There is no doubt about it: Agatha Christie has got to be one of the top crime writers of all time. She’s still held up as a great example for aspiring writers to aspire to, and her books are still as popular as they ever were. For anyone who is a fan of Ms Christie, or for anyone who simply has an interest in crime fiction, this article is definitely a must-read.

It’s an essay by Agatha Christie herself, in which she looks at issues such as why crime fiction is so popular. Her reasons are ones that I’m sure we can all recognise: it’s a chance for people to escape from everyday life; it involves concentration; it can develop a person’s reasoning powers; the stories usually have a sound ethical background.

The essay also looks at some of the detective writers that Agatha Christie herself admired – Arthur Conan Doyle, Margery Allingham and Dorothy Sayers, for instance; authors that have stood the test of time and that many people still read today.  It also looks at how the author went about writing her own detective stories; the need for a tight plot and a blueprint, as well as how her methods changed over time.

It’s definitely an interesting read, and offers some intriguing insights into why so much detective fiction has managed to stand the test of time – and why we all still love it so much today.