I have managed to get to the ripe old age of 67 without ever reading any books by Agatha Christie, and was starting to feel as though I was missing out on something. This feeling was bought about by a series of programmes fronted by Lucy Worsley that covered the life of Mrs Christie, particularly the period of time when she went missing from home. Everyone Lucy Worsley interviewed spoke enthusiastically about her books, and I suppose not surprisingly, there is even an Agatha Christie Society who can probably recite whole chapters off by heart. Then, last Wednesday when I went to the library, there were two big piles of Seven Dials sitting on the 'recommends' table so I almost felt that fate had intervened. Anyway, in the end I didn't really enjoy it, although to be fair it was first published in 1929 and the language is very much of its time. The conversation is in the 'what ho!' style with most of the lead characters living in big country houses and having...