55 FLASH FICTION, Famous Women.

The Lords body discovered, would the butler give us a clue?????
Was it the poker, or the door wedge, which hit him over the head?
A river of Red Herrings, strategically placed, to confuse you…......

Twisting his well groomed moustache, a Belgium detective,
will make you gasp!!!!!!!!!!
Whilst exposing his creator’s mysterious thought provoking art.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was born Agatha May Clarissa Miller in Devon, England in 1890, the youngest of three children in a conservative, well-to-do family.
Taught at home by a governess and tutors, as a child Agatha Christie never attended school. She became adept at creating games to keep herself occupied at a very young age. A shy child, unable to adequately express her feelings, she first turned to music as a means of expression and, later in life, to writing.

In 1914, at the age of 24, she married Archie Christie, a World War I fighter pilot. While he was off at war, she worked as a nurse. It was while working in a hospital during the war that Christie first came up with the idea of writing a detective novel. Although it was completed in a year, it wasn't published until 1920, five years later.

"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" gave the world the inimitable Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer who was to become one of the most enduring characters in all of fiction. With his waxed moustache and his "little grey cells," he was "meticulous, a tidy little man, always neat and orderly, with a slight flavour of absurdity about him.
Christie wrote more than 30 novels featuring Poirot. Among the most popular were "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1934), and "Death on the Nile" (1937).

In 1926, Archie asked for a divorce, having fallen in love with another woman. Agatha, already upset by the recent death of her mother, disappeared. All of England became wrapped up in the case of the now famous missing writer. She was found three weeks later in a small hotel, explaining to police that she had lost her memory. Thereafter, it was never again mentioned or elaborated upon by Christie.
She later found happiness with her marriage in 1930 to Max Mallowan, a young archaeologist who she met on a trip to Mesopotamia.


Another of Christie's most well-known and beloved characters was introduced in "Murder at the Vicarage" in 1930. Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster in the quaint English village of St. Mary Mead, solved all manner of mysteries with intense concentration and intuition. Featured in 12 novels, Miss Marple exemplified the cozy style, a form of mystery fiction that became popular in, and ultimately defined, the Golden Age of fiction in England during the 1920s and '30s.

Christie ultimately became the acknowledged Queen of the Golden Age. In all, she wrote over 66 novels, numerous short stories and screenplays, and a series of romantic novels using the pen name Mary Westmacott. Several of her works were made into successful feature films, the most notable being Murder on the Orient Express (1974). Her work has been translated into more than a hundred languages. In short, she is the single most popular mystery writer of all time.
In 1971 she was awarded the high honor of becoming a Dame of the British Empire.
I adore her books and the films, and would have loved to have know a character like Mr P.
Off to see the Nutcraker on Saturday, Sunday lunch with family. Have a sleuthing weekend my friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ADDITION: Math played with my blog this morning and added this for me. Please listen to the lyrics and not so much attention to the visuals, although it is a bit quirky. How sweet is he? (I will slap his hands next time he comes near my blog!!!!!).

LEAPS OF ALL KINDS....

Valentines Day over, and in this Leap Year, just another few days to the 29th February for any ladies who want to grab the bull by the horns and propose marrriage, and then its all gone for another four years!

Math and I decided not to do Valentine presents, so ignoring what we had agreed, he brought me Jack Johnsons new album ‘Sleep through the Static’, and a huge temple gong.

I’m not really cross at him making me look the miser, our son brought us, Jack Johnson’s first album, and we enjoyed it so much we have bought all his others.

Now for the gong, “me thinks” he liked the sound of it so much he wanted to add this beautiful instrument to our collection of chimes, singing bowl etc, either that or he fancies himself as the guy who pounds the gong at the start of some films!!!

I know each week I make a statement, how worried I am at the speed the months, weeks and days fly by (a sign apparently of growing old), but can you remember me closing the holiday home and sighing 'that’s it until the 1st March 2008'. Well this saturday it’s our trip to see The Nutcracker Suite, then the Saturday after it’s the time to open up the holiday home, now, you have to admit that time has gone quickly!!!!!

I’m sure I must have mentioned lots of times how it is Math and I's intension, dream, of moving to the East Coast when the time is right. Well two years ago a property came up which would have been an ideal location for us.

A garden that extended to the beach, old cottage style building packed with nooks and grannies, and all the charm of a set from the “Darling buds of May”.

At that time unfortunately, Math still had a four and a half year contract with the company he works for, and the distance was too far for him to commute. Then quite mysteriously the For Sale sign came down, and being inquisitive (nosey), I rang and asked if it had been withdrawn or sold. The man told me that the elderly gentleman had withdrawn it from the market; I explained to him our circumstances and joked “you never know maybe in four years time he might consider selling it again”.

Now as excited as I've been about this, I didn't want to say anything until we had sorted out a few things.
Well it is two years premature, yet the guy from the estate agents rang us, he had kept our details on the cottage file notes. “The gentleman is now moving in with his daughter, and the cottage is up for sale again, would you be interested in the property”.

We have had to give this a lot of thought and nothing is set in concrete yet (pardon the pun). This is a golden opportunity for us and we really feel we should grasp the nettle, so to speak.

Although it is still 2yrs, until Maths contract is up, we have the chance to rent accommodation here in Nott’s whilst the alterations are carried out on the cottage. We can sell our holiday home and spend each weekend in the cottage, to supervise the work being undertaken.

Hopefully in 2yrs all my surgery will be completed and I’ll be well on the way to recovery, shell collecting and evening walks on the beach, will all hopefuly be within my capabilities. It all sounds to good to be true at the moment, and I’m sure as with any house move there are nightmares ahead.

So fingers, eyes and legs crossed, wish us luck and I’ll keep you updated how things go.....