An Enduring Mystery

A Review of The Christie Affair

A few months ago, after an afternoon trip to see Baz Lurman’s Elvis, I was discussing the movie with a friend, both of us mulling over the intricacies of making Col. Tom Parker the narrator.

“He’s the narrator,” I remember saying, “but that doesn’t mean he’s a reliable narrator.”

That’s the same feeling I had when I finished Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair, a 2022 release that offers up a fictionalized account of what exactly happened during the 11 days when Agatha Christie went missing in 1926. (Yes, that’s a real event that occurred! Christie was missing from December 3-14, 1926, sparking a search across England. Learn more.)

The book is told through the eyes of Nan O’Dea, the mistress of Archie Christie, Agatha’s husband. While Nan is complete fiction, she is at least somewhat inspired by Archie’s real mistress, Nancy Neele. The book unspools the tale from the viewpoints of both women, while also detailing time Nan had spent in Ireland in the past.

The Christie Affair is based on an intriguing concept, exploring love, revenge, redemption and deep loss through the lens of an actual event. Elements of truth about Christie’s mysterious disappearance are sprinkled throughout, including Archie asking Agatha for a divorce, Agatha’s abandoned car, the involvement of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers in the search and Agatha’s eventual discovery in Harrogate. De Gramont uses these facts to create a foundation to build her fiction upon, allowing Nan to spin her tale and very slowly reveal her motives.

At times brutally honest and coolly calculating, Nan’s reliability as a narrator should be questioned and carefully considered. Is Nan’s version of the story the true version? Can we, the readers, trust what she is telling us? When she gives the story a “happy” ending, is it really?

Described by The Washington Post as an “ingenious new psychological suspense novel that concocts an elaborate backstory behind Christie’s disappearance,” The Christie Affair is full of twists and turns—several that you likely won’t expect—that will leave you wondering if you actually did unravel the mystery.

The Bookery Rating: 📙📙📙📙

Some mentions of sex, violence, emotional trauma, but overall a book you won’t want to put down!

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