QUESTIONS – COOKBOOK CENTRIC
What prompted you to write Recipes for Murder?
What is your background in cooking and recipes?
How did Agatha Christie use food in her novels? For example, her most famous detective is actively known as a gourmand. She poisoned with food and drinks. She drew vivid character sketches using food. She set the scene or the culture of the novel using food, drinks, or food service. Sometimes plots hinged on a meal or dinner party.
What are your favorite food-centered moments from Agatha Christie’s books?
How did you decide what Agatha Christie food and drinks to include in Recipes for Murder?
How long did it take to write Recipes for Murder?
Are you thinking about any future books?
How did you research the recipes for each period in Recipes for Murder?
You note that “geography, servants, wars, and technology all made their mark on the changing world and the world of food throughout Christie’s lifetime.”
Have you read English puddings by Mary Norwak? Is pudding rice available in Canada? What rice do you use for your rice puddings?
Tell us about Oysters Rockefeller for Murder on the Orient Express. It wasn’t expressly mentioned in the book, so how did you end up selecting it?
What are the primary differences you see between British, Canadian, and American cooking? Were there any barriers you had to work around when writing Recipes for Murder?
We were so glad that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd featured a marrow recipe. Have you actually eaten a vegetable marrow? Have you grown one? Do you garden?
Have you used Camp Coffee, such as the British Coffee Cake on p 29. It’s interesting that the British put coffee in the cake. What do Canadians do?
One interesting thing that we’ve noticed in reading historical recipes is that desirability is mediated by scarcity. For example, before people domesticated chickens, eggs were foraged. Baked things were prized when cooks mainly used open fires. Ice and gelatin were new and exotic. Did you run into any interesting examples of this when writing Recipes for Murder? What do you think are current-day prized/specialty foods?
How did you develop the recipes in Recipes for Murder for the food and drink Agatha Christie includes in her books?
Have you made all the recipes?
Tell us about some of the abandoned recipes?
What are some of the more archaic ingredients or cooking methods you ran into?
What are some of the tastiest recipes?
Tell us about the trips to Christie’s homes.
What are some of the most rewarding things to you from being a part of this culture?
Are there any cooking crossover promotions you’ve been able to do while promoting Recipes for Murder?
Do you have any favorite chefs or cooks or cookbooks?
QUESTIONS – AGATHA CHRISTIE CENTRIC
Fun Facts About Agatha Christie from the author of Recipes for Murder:
While she is seen as a feminist icon for her successful writing career at a time when women of her class did not write books nor work, she never saw herself as a professional writer. Despite supporting her family since the mid—twenties as a writer, and setting up a private company Agatha Christie Limited to hold the rights to her work, she consistently filled out the line for occupation on her passport – housewife.
Her father was American.
She did not drink alcohol, just a nice cup of cream!
She ‘came out’ as in presented to society in 1907, not in London but in Cairo, which was a regular destination for wealthy Britons.
She loved buying and fixing up property and at one time owned eight houses.
She and her first husband Archie were one of the first Britons to surf standing up. They learnt in Hawaii during their Grand Tour of 1922.
A thallium poisoning case was solved by British medical personnel who had read The Pale Horse!
After’s Christie’s divorce, she took her first trip to the middle east because she had always wanted to take a trip on the Orient Express. Fortunately, she loved the middle-east and became a regular traveler and brought her typewriter with her. She referred to the Orient Express as “undoubtedly my favourite train.” On one of those trips, the journey was stopped for three days because of a snow storm – sound familiar?
She loved dogs and dedicated 2 novels to her beloved dog, Peter.
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS FOR KAREN PIERCE, AUTHOR OF RECIPES FOR MURDER
When did you start reading books by Agatha Christie?
What was your first Agatha Christie novel?
What is your favorite Agatha Christie novel?
What is your take on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? Were you surprised the first time? What did you think the second time?
What is it like to reread these books? Do you have a method? Do you ever forget who did it?
How did Christie’s writing evolve from her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles?
Who is your favorite Christie detective?
What other mystery writers do you like?
Do you prefer Golden Age books? Or do you also read modern detective fiction?
Do you also watch all the television and film adaptations of her work?
The new movie A Haunting in Venice is based on Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party (1969) (Jack O’Lantern Deviled Eggs). What are your thoughts about the Kenneth Branagh film adaptations (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, A Haunting in Venice)? How about the 1974 version of Murder on the Orient Express? How about the portrayal of Hercule Poirot by David Suchet in the British series?
