

3 - 3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

Agatha Christie + Cathy Rentzenbrink = I mean, what more do you want. As much as I was desperate to read this, I did wonder how it worked. How could reading Agatha Christie's whodunnits really change a person's life? But I was immediately hooked.

I will start with the negative point though. There are passages I had to skip because she talks about the plots of the books, and whilst I can't shout SPOILERS at her when talking about 100-year-old books, I want to be able to go into the books not knowing what happens. So in the passages where she is discussing the characters, the scenes, the victims etc. I just glanced over without focussing too much on the plot she was divulging. But this does mean I will probably keep this book on my Kindle and re-read it once I have finished my Christie read-athon. But I would probably suggest that the finished copy needs something at the start that explain that there are spoilers for all of Christie's books, and for those who want to go in blind should either leave tis book for another time, or know that you really need to skip roughly every other chapters, that way you get the bits about Cathy's life and how the books affected her, but without finding out plot points. I suppose in a way that's what makes this book a lower star rating than normal, because I couldn't read it all.

I actually plan to do exactly what Cathy planned, which is to read the Poirot and Marple books in order. I own about half a dozen of Poirot, two or three Marples, and then a handful of unrelated books. I am determined to collect the sets so I can settle down for my big Christie read-athon.

Whilst I tried to avoid the spoilers she had included, I did enjoy reading how Cathy herself might have written or edited passages. I didn't think I would because, why are we editing Agatha Christie of all people? But I love Cathy's use of language so I saw it less trying to improve upon Christie and more about showing the breadth and depth of Cathy's storytelling. It was about adding to Agatha, not replacing.

You can't deny Cathy's writing and storytelling ability - she is one of my favourite authors for her sheer talent at putting words on a page to move the reader.

But yeah, that's why you haven't got a really long review this time because I didn't read it all and so can't comment on it all.

[Mona Sami]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of *The Agatha Christie Cure* before publication. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

*The Agatha Christie Cure* is part memoir, part literary reflection and part love letter to the comfort we can find in books during difficult periods of life. Cathy Rentzenbrink returns to Agatha Christie while dealing with burnout, change and the need to find her way back to herself, using Christie’s novels as a kind of emotional anchor.

I enjoyed the idea behind the book and could definitely relate to the comfort of returning to a familiar author when life feels overwhelming. There is something very appealing about finding reassurance in books you already know and love, and Rentzenbrink writes honestly about why Christie became so important to her during this particular stage of her life.

I also enjoyed learning more about Agatha Christie as a person rather than simply as the creator of Poirot and Miss Marple. The reflections on Christie’s own life, personal struggles and ability to reinvent herself were interesting, and there were several moments that made me want to pick up more of her novels.

However, I did expect the book to focus more heavily on Agatha Christie herself. At times, it felt much more like Rentzenbrink’s personal memoir with Christie woven through it rather than a book primarily about Christie. Some of the reflections also became repetitive, and there were sections where I felt the narrative wandered a little more than necessary.

That said, I still appreciated the warmth behind the book and its message about the role reading can play in helping us through difficult periods. I think readers who already enjoy Cathy Rentzenbrink’s writing, as well as devoted Christie fans who are happy with a more personal and reflective approach, will probably get the most from it.

Overall, *The Agatha Christie Cure* was a thoughtful and comforting read with some lovely reflections on books, resilience and starting again. I enjoyed parts of it very much, but I wanted slightly more Christie and slightly less memoir, which stopped it from being a stronger read for me.

3.5 stars

[David Shepherd]

I was offered the opportunity to read an ARC of this book by the NetGalley and Canongate publishers. As an Agatha Christie fan the concept appealed to me.

This book is an interesting combination of personal memoir and an analysis of Agatha Christie’s personal life and the influences that this may have had on her writing.

It’s clear from the memoir component that she was undergoing a turbulent personal life at the time she took on the project to read her way through Christie’s bibliography; the novels not the short stories.

Cathy Rentzenbrink links her memoir portions of the book with her interpretations of events in Christie’s life, and incorporates them into,her own life as a sort of therapy. It appears a way for her to achieve some comfort, therapy and make sense of her world.

There is a repeated connection between her relationship with her son, Matthew and the novels she is reading. Matthew also enjoys the Christie novels, so this is an interest and nod they share.

I guess that there will be those that consider the depth to which Rentzenbrink describes the plot of the novels too detailed. Personally I don’t see this as a problem. Many of the books have been made into films or TV productions, so the plots and solutions will be familiar anyway.

For me personally one of the criticisms is the amount of personal reflection that Rentzenbrink includes. I was expecting more of an interpretation of how the novels could be interpreted and aid reflection.

The memoir style has a kind of ‘mind dump’ feel to it. There’s little obvious filter and while I have sympathy for the struggles that Cathy Rentzenbrink was obviously going through it doesn’t make for good reading in my opinion.

As I mentioned above, I was expecting a more ‘self help’ kind of approach.

Rentzenbrink shows a keen eye for what makes Agatha Christie tick and how her plots catch the attention of readers. The Agatha Christie Cure was an enjoyable read, particularly when the focus is on Christie's gifts as a writer.

In summary I think this is an interesting book, just not the one for me. If one’s expectations are for a personal struggle and how Christie’s life and works can support you through these then you’ll likely find something in this for you.

[Liz]

I have mixed feelings about this book. Who can't love an author who gets excited about a rendezvous at a tube station in a 100-year old novel because the tube station is now disused? And who can't hate an author who blows to shreds the suspense in half an author's canon with her unnecessary spoilers and then appends a list for newcomers of which books to read?
The text divides roughly equally between a discourse on Agatha's life and how it informs her work, and the author's own autobiographical material.
Since Agatha's autobiography was published in 1977 many would-be biographers have quoted from and paraphrased it to death. This author is no exception. Having said that, her examples of how Agatha drew on her own experience when writing are original. The author starts by saying she is reluctant to analyse Agatha's disappearance in 1926 but then has a change of heart and analyses it in detail. To be fair, she shows more empathy than other biographers in drawing conclusions.
The spoilers which litter this part of the text are unnecessary as it is the characters and settings which interest the author, rather than plot construction and solutions.
The autobiographical content I found too much at times. Unless I know the individual well, I'm not interested in where their grandparents were born or whether their mother worked outside the home. I was more engaged with the author's current situation although at times I thought the content should be pared down.
In conclusion, another analysis/biography of one of the most successful authors ever, more interesting and more quirky than many on the market. One for aficionados only.
Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a free copy of this book.

[Acantha]

Part memoire, part musing on the life and work of Agatha Christie, this is a very different type of book.

There is a dreamlike quality to this book, it muses on life and death, it skips through time and space, before looping back round again. And through it all, are the stops on this journey, the works of Christie.

I do have an issue with how the author approached spoilers in this book. While I appreciate its been a hundred odd years for some of these books, the fact is new people are drawn to her books every day. People develop an interest and might pick up something like this to read while working along her canon and the casual way in which she spoils some of the greatest twists ever written... I'm so aware of the way that could ruin the books forever for people and there are people in my life who have yet to read Agatha Christie, who don't know the twists, and I cannot wait for them to discover them naturally. (The author says it doesn't count at this stage, but she also doesn't spoil the ending to Mousetrap, the play still on that Agatha Christie wrote, the play she asked people not to 'ruin'. If you're going to respect that - as you should - then you should respect the others.)

In the end, what you get out of it depends on how much you can see of yourself in the book. It's about the Queen of Crime yes, but its also about loss, love, motherhood, grief, trying to find yourself within all the labels that people put on you. Its a very filtered view of the authors life - as she says, it may be the truth but it isn't the whole truth.

A introspective and interesting wander through various lives.

~Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in return for an honest review~

[Dogeared]

2.75 stars rounded up. This sounded exactly my kind of book, being an Agatha Christie fan, and what lessons we might learn from her life and books. Unfortunately, I think the blurb didn’t really strike the right tone up front for me… I couldn’t quite put my finger on why the first chunk of the book wasn’t working for me, until the author says “I am an expert in despair”. And then the lightbulb moment for me - there was quite a heavy tone of despair throughout, and that is absolutely fine if you’re expecting that. And I do admire the author for opening up so honestly in the book - many wouldn’t or couldn’t. But it did mean every time I picked up the book, my own mood was changing too.

The other issue for me was the two great honking spoilers for two of Agatha’s books. Simply putting “spoiler alert” one or two sentences beforehand (but in the same paragraph) isn’t enough. And saying “well you’ve had 100 years to read this” frankly wound me up - no, we haven’t, unless you’re reading this aged 120, in which case kudos. Luckily I had read both the books in question, because otherwise I’d have felt robbed of two of the greatest plot twists I can think of.

In short - 1) expect spoilers here. It’ll suit super Agatha fans who already know all the books, or people who don’t care about being spoiled. And 2) be aware this isn’t really an upbeat or “here’s how I changed my life” book… most of the book is spent while the author is very much in the weeds of despair.

If you go into this bearing those two things in mind, you’ll probably enjoy this a lot more.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

[Jen Burrows]

Christie is a real 'readers' author' - her work is so accessible and well-known that every reader has their own unique experience of reading her novels or engaging with the adaptations, plays and short stories. The order you read in, the characters you connect with, the clues you pick up all affect your relationship with the Queen of Crime.

This is what makes the premise of Rentzenbrink's book a success - while peppered with biographical detail and historical context, The Agatha Christie Cure doesn't aim to be a definitive guide to Christie, but the story of one woman's personal experience of (re)reading her work. However, it only really works if you have a decent knowledge of Christie and her works yourself; a large part of the joy of reading this is reflecting on your own connection with Christie. While this is a clearly a personal take, I sometimes wished Rentzenbrink left a little bit more room for other perspectives.

Rentzenbrink is clearly comfortable in autobiography; the way she weaves personal and literary insights feels like second nature. I cared about her journey - her honest portrayal of divorce and bringing up a teenage boy - but at times the candour and mining for content made me a little uncomfortable.

[what.heather.loves]

"'Up to a point I enjoyed it' is magnificent in its understated honesty and the best that can ever be said about wrestling a book into it's finished form. I might have it made into a T-shirt."

In this intriguing and creative memoir, the author shares a challenging time in her life whilst she re-reads Agatha Christie's novels in order. It's a fascinating exploration of Christie's life, her books and the lessons the author and reader can learn from them; the book discusses Christie's family life, her 1926 Harrogate disappearance, her mystery-writing and social-chronicalling skills and the pros and cons of her novels. I'm a Christie fan and also a fan of the author's work, meaning this book was a match made in heaven for me. I related particularly to the author's struggles with neurodivergence and how it impacted her teenage son, Matthew's schooling (experiencing very similar myself with my son); I found myself highlighting supportive observations about the English education system (described by the author as "the antagonist on this story") to return to in times of need. Astute, poignant and fascinating. 

"I wake up in the night knowing that striving for perfection means continually falling short. Connection not perfection."

[Chris L.]

Cathy Rentzenbrink’s ‘The Agatha Christie Cure’ is an interesting hybrid of memoir and critical analysis of her work. Rentzenbrink maintains a strong personal connection to Agatha Christie, and the memoir portions are there to show how she incorporates her reading of the works as therapy, comfort, and a way to make sense of the world. She decides to read her way through Christie’s bibliography, and she takes readers along for the ride.

Rentzenbrink repeatedly connects the mystery novels to her own life with her son, Matthew. Matthew also enjoys reading Christie, so that’s a bond they share. Since the book is divided into memoir and analysis sections, we do get a bit about Rentzenbrink’s life and how she feels a bit unmoored at the time she takes up the Christie project. Rentzenbrink makes an excellent point that one of the joys of reading Christie is the communal aspect: we like to discuss the novels and share our enthusiasm for them with others.

I have two qualms about the book. She writes about material that has been covered in other books (read a similar book back in August). My other problem is that by covering every book she gives away far too much plot. I’ve read most of Christie’s work, but that doesn’t mean I always remember the identity of the murderer or how the murder case is worked out. Rentzenbrink could detail the books in a way that did not spoil certain plot points.

Rentzenbrink shows a keen eye for what makes Agatha Christie tick and how her plots grab readers. Cathy Rentzenbrink’s ‘The Agatha Christie Cure’ was an enjoyable read when the focus was on Christie’s gifts as a writer and how much that meant to Rentzenbrink and her son.

[Lottie]

You know I love Cathy Rentzenbrink - I had the pleasure of meeting her twice last year, where she spoke of her "next book, all about Agatha Christie" before it was even submitted! I adore Rentzenbrink's two novels Everyone Is Still Alive and Ordinary Time, although I embarrassingly haven't delved into her non-fiction prior to this.

And, even more embarrassingly, I haven't managed to read a single Agatha Christie novel in my life, despite owning a trio for over three years! Despite that, Rentzenbrink has crafted us a beautiful read here - spoilers adequately marked for the neanderthals among us.

The Agatha Christie Cure is half-memoir, half-literary-criticism; Rentzenbrink decided to read all of Agatha Christie's novels, and talks us through the effects this had on her life, the parallels between their lives, and the discoveries she made about not only Agatha Christie, but herself too.

There is such heart in this book that I can't begin to describe, but I can say the exploration of Rentzenbrink's relationship with her son, and life, are so tender and inspiring.

A wealth of information on Agatha Christie - absolutely to be returned to once I've actually read her!

[Lynda]

I’m not quite sure how to categorise this book it’s a cross between a Rentzenbrink memoir and a homage to Agatha Christie. Let me just say that I haven’t read this author before. But after reading this, I will definitely be searching out some of her back catalogue. Her writing is sublime, honest, at times gut wrenching, but always real.

Briefly, as a difficult time in her life Rentzenbrink decided that she would go back and read Agatha Christie’s many books. She was doing this as an escape from her own life struggles not realising just how much help they were going to be. She found herself relating to not just Christie’s books but to Agatha’s private life and the similarities they shared.

I loved how she related events in her life to different Christie novels and characters. I’ve read and reread a lot of Christie and I still felt like I was being shown something I hadn’t seen before. This could so easily have become a sob story but whilst I felt compassion for the author what came over most was her strength and resilience. To Cathy Rentzenbrink you for sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings and for writing them in a way that this Agatha Christie fan found profound but also amusing and inspiring. A fascinating read.

[Tania]

Firstly, this is at least as much, if not more about the Cathy Rentzenbrink's life as it is about Agatha Christie. I had read Dear Reader, so was already familiar with the author, but anyone expecting just a book about Christie might but he disappointed. When she starts to feel that her life is falling apart, her marriage is failing and her son is struggling in the school system, Cathy turns to Agatha Christie, and decides to read her novels in order. She uses the author's books and life and relates it back to her own struggles. Agatha Christie is one of my comfort reads, so I can easily relate to this.

I have read biographies bout Christie, but the way the narrative unfolds make it easy to keep up with what is happening in her life, and I really liked the way the author relates these details back to the books, something which I have never thought to do. I have mostly just picked up the books at random, but this did make me want to do the same; I can also fill in the blanks with the few books I haven't yet read, though these are mainly the ones that aren't well reguarded. There are quite a few spoilers for the plots in the books, so maybe best avoided for now, or skimmed if this is a problem.

*Many thanks to Netgally and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

[Jane]

I was asked to review by NetGalley interesting book and author

Found this to have a lot of spoilers - Yes I know some of the books are over 100 years old, but not everyone has read Agatha Christie. I can understand the author wanting to explore plots, storylines and the background to the crimes.

What I took from reading this book is to read Agatha Christies books in order, Poirot, Marple, Tommy and Tuppence and so forth. So a trip to Hay on Wye will be in order when it gets colder as I know they sell original paperbacks too. I will read over half term and the long Christmas holidays.

The author writes well but since Agatha Christies death January 1976 there are good books out there such as Lucy Worsley's book -Agatha Christie which I feel is a ground breaking biography.

I enjoyed the authors style of writing but this was not really for me.

Readers this is due for publication September 10th so you can makes your own minds up.

[Kerry Henderson]

Many thanks to Netgalley and Canongate books for the opportunity to read this book.
Writer Cathy Rentzenbrink decides to up her spirits by diving back into the world of Agatha Christie and reading her many novels. Along the way she gets to know the author herself and the life lessons she can teach us.

This was so good. I love Agatha Christie so was excited to read this. There are a couple of spoilers to the books in here but most people will already know these things anyway if you are a fan. I like how we see Cathy's life as well as Agatha's. There's so much depth and thought into this. Many of the books are mentioned and explained as well as a list at the back of them for anyone wanting to read them in order. Me I love to just pick them up randomly. A worthy read for any Agatha Christie fan.

[L]

Very much enjoyed this. I've read a couple of Rentzenbrink's other non-fiction books and enjoy her writing style and I'm a huge Christie fan so pretty much knew I would. It's 50% memoir about a difficult time in the writer's life, and 50% her thinking about Christie, her books, and her life. It's full of spoilers for many Christie novels so I wouldn't recommend this unless you've read all/most of Christie or don't care about spoilers. But if you're nerdy about Christie like I am it's great - lots of the stuff she gets excited about reading is all the same stuff that I love, and I'm always going back to the novels for comfort and enjoyment so I can definitely appreciate a full publication order re-read. It's not entirely "fun" because the memoir parts document an upsetting and stressful time, but there are lots of fun parts.

[Jo-anne Atkinson]

As her marriage breaks down, Cathy Rentzenbrink decides to re-read the Agatha Christie canon in order. As she does so she sees how events in Christie's life shaped her writing and focuses on Christie's infamous 'disappearance' in 1926. Meanwhile, Rentzenbrink goes through divorce, has to cope with her father's cancer and her ADHD son's school refusal.
There is a lot that I like in this book. The depth that the author goes into to analyse the events of 1926 is really good, and it could be argued that her own mental torment helped her get an insight into the emotional turmoil that Christie went through at the time. I also like the consideration of several of the books from a critical viewpoint linked to biography. However, I found a lot of the personal biography repetitive and heavy. Given that the appendix at the end says that quite a lot of this was changed, I was left wondering.

[Sue Hill]

This was such an interesting book to read. The author, Cathy Rentzenbrink, tells of how when her own life was unraveling she decided to turn to Agatha Christie and read all her books in order. What follows is as much about the author’s own life as it is about Christie’s. As a lover of all things Agatha Christie I found the insights and parallels with Christie’s books to be very refreshing.
This book is indeed a love letter to Christie as well as being a memoir of Cathy Rentzenbrink and I really enjoyed the writing style. My only proviso would be that for anyone new to Agatha Christie’s work there are an awful lot of spoilers in this book. If you are a die hard Christie fan then this will suit you down to the ground

[Chris Chanona]

This is a very thorough working of Agatha Christie’s life and works. This makes it sound dry but it isn’t. There is a clear authorial voice throughout challenging you, as the reader, but also herself and her own life. I found it very relatable. Full of humour and insights. I have read most Agatha novels and short stories but this book made me immediately purchase some again to read/reread. There is a very good section at the end where each of Agatha’s novels are listed in order with a brief summary.
You will learn lots about Agatha, even if, like me, you have read about her and her life. Fascinating.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publishers. Thank you.

[Penelope Pitstop]

Goodreads says this isn’t published yet - but it is! I bought a copy at the International Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay.

I come to this as a huge fan of Agatha Christie, obviously, but also someone who loves memoirs and in particular Cathy Rentzenbrink’s writing.

This is a gorgeous book for people who enjoy both those, in which she rereads Agatha from the start as she goes through a marriage breakdown, and finds comfort both in the books and an understanding of AC’s own life. It’s particularly astute on “Harrogate.”

Exercise caution if you don’t like both memoir and Christie - it’s not a straightforward book about the Queen of crime. But I found it both moving and perceptive.

[Meredith]

I love Agatha Christie, but I don’t think I ended up being the right audience for this book because I was unfamiliar with the author herself…it was as much about Christie as it was about her, which I don’t think I was fully expecting. I learned new things about Christie, but I didn’t like how this author would give entire plots of Christie’s books and then talk about how she would have edited them differently. Just not for me, but definitely would be of great interest to some. Thank you, NetGalley!

[Liz]

I think this is more appropriate for a reader who knows Agatha Christie books well, and so can appreciate the analysis of these, how these referenced her own life story, and then their impact on Cathy herself. I personally only know a few of Agatha’s plots so I didn’t get as much out of this book as someone else who did would have.
I am slightly concerned about all the details Cathy gives concerning her son. I assume a lot wasn’t included but even so.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

[Saffy]

When Cathy Rentzenbrink finds herself at a challenging time in her life she decides to begin a project of re-reading Agatha Christie’s novels in order of when they were published. As I love both Agatha Christie and Rentzenbrink’s writing I was looking forward to reading this. I find the author’s writing so true, honest, insightful and humorous and was moved by her honesty when she explains to the reader why she decided to write this. I love the idea of how reading Christie could help the author in her own life and it’s certainly inspired me to re-read Christie’s work. I found the author’s insights and reflections on both Christie’s life and work and the parallels with her own life so interesting and enjoyed the personal anecdotes. The weaker part of this for me were the sections describing the plots of Christie novels which I felt were overlong.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
3.5 stars