Yours were the first mystery books I was to learn to love. After, I was to discover the appeal of Father Brown, of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, but you were the first. I say learned to love, for, if I remember correctly, my opinion of my first (Elephants Can Remember) was less than favorable. I had enjoyed it, even liked it, but I didn't regard it with any particular degree of fondness. Perhaps this was merely because it was my first; I had never liked books where people died, let alone were murdered, so for me to take a great liking of your books was a bit of a change in tastes.
After I finished Elephants Can Remember I returned it to the library and forgot all about it. That is- until I started hearing your name mentioned again. So I asked around, looked into a few titles that were mentioned to me as favorites, and read The Man in the Brown Suit and The Secret Adversary (I really don't remember which came first) and suddenly I had a list four pages long and was crossing off titles at a mad pace. Needless to say, those two titles remain high among my favorites to this day. Especially The Secret Adversary, which I would really consider my favorite among them all.
Now, some fifty plus books later, I would mention you among my favorite authors. It is still my goal to read all of your books and I have a consistent stack of three hanging about in my bedroom and various canvas bags. I suddenly discovered how much I liked reading mysteries, contemplating the characters, motives and opportunities. I'm still not overly fond of the type of book that focuses on the death, but the thing that I have noticed about your books is that you do not focus on the death, but more on the lives surrounding that death. I think I remember a few scenes in various Poirot books where he says something to that affect, about how his aim is not to condemn the guilty but to save the innocent.
Of course, the problem with mysteries is I find myself getting very cautious about giving my affection to any one of your characters. Or if I do, I end up feeling torn the entire book, thinking oh please don't let my darling be killed, oh please don't let my darling be killed. Or worse, OH PLEASE DON'T LET MY DARLING BE A MURDERER. OH PLEASE. THEY'RE GOOD. GOOD. PLEASE. Which really isn't the most relaxing way to read a book, but oh the relief if your character comes out safe and happy and proven the good person you always knew they were!
Aside from all my love for you as a reader, as a writer (or as someone who hopes to be a writer) I am constantly in awe of you. My question is, how, how, did you ever manage to write so many? To come up with that many different plots, all of which succeed in fooling me. (Or if they don't fool me, I'm always exceedingly proud of myself for having figured them out.)
I know that I shall continue to love your books for years to come. Someday I shall have read them all, and then, I suppose start back at the beginning again, because by that time I'd have sure to have forgotten parts of the ones that I had read first.
With love, Emily
