{"id":98344,"date":"2025-02-20T00:29:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/the-case-of-the-christie-conspiracy-kelly-oliver-bookshine-and-readbows\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T00:29:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T00:29:31","slug":"the-case-of-the-christie-conspiracy-kelly-oliver-bookshine-and-readbows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=98344","title":{"rendered":"The Case of the Christie Conspiracy \u2013 Kelly Oliver \u2013 Bookshine And Readbows"},"content":{"rendered":"


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*I received a free\u00a0copy of this book\u00a0with thanks to the author, <\/strong><\/strong>Boldwood Books<\/strong><\/a> and Rachel Gilbey\u00a0at\u00a0<\/strong>Rachel\u2019s Random Resources<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0blog tours. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Blurb: Agatha Christie is about to embark on a new, gripping murder case. But this time, she\u2019s not the author \u2013 she\u2019s a suspect\u2026<\/strong><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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1926 \u2013 Christie is a darling of the literary circuit and the most desired guest in London\u2019s glittering social scene. She can often be found at meetings of the Detection Club \u2013 where mystery writers come together to share ideas, swap secrets and drink copiously. But then a fellow author\u2019s initiation ceremony takes a gruesome turn, and one of the group ends up dead. Now, Agatha is no longer just the creator of great mystery plots \u2013 she\u2019s a player in one.<\/em><\/p>\n

And when Agatha disappears the day after the murder, she\u2019s widely assumed to be guilty. Only Eliza Baker, assistant to the Club\u2019s enigmatic secretary, Dorothy Sayers, is interested in investigating the case. But in a world where murder is the ultimate plot device, can Eliza piece together the evidence and find the killer before it\u2019s too late?<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is a 1920s murder mystery, but Agatha Christie is one of the suspects, rather than the author, along with other well-known names like Dorothy L. Sayers and G. K. Chesterton.<\/p>\n

The main characters are Eliza \u2013 master chess player, reluctant new secretary to the Detection Club and part-time undercover spy \u2013 and Theo \u2013 also a superb chess player, secret heir to aristocracy, would-be author and secretly in love with Eliza. So they both have plenty to uncover and investigate before a single death occurs!<\/p>\n

Within the fictional murder mystery plot, the author cleverly weaves in events (as well as people) from real life, with the Detection Club bickering over the \u2018fairness\u2019 of Agatha Christie\u2019s famous novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd<\/em> (one of my favourites and not at all \u2018cheating\u2019! This story does give away the plot of that one, but if you\u2019re a Christie fan then you will have definitely already read it), and Agatha Christie disappearing for days only to turn up in a spa, just as she did in 1926 in reality (and this book doesn\u2019t offer an answer to that real-life unsolved mystery).<\/p>\n

I really liked Eliza\u2019s drive and her no-nonsense, brusque attitude, which contrasted well with Theo\u2019s affability and imagination, and their chemistry together was really sweet. I did actually solve the main mystery before the reveal this time, but the story set up plenty of other puzzles too, from whether the lovebirds would ever declare their feelings to why Dorothy Sayers had to rush off in a hurry. And there is an espionage sub-plot which is introduced sporadically throughout the story but not developed further until a teaser at the end, so the story clearly sets up some intriguing plot threads to lead the reader into sequels.<\/p>\n

In fact, the only real issue I had with this book was Eliza\u2019s dismissive attitude towards mystery fiction, which \u2013 as a massive fan \u2013 thoroughly irritated me! Perhaps Theo can open her mind towards it, via \u201cEmily and Leo\u201d?<\/p>\n

Minor difference of opinion with the main character aside (!), this was a really fun murder mystery and I love that the setting involves books and writers (including two of my personal favourite crime queens), so I would definitely read more from the Detection Club and Kelly Oliver in future.<\/p>\n

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Purchase Link: The Case of the Christie Conspiracy<\/em> on Amazon<\/a><\/h3>\n

About the author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is bringing new titles in the Fiona Figg series to Boldwood, the first of which, Chaos in Carnegie Hall, will be published in November 2022.<\/p>\n

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Facebook: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kellyoliverauthor<\/a>
Twitter: <\/strong>https:\/\/x.com\/KellyOliverBook<\/a>
Instagram:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kellyoliverbooks\/<\/a>
Newsletter: <\/strong>https:\/\/bit.ly\/KellyOlivernews<\/a>
BookBub: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.bookbub.com\/authors\/kelly-oliver<\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t forget to check out the other blog stops on the tour for more great reviews and content (see the poster below for details)!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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