Richard HackBesprekingen

A passable attempt at a biography of the astoundingly prolific mystery writer. The first part covering her childhood, first marriage, and her early career is well done and engaging. Unfortunately the post World War 2 era when Christie became a self-described reclusive ‘sausage factory’ churning out multiple books a year is a little tedious. But it did spark enough interest in the subject to make me want to read a more in-depth and insightful biography on Christie at some point.

Very very detailed biography. Starts with his death and the mysteries that surrounded it. If you liked the movie The Aviator this might be a good book for you. It fills in a lot of the blanks and some of the strange behaviors exhibited in that movie. Follows his life from when he was a sickly child. Moving around and around, losing his mother and then his father. His public persona as a ladies man, generally with young girls. Then his deterioration into different manias, locking himself away from the outside world for days to weeks to months on end. Again very detailed but after a while it just turns tedious.

DNF... This book was putting me to sleep. So I gave up on it.

There are about as many myths about J. Edgar Hoover as there are truths. While head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1935 to 1972, there were stories of homosexual trysts with his assistant director Clyde Tolson and that he routinely wore women’s clothing. While these are rumors just the same, they linger in the national psyche. Richard Hack’s Puppetmaster tries to get a more complete picture of the man behind one of the nation’s largest investigative groups.

While most of the information presented in Puppetmaster is good and interesting, the writing is simple and clunky. Hack goes off on too many tangents and includes too many minors details for the history to matter. To be fair, he has gathered a great deal of information about the life of J. Edgar Hoover and how he came to lead the nation’s police force for the better part of five decades. He dispels many of the popular rumors as meager and unsubstantiated, and tries to get to the meat of the story. Unfortunately, he misses the mark. This is a good starter biography, but I’m sure there are other better ones out there.½

I really enjoyed this excellent and very thorough biography of Agatha Christie. It was really interesting to get a clear picture of her life from birth to death---with so many interesting details in between. I felt ashamed of her at the time of her first divorce and her "accidentally" staged disappearance, joy for her when she found love with her second husband, sadness for her at the critical spirit of her daughter, and triumph with her great success. Though some would probably pass out at the idea of me saying this, the destruction of her first marriage seems to have had a lot to do with her success. She chose to focus her attention to things outside her roles as wife and mother---and those two most important relationships suffered. I think the success of her second marriage had a lot to do with the fact that she poured herself into her husband's research and found joy in the same adventures that he did. There's a lesson to be learned here for sure. "The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands." ~ Proverbs 14:1

The book is well written and, judging from the end notes, well researched and includes an enormous number of short quotations but, having read Christie's autobiography and two earlier biographical works, I don't really feel that I've learned anything new about Agatha Christie. This book did say a little more about her daughter, Rosalind, than previous books. I wondered if the publisher added the subtitle, The Unauthorized Biography, to imply that dirt would be dished. It wasn't.

The book is well written and, judging from the end notes, well researched and includes an enormous number of short quotations but, having read Christie's autobiography and two earlier biographical works, I don't really feel that I've learned anything new about Agatha Christie. This book did say a little more about her daughter, Rosalind, than previous books. I wondered if the publisher added the subtitle, The Unauthorized Biography, to imply that dirt would be dished. It wasn't.

Fine biography, sprinkled with twentieth century American history.

I found that this book was very interesting -- seeing a side and a story of a person I knew who she was but really did not know her. I recommend this book to anyone who really wants to know more about Agatha.
THANK YOU!!!!

This the is the first biography I have read about Agatha Christie. Before this, I didn't really know anything about her. Her life was almost as full of mystery and suspense as her books. I think Mister Hack did a wonder job writing about her life and the back story of her family's lives. It is well worth picking up. It made me want to hunt down some of her books and read them again.

This was one of the worst biographies I have ever attempted to read. The author has based the majority of the book on Agatha Christie's own autobiography and seems to have done little in the way of original research or interpretation. The tone of the book is certainly not representational of Christie or her work. All in all something of an insult to her memory. Rightfully unauthorized it isn't even worthy of recreational reading.

http://passionatebooklover.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/duchess-of-death-the-unautho...

Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie is different from other Agatha Christie biographies, since it is the first to draw “from over 5,000 unpublished notes, letters, and documents”. Therefore, it “provides the most complete and knowing portrait of this famed author to date” and it allows us to have the most intimate look at the private and literary life of Agatha Christie. Best-selling author Richard Hack has done an excellent job narrating Agatha Christie’s personal story, giving us an extraordinary glimpse into the author’s mysterious world.

It is no secret that Agatha Christie disliked the press; she wanted to keep her private life out of the public eye and thus, avoided interviews and parties. The famous author led a life full of isolation and secrecy; therefore, she remains a mystery even to her biggest fans. Nevertheless, Richard Hack has accomplished the impossible: he allows us readers to see behind the curtain and to gain an exceptional insight into the author’s personal and professional life. Hack has a unique way of telling Agatha Christie’s story and captives his readers by revealing the mysteries of a talented and fascinating woman, whose life was full of romance, betrayal, wealth, travel, and scandal!

This brilliantly written biography reveals interesting and intriguing facts about Agatha Christie’s life and the reader gets to know a charismatic and romantic woman, who despite her enormous success, has managed to remain true to herself! Agatha Christie is regarded as the most popular modern author in the world; she wrote 157 short stories and 95 books and managed to sell over two billion copies, translated into 105 languages. She is also remembered for her successful theatre plays, The Mousetrap being the longest-running stage play in history. Nonetheless, she never wanted to become a writer and regarded her work “as of no importance”. In fact, Agatha Christie has hoped for a musical career as a teenage girl and trained her voice in order to become an opera singer. However, when a friend with connections to the Metropolitan Opera in New York wasn’t too enthusiastic about her singing (“the songs you sang tell me nothing”), Agatha knew that she would never become a professional singer. After being denied her dream, she devoted herself to writing, simply because she needed distraction and because she felt the need to “produce something, anything”. When publishers rejected her first stories, Agatha was not disappointed, since she had never considered writing a career.

During World War I, Agatha Christie joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment and worked as a nurse in order to help the war effort. She later worked at a pharmacy, a job that influenced her work, since it was during that time that Agatha Christie created her famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. In 1920, she published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a detective story centred around poison. In this novel, the famous author has made perfect use of her pharmaceutical knowledge. Other mystery stories followed, but Agatha couldn’t rejoice in her professional success due to the fact that her personal life has taken an unexpected turn. After twelve years of marriage, her husband Archibald Christie revealed that he was in love with another woman and therefore, demanded a divorce. That’s when Agatha’s bizarre eleven-day disappearance took place. Despite a “massive manhunt”, Agatha could only be found after eleven days at a hotel in Yorkshire. While two doctors have diagnosed her with amnesia and others suggested that she has suffered a nervous breakdown (because of her mother’s death and her husband’s affair), the reasons for Agatha’s disappearance remained unclear. There were also speculations that Agatha was trying to make the police think that her husband murdered her as revenge for his infidelity. Whatever her reasons were, Agatha Christie gave no account of her disappearance.

Two years after her divorce, Agatha married archaeologist Max Mallowan. Her second marriage was a happy one; it was a marriage full of adventure, understanding and admiration. Agatha often accompanied her husband on his archaeological trips to the Middle East and hence, found inspiration for several of her novels.

The beloved mystery writer died at the age of eighty-five, from natural causes, and was buried in a private service at the Parish Church of St. Mary’s in Cholsey. She will always be remembered as the “Queen of Crime” and will always remain in the hearts of her fans.

With Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie, Richard Hack has created a work that will please and delight Agatha Christie fans all over the world. This skillfully written biography provides us with information about the secretive life of a gifted author and at the same time draws an intimate portrait of an extraordinary and fascinating woman!

Surprisingly well-written. The author seems to have stayed to the facts most of the time although I cringed at times when he was attributing certain emotions to people or making implications about certain behaviors. His explanation for the "disappearance" seems plausible.

The book begins with a few chapters on Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance, which I found quite intriguing and which helps draw the reader in.

It is marketed as "immensely readable" and it is. It reads like a novel, again a nice touch for a biography.
There are a few spots where I found myself thinking "is this known or speculation?" but when you really think about it, that only happens for superficial facts...and if I want my biographies to read like a novel I will need to accept some interpolation (just like I would see in a movie about someone's life). This questioning only occurs at places like her hugging her dog before she leaves or when peoples emotions are described. All the important parts are substantiated with resources including Christie's autobiography, letters and other documents.

I get the impression that this book adds much more than was in her autobiography (though I have not read it).

There are a few slow places.

I knew very little about Christie's life and overall this bio was an enjoyable read. I think most Christie fans would really appreciate this book.½

This was a marvelous read. Hack's pacing of Christie's life was perfect; going into the perfect amount of detail without dewlling on unnecessary analysis. The tone was informative but decidedly undogmatic. Notorious for her shyness, Hack allows fans of the writer to see her life but from a respectful distance. The work commences in media res at the most sensational turning point in Christie's life and goes backwards and then forwards from there. While it seems to be sensationalist at the start, Hack proceeds with respect and no small affection for the writer. The current system of footnotes and endnotes is somewhat jarring (this may change for the published copy), but this is a small irritation in what is truly a fascinating and factual read. The manner in which Hack corrects earlier biographical works (including Christie's own autobiography) could be seen as snotty but I doubt this is his intention. The book is full of quotations from the grand dame herself, giving an intimate feel to the biography.
The work is shorter than it could have been glossing over certain of the less pleasant aspects of Christie's life and relationships. I believe this to be due to the Hack's intent to produce a balanced history of the authoress and not a warts and all sensationalized piece of gossip. A must read for fans of Agatha Christie's works. I especially appreciated the complete works and bibliography at the end.½

From the Prologue to the Epilogue, Richard Hack has written a fast-paced, entertaining, and informative biography of one of the most prolific writers of our times. Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie paints a portrait of a woman more complex than she herself would have had us believe, yet in that complexity we never lose sight of the simple woman with simple dreams.

Agatha Christie guarded her privacy fiercely, as did her family and now her estate. But Hack, drawing on unpublished letters, diaries and other documents, has proven his investigative chops. Duchess of Death begins with a Prologue reminiscent of a good Agatha Christie mystery with the never before explained disappearance of the writer in 1926 and continues on to show us a woman full of adventure, spontaneity and fascination with the world. Hack clearly has great respect and admiration for Christie and while he doesn't shy away from mentioning language in one of her novels that smacks of racism, he brushes it aside as a result of the times in which she lived. Likewise, we never fully understand the tension that exists between Ms. Christie and her daughter. Those quibbles aside, Duchess of Death is a great read and left me not only wanting to read Agatha Christie but also Richard Hack.

I was delighted to receive an ER copy of this book; Agatha Christie is the first "adult" mystery author I remember reading, after devouring the likes of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in my younger years. (When I was cataloging my books on LibraryThing, I found an inscription in one of my Christie books from my sister, who gave it to me for Christmas in 1974 when I was only 11 years old!)

I found the book quite entertaining and enlightening, especially about her later years. It was interesting to read the many quotes which Mr. Hack cites from her various letters and other unpublished documents. It gave me more insight as to how she felt about writing; I had not realized before that she sometimes felt like "a sausage factory." I was also interested in the tax manipulations which brought about the creation of Agatha Christie Ltd. These topics may have been covered in Christie's autobiographies, both of which I own and have read, but if so, I had forgotten about them.

The author did have an annoying tendency to write about a set of dates and then in the next paragraph or next chapter, revert to events which occurred prior to those dates just cited. For instance, in Chapter 11, he discusses activities which occurred in 1971, such as Agatha Christie's honoring as a Dame of the British Empire. In the subsequent paragraph, he returns to events which occurred in 1968, 1969, and 1970. This happened quite often throughout the book and made it rather hard to follow at times.

Other than this quirk, however, I was pleased with the book and found much to admire. It certainly makes me want to dust off my Christie books and reread them!

Not only was Agatha Christie a prolific mystery writer, but she also created mystery as she lived her own life. Mystery seemed to follow her. In any case, her name is synonymous with suspense.

Richard Hack has created in Duchess Of Death, a work that will delight Agatha Christie fans. He gives the reader an extraordinary glimpse into the mysterious life of an extraordinarily gifted legend.

Richard Hack’s Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie is an exceptional read. Her life is portrayed in a tasteful way, allowing the reader to see the faults in our lady, and yet not judge her for them. The biography is written with a startlingly honest approach, making Christies motives and actions human rather than untouchable, cold, or remote. This book is intricate in nature, containing not only the well documented professional triumphs and tragedies, but also giving a glimpse into the mind of this great author.

In the early chapters, the opulence of Agatha’s youth, followed by an unhappy marriage to her first husband during WWI, leads to a crisis of self. Through Mr. Hack’s use of a literary device, we jump out of sequence and start where her life begins to change – the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie. Then we are quickly transported back to her youth so as to build the understanding in the reader of how these circumstances came about. Having been brought up to speed by the back-story, we see the evolution of the woman, and are eventually introduced to the Agatha Christie so loved by so many – and due in large part to her second husband. Happy in this second marriage, the emotional instability that marked her dissapearance fades, and her behavior after this is more reminiscent of a deep-seated desire for privacy than a psychosis.

Though the time in which this author lived and the circumstances of her life played a part in her success, Agatha Christies travels also lent themselves to the development of her clever characters and vivid descriptions of setting. She had a certain je ne sais quoi about her; an elusiveness that still draws people to her work. Agatha Christie is portrayed as a passionate, sometimes vulnerable woman, but also one who has starch, an observer, yes, but also a participant in life.

In some ways this is an annoying book. Potentially a fascinating story, the author keeps intruding into it with some truly awful pieces of writing - for instance on discovery "by the hired help of Hoover's body: "Crawford raced from the room,...his fluttering heart threatening to fly from his chest and across the room". J. Edgar Hoover, love or hate him, was one of the important figures of the 20th century. Hopefully his life and times will encourage a further look by an author who can let the story stand on its own behalf.

I would love to have rated this book higher, since J Edgar Hoover, past director of the FBI, is one of my favorite all time bad guys to read about. However, the author's writing reminded me of a graduate student putting together a thesis or paper -- either way too much detail about meaningless stuff (like the contents of various meals, including his last, or what he wore, or description of the day -- e.g. "the snow was coming down in flakes as big as blueberries" etc etc etc) and not enough depth into what I would consider the meat of the story. Every time Hack would get going on the FBI's involvement into this or that (and his wording would promise that you were really going to find out something incredible), he seemed to stray toward another tangent and I would be left wondering where the promised juicy tidbit went.

But aside from those problems, the book was interesting, and I learned a lot of good ole J.Edgar that I had not known before.

brief synopsis
Puppetmaster examines both career and personal life (and rumors involving his personal life) of J. Edgar Hoover. By the time Hoover died, he was 77, and had been in office over 50 years and had served something like 8 presidents. While Hoover felt that he was doing his best to eradicate such evils as Communism and insurgency within the borders of the US, he was a man whose personal beliefs were rigid and did not evolve with the changing needs of the country. He was overly impressed with himself; no one could cross Hoover without finding the contents of his or her secret file being released to the public in some form or other. He built his reputation by conducting illegal activities and gathering intelligence on anyone he considered to be even remotely a threat either to the US or to the FBI (as in reputation), and authorized the use of "black bag jobs" such as illegal eavesdropping to build up his files. The man was a one man power base and had everyone afraid of him. He was often identified as the head of the American "gestapo" or "nkvd" and this description wasn't too far off the mark.

Hoover is a fascinating study. I do recommend this book with the caveat that it is told simplistically so if you are looking for something rather more in depth, you won't like it.½

Eventually I lost interest. It presumed a familiarity with the books that I don't have.