An ersatz Agatha Christie has come to be. Sophie Hannah is the author of this "avatar": "The Monogram Murders."
Christie was a sloppy writer but she was the master of "spin." She was predictable but ended up serving the expected "red herring." We are all familiar with her cliches: nylon stockings fetish, anti-Arab utterances, wicked plots, anti-"queer" slurs, sexless loves, and one can go on.
"The Monogram Murders" however, is devoid of grace and wit, almost Conan Doyle-like at his worst. Seldom has anything been so fabricated and artificial. Gone are the idiosyncracies and the perverse, macabre misanthropy. Even Hannah's choice of names betrays her total lack of creative imagination. We want Hastings back!
NTB (NOT TO BE REPEATED).
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