Crooked House

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. List any details that you know about Agatha Christie as a person and as a writer. What factors might explain why Agatha Christie’s novels are so popular?

Teaching Suggestion: Many students will be aware of who Agatha Christie is, but it is unlikely that they will know much about her life and the importance of her contributions to the mystery genre. You might ask them to attempt this prompt cold—to activate their prior knowledge on the subject—and then ask them to amend their answers with key points from the resources below, to ensure their understanding of the new information.

• This 10-minute video from England’s Channel 5 offers biographical information about Christie and shares some of the settings and events that inspired her work.
• This article from BBC Culture offers insights into the ways that Christie’s work comments on the concept of “Englishness.”
• This article from The New Republic provides balanced critical commentary on Christie’s legacy and enduring popularity.

2. What was the “Golden Age” of mystery? What is the Detection Club, and how does it relate to the Golden Age of mystery?

Teaching Suggestion: The Detection Club and “Golden Age” of mystery are foundational to understanding modern mystery as a genre. Students are less likely to know about the Golden Age and the Detection Club, so you may wish to offer the resources below before they attempt to respond to this prompt. You can extend this conversation by asking students to describe how modern mysteries might have evolved.

• This article offers a brief overview of the Golden Age of mystery.
• This article from the New York Times offers a vivid account of the rituals and purposes of The Detection Club.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Christie wrote about a world far removed from our own. What do you suspect will be alienating about this world for you, personally? Given what you have learned about her intentions as an author and the reasons for her enduring popularity, what do you suspect you will be able to connect to in her work, and why?

Teaching Suggestion: Christie’s novels focus on a distinctly upper- and upper-middle-class, white, English experience of the early 20th century. This can be a difficult world for many students to connect their own experiences to. The intent of this prompt is to acknowledge this difficulty and offer students space to air their concerns, and then encourage them to search for points of commonality. You might suggest to them that there are several routes into Christie’s novels for modern readers: the intellectual challenge of solving their puzzles, the literary value of her language, the social commentary and psychological interest of her plotting and characters, and so on.