Make Mary Westmacott Accessible to Readers

Posted by Claire Cowling Nov 13, 2008

If you have read my article entitled “The Lesser-Known Novels of Agatha Christie”, you might be forgiven for thinking that, just because Agatha Christie is an icon of the writing world, that all her books are available to read simply and easily, and that one could walk into any bookshop and see rows of the author’s books lining shelf upon shelf like they did when I first began to read her novels as a teenager.

However, it is appalling to see depleted shelves, often only containing three or four of her Poirot or Miss Marple novels, meaning that those readers who are adding to their collection have no choice but to resort to the Internet to find the book they want, instead of being given the chance to hold the book in their hands, sniff the newness of the pages (maybe that’s just a weird “me” thing!) and take their prize with them.

Moreover, when trying to find Agatha Christie’s other works, such as the Mary Westmacott novels, one could be forgiven for thinking that they do not, and have never, existed. Have you tried to buy one, individual copy of any of the Mary Westmacott novels? Good luck! In England, the best you are likely to find is a collection of three novels, in two book groupings. And this was the home of Agatha Christie!

Surely there is a huge market for all of Agatha Christie’s novels, be they crime, short stories or her individualistic love stories? With all the Agatha Christie fans out there, I can only believe that there would be a potentially enormous market for those who may or may not like the idea of romantic fiction but who would buy the individual books to sit alongside all the others in their collection – just because they were written by the fabulous author herself.

And for those like me, who find huge collections rather cumbersome, I issue a plea for the re-release of the Mary Westmacott novels in singular form – and put onto the shelves in bookshops. The reading public deserve to know that they exist!