The greatest mystery wasn't Agatha Christie's disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it's what she discovered." 🧐💍📚

This book was excellent. While it was a bit of a slow burn, I found myself hooked and wanting to read more! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

DNF at around 10%. I thought the premise and idea was really interesting but I really did not enjoy this being told from the mistress's perspective. Maybe due to this perspective choice, Christie is displayed as an overblown, hysterical woman, which doesn't really jive with what I think, or want to think of her. I could have kept reading if I really wanted to, but it seemed like this book chose to really play up the soapy drama and relationship intrigue, which is really not what I was interested in.

4.5 stars

This was such an interesting take on Agatha Christie’s 11 day disappearance. Nina de Gramont imagined a story full of the intrigue and mystery that Christie wrote into her novels.

There were multiple twists and turns that I didn’t see coming but made perfect sense one they were revealed.

I also loved the addition of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers as minor characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for a digital and physical ARC in exchange for my honest review.

While I’ve only read a few read of Agatha Christie’s books, I was intrigued by the premise of this one as it’s a fictional reimagining of sorts, based on her real life.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad read. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. I liked ‘the other woman’ angle, but I think it would have been better had it been told in alternating POV’s between Nan & Agatha instead. This was solely told in Nan’s POV and was mainly about her, which I found disappointing. I wanted more Agatha.

Since I'm not an Agatha Christie reader, I came into this book not realizing it was based on one historical event in Agatha Christie's life - that of her missing for 11 days.

The book's narrator is Nan, the new wife of AC's ex-husband. For probably half of the novel, Nan was retelling the imagined events that happened with Agatha Christie across the 11 days Christie went missing. Interspersed between Day 1 or Day 2, etc., we learn more about Nan and her backstory, which takes up about half of the book. Nan weaves in stories of her childhood, the Great War, and what happened to children sent to convents.

The novel sparked my interest in wanting to read Agatha Christie's books, and the twists and plots across the 11 days were supposedly resolved. However, the author's attempt at narrating was distracting, and the story was simply a mess. She'll speak directly to the reader, saying she knows this is what happened to Christie, while at other times, she'll make up as she goes along saying that she was over here, and Christie was over there... as if she could be in two places at the same time. How do you have a character in the novel be an omniscient narrator? That didn't make sense. The technique was distracting, adding unnecessary word count, plot holes and disorienting the timeline. And, of course, it wasn't just about Christie's missing. There was a murder mystery, introduced 100 pages in, and took another 100+ pages to be revisited because we've been reading about Nan or Christie's missing.

If the author is trying to be the next Agatha Christie, she'd have much editing to do. I wanted to give up reading the book after 200 pages. The book moved along a bit only when the murder mystery was revisited, which led me to press on to the finish.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for my advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review.

“The Christie Affair” by @ninadegramont is a fantastic story with brilliant writing. I was really captivated by the story from start to finish. If you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, mysteries, dark and tragic love stories, and quality writing, I think you’ll like this one.

Pros: I loved how the author made the reader fall with love with Nan in her childhood. She brought Nan to life, and I couldn’t help but find myself cheering for Nan and Finbarr. I also thought Nina did an excellent job carrying the reader along through the story from Nan’s POV, jumping to present day and then back to the past.

Cons: I also found myself really disappointed with Nan breaking up Agatha’s marriage, and I could have done without the many bedroom scenes (albeit the author didn’t elaborate, but insinuated). There’s also a tragic scene of unwed mothers in an Irish convent. An important part of the story, but had me 🤢😭 each time Nan jumped back to her past at the convent.

Thank you to @netgalley for allowing me to read this great @reesesbookclub pick!

Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days and it was never explained. In the story Archie Christie is having an affair with Nan and plans to leave Agatha to marry. Agatha knows that Nan is not in love with her husband so what is the motive. The author tells the story from Nan's point of view which I felt was kind of ambitious. She recalls her back story and how she came to this point but there were a lot of characters and, of course, there were things that happened that Nan wasn't there to see. That's where I got confused sometimes. There was a murder mystery in the middle and I had an idea of what motivated Nan as far as Archie was concerned but even that seemed far fetched. At times it seemed plodding and I really did not like Nan much. I felt bad for what Agatha went through but I don't know that it was enough for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I found the plot to be very unique and interesting. The story kept my attention, even when it started to drag in a few places. Overall, the book was a good read and I enjoyed the dual timelines.

I’ve read several books and haven’t written a review for at least a month. I think it had to do with finding the highly rated Lucy Foley title not
great..best part was actually having a hard bound book in hand for once and remembering how paper and print come together. I found the
Christie Affair which I coincidentally read right after The Magnolia Palace to be well written and had all the elements of storytelling and character development plus an ending that was thoughtful and not abrupt. I am liking the story made around real life characters quite well…
nothing I would read in the past and I might have said both these books with the alternating back stories to be a ploy I didn’t like. I still prefer
linear stories yet both these books were so enjoyable as they progressed that I actually felt sad to finish both titles.

Good story!

Description
Why would the world's most famous mystery writer disappear for eleven days? What makes a woman desperate enough to destroy another woman's marriage? How deeply can a person crave revenge?

"Sizzles from its first sentence." - The Wall Street Journal
A Reese's Book Club Pick

In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie. In every way, she became a part of their life––first, both Christies. Then, just Archie. Soon, Nan became Archie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted wife, desperate to marry him. Nan’s plot didn’t begin the day she met Archie and Agatha.

After reading The Mystery of Mrs. Christie last year and loving it, my interest was piqued by the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie and why/where she'd gone during that time. After all, she's the greatest mystery writer of all time, and it's been a great mystery that she never told anyone what really happened during that time. When I saw Nina de Gramont had written a book about the disappearance, I wanted to read it. This book is well-written, but I still had to make myself read it. I didn't want to read about Nan O'Dea, Agatha's mistress, or hear her tell what had supposedly happened to Agatha (it seemed so implausible). And I had no interest in Nan's backstory at all--I didn't care about what happened to her in Ireland or during WWI even if it was terrible because this was supposed to be a story about Agatha, not Nan even if the author did entwine the two. There's definitely enough source material to write a complete novel about Agatha's disappearance as it's been done before, but maybe I was just expecting too much or maybe I read this one too soon after reading The Mystery of Mrs. Christie. I'm definitely in the minority with my opinion, so please make sure to take my review with a grain of salt.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

-Review posted to Goodreads on 3/29/22

Agatha Christie's books were some of the earliest mysteries I read. This is re-imagined version of the 11-day disappearance of Agatha Christie. No one has ever really known for sure what happened, but there is plenty of speculation in this novel filled with an affair, the heartbreak of a child and of course, murder. Mystery lovers will enjoy it.

I knew I had to request this book the moment I read the description. I find Agatha Christie so fascinating, including the time she disappeared into basically thin air. Unfortunately, I didn't love this book.

It was really hard for me to get through this book. I was so bored, and would find myself having to reread pages because I kept zoning out. It was nothing like I thought this book would be. It was impossible to follow and I just couldn't connect or like any of the plot details or the other characters.

I don't know, give this a shot if you're interested. Maybe I had my hopes up too high? This one just wasn't for me.

I adore Agatha Christie books so was incredibly intrigued with this one. Despite loving Agatha's books, I had no idea she famously disappeared! I loved the narrator choice, it was unexpected and added a unique perspective to the story. The book was a bit slow for me and I had a hard time getting into it. I think it's a great book for a cozy reading marathon vs. the start and stop car line pickup reading I was doing with it.

In this take on the disappearance of Agatha Christie but is told by Nan O'Dea, Archie Christie's mistress. It tells of all that happened from Nan's point-of-view, how police were called in, a nationwide search and Archie being suspected of murder. It also has Nan reliving her past, the boy she loved, Finbarr, the child that was taken from her at the convent and her escape from that existence.
All the pieces of the puzzle, all the characters and their motives are slowly revealed and come together when Nan neatly ties up the mysteries at the end.
An interesting version of the time Agatha Christie disappeared with it being as feasible as any other version.
Thank you NetGalley and St.Martins for this e-galley of "The Christie Affair".

Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into this book. I was very intrigued due to the story being centered around Agatha Christie, but historical fiction isn't my favorite genre. I really liked the perspective being from "the other woman" - that was a cool touch. I think a lot of people will love this one, but it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the copy of this book.

This book read like two different stories. One story was about Agatha Christie’s disappearance on December 3, 1926 after her husband told her he was leaving her for another woman. Agatha’s car was found abandoned. Eleven days later she was discovered.

The stories are narrated by Miss Nan O’dea, the mistress of Agatha’s husband, Archie. Nan spent the summers at her aunt and uncles as a young girl to help on the farm. She met Finabarr, an Irish boy the summer she turned 15. She enjoyed playing tennis with him but he had to teach his dog not to get the tennis ball. She enjoyed the few times they got to see each other. Later in August, Finnabarr came to see Nan and the aunt said it was ok to go out and talk to him. Finnabar told Nan that he was going to the Great War. He gave her a small token and asked her if he could write to her.

Dark secrets and the war kept Nan and Finabarr apart. I like how the two stories were brought together. This book keeps you turning the pages with many plot twists.

An interesting tale of the famous disappearance of Agatha Christie for eleven days in 1925. It is a mystery within a mystery. It is told by Mr. Christie's mistress, Nan O'Day. It is quite a brilliantly written what if of a tale of those missing eleven days until Agatha is found again.

I did enjoy reading the story and I would recommend it.

A book that has a little bit of everything. Love. Death. Mystery. The Christie Affair is a page turner that will definitely be a hit. Seeing it was from the mistresses point of view I was very skeptical, but it turned into a great read for me. 4.5 stars

The Christie Affair explores what could have happened when mystery author Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days after her husband Archie has decided to leave her for his mistress Nan O’Dea.

Presented through the eyes of Ms. O’Dea, the story reveals what has driven Ms. O’Dea and the result those motivations have had on her life, becoming the “other woman,” the “homewrecker” and stepmother to Agatha Christie’s daughter. Her drive to become Archie’s mistress and wife began with a plan.

I found the point-of-view in this novel was a bit disconcerting sometimes. We see things events unfold through Nan’s perspective, but there are personal moments between Agatha and Archie and also when Agatha interacts with other characters when she is missing of which Nan can’t really have first-hand knowledge.

Overall, this was an intriguing tale that kept my interest. Not just historical fiction, there was certainly an element of mystery as well, which is perfect with the involvement of Agatha Christie.