Reading Groups
Agatha Christie’s Heirs: Modern Mysteries Inspired by the Queen of Crime Fiction with Hilary Davidson
Thursdays, 7:00 pm EST - 8:30 pm EST March 10 to June 23, 2022
Online via Zoom
The ‘With Books’ option includes each title required for this reading group at a 10% discount.
Meeting Dates:
3/10, 3/31, 4/21, 5/26, 6/23
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of Agatha Christie in the world of mystery fiction. Between 1920 and 1976, Christie published some 75 novels, 165 short stories, and 16 plays—a body of work that continues to fascinate and delight readers around the world. Christie’s fiction—and her perennially popular detectives Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot—endure in part because her impeccably crafted mysteries are logical puzzles that are almost unsolvable, and yet can be worked out by the most attentive readers. (Christie always provides the necessary clues, albeit in a mass of red herrings.)
Christie’s work has inspired many modern crime writers, who have created their own captivating locked-room mysteries and unforgettable detectives. The contemporary writers this course focuses on bring varied perspectives to their books, exploring themes of class, race, and gender, broadening and deepening the appeal of their work. Some are set in international settings far from Christie’s English villages, but all will intrigue fans of her classic mysteries.
- Session I: The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
- Session II: The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
- Session III: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
- Session IV: They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall
- Session V: The 7-1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Led by
-
Hilary Davidson
Hilary Davidson
Hilary Davidson is an award-winning novelist and journalist. She is the author of two mystery series, one featuring amateur sleuth Lily Moore (The Damage Done, The Next One to Fall, and Evil in All Its Disguises), and the other featuring police detective Sheryn Sterling (One Small Sacrifice and Don’t Look Down). Hilary is also the author of two standalone novels (Her Last Breath and Blood Always Tells), a short-story collection (The Black Widow Club), and some fifty short stories, which have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Thuglit, Mystery Scene, Beat to a Pulp, and other publications. Her fiction has won two Anthony Awards and a Derringer Award.
As a journalist, she is the author of 18 nonfiction books and has published work in a wide range of venues including American Archaeology, CNN, Discover, Frommer’s, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Reader’s Digest. Originally from Toronto, she has lived in New York City since October 2001.
About this series
Reading Groups
Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.