Rereading Agatha Christie and Kimberly Derting

This post isn't going to be long (in theory. I just want to touch base on rereads). 

As you know over the past few months, I have talked openly about wanting to reread and discover some old fave authors and books (and maybe read some books from authors I have read in the past but not read). As a book blogger and someone who seems to be always adding new books on my To Be Read shelves and yet, am quite slow a reader at the same time, rereads are usually out of the question. Not always, sometimes you just want to reread something. And this year, with everything that has happened, rereading some books that are close to your heart or call to you are totally in order and, at times, desperately needed. 

And so, the past few weeks (since before my post of Future Rereads... Maybe...), I knew I wanted to reread Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder. It's been calling to me for quite a while and, in the end, I broke and went "Sod it!". 

This 2010 publication follows Violet Ambrose who has three problems in her life at the moment. The first is she has started to develop feelings for her best friend, Jay, and is unsure what to do with them. Second is her gift to sense the dead. Well, the dead that met a violet and murderous end. She sees/hears/senses the dead's echoes and the imprint that attaches to their killers. And third... a serial killer is on the loose and killing young, pretty girls in her small town... 

As you know, I love a good murder mystery/thriller and, due to COVID-19, the romance aspect appeals to me hugely of late (if you've seen the books I have requested from publishers or that I have bought the past few months, romance [straight or queer] have gone up hugely and this worries me). And when I read this back in 2010, I ADORED this book and devoured the series (the rest of the series is good and I enjoyed hugely but this first book can be read as a standalone). So, did going back make me like the book more or did me being ten years old change my opinion on it? 

No, not really. It was like coming back to an old friend. I had a wonderful time reading this as, while I knew the twists of the killer storyline (I did figure them out the first time I read this, truth be told), it was the romance between Violet and Jay that pulled me in this time. Funny how time changes us as readers. But I had a wonderful time rereading Body Finder. I have no plans to reread the rest of the series, as this was all I needed. 

Which leads me to Agatha Christie... Ok, now, backstory. I am 95% certain I read or audiobook Death Comes As The End in my late teens, but I can't remember anything about it. But, since the BBC announced that they were going to adapt it, I have been curious to reread/reaudiobook this and refresh my memory and, hopefully, this will give me the kick to read some Agatha Christies I have on my TBR (I had a few...)

Set in Ancient Egypt, a family is thrown into turmoil when head of the house, Imhotep, brings a beautiful concubine home from one business trip. His sons, their wives and his daughter are shocked and, while his sons and their wives are furious and plan to remove her from the house, the daughter tries (and fails) to befriend the beautiful concubine, Nofret. So when her body is found at the bottom of a cliff, no one really mourns her... but then more people start dying... is there a serial killer in the family and, if so, who? 

I make this sound more dramatic than it was. I remember really liking this in my teens but now... I just found it slow, boring and frustrating as, for a good chunk of the book, no-one was worrying about someone killing them off! And this book is such a product of the times, but I keep flinching at some of the terms characters use as they are racist and then, the writing felt odd and clunky. Not a normal Christie like I have read in the past. 

But, like I said earlier, we change as readers and I wondered if it was because I have been binging a lot of Christie over the course of the year as, after audiobooking Death Comes As The End, I audiobooked some Christies I've never read before: the Miss Marple novel At Bertham's Hotel, the Poirot short story The Mystery of the Spanish Chest and another short story Accident. I didn't like At Bertham's Hotel and I prefer the both short stories a little more, but I think I have Christie myself out. I have two novels on my kindle to read - Crooked House and The Pale Horse (I have low expectations with Pale Horse but high hopes for Crooked House) - and the rest I removed. 

But there's nothing wrong with rereading books and I have a few plans in mind over the next few months so you might see some more rereads on the blog or on Goodreads (goodreads.com/pewterwolf if you want to friend/follow me!) in future. Sorry/not sorry in advance!