Here’s some good news for Agatha Christie fans, The Floating Admiral, a collaborative novel written in 1931 by 14 members of the Detection Club, including her, is republished, 80 years after its first publication.
Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and G.K. Chesterton, along with other British mystery writers, who formed the Detection Club in 1930, each had produced a chapter for The Floating Admiral which was first published in 1931.
It is 15 years since Christie’s publisher set about securing the rights to it. HarperCollins’ publishing director, David Brawn, drew numerous blanks until he finally learnt that the Detection Club owned the rights.
“The book was written as a way of earning some money for their new dining club and to pay for their dinners,” he was quoted by the Sunday Express as saying.
Over the years the members published a handful of similar novels but The Floating Admiral was the only title that Christie contributed to.
The Detection Club president Simon Brett said, “This was the golden age of the whodunnit. The way the book was written was fascinating, like a relay race.”
Its writers each contributed a possible solution in a sealed envelope to prevent them penning anything too outlandish, all of which appear in the book. Christie’s cunning conclusion was considered “enough to make the book worth buying on its own”.
—PTI