Actually, this isn't really a new project, as I've been working on it for more than a year, but the wheels of academic publishing move slow. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but a year is a long time, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.
I signed a contract today to edit the
Bloomsbury Guide to Agatha Christie. This is the centenary of her first book, but literary scholars only began seriously considering her work at the very end of the 20th century, so there has never been a reference book gathering critical work on Christie in one place.
Bloomsbury approached me last spring about putting this thing together. Daunted by the scope of it, I reached out to a very accomplished Christie scholar, JC Bernthal, to co-edit with me. We spent the last year recruiting an amazing roster of contributors, writing the proposal, waiting for peer review, waiting for the editorial board's decision, and negotiating the contract. As of today, it's a done deal.
We've got chapters by the aforementioned roster of fabulous scholars, a foreword by bestseller Val McDermid, and a biographical note by Christie's only grandchild. The Agatha Christie Archive Trust is providing some little-seen photos. It's going to be a big hairy deal in crime fiction circles, and I'm pretty excited.
I almost said no, because I'm pretty much overworked all the time, but Quirt encouraged me to take it on, saying that this just wasn't something I could turn down. I'm very grateful for the encouragement, and I'll be excited to see this thing come out in 2022. By then, surely I'll be able to leave the house and do some fun booksignings for Christie fans.
Jodi
