John Curran is an Irish

literary scholar Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. T ...

and

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

, best known as an expert on the work of Dame

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

, English author of

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

and the world's bestselling novelist. He was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and for years edited the Agatha Christie newsletter, subscriptions to which are handled through the author's official website. He wrote his

doctoral thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

on Christie at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. He served as a

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

consultant during the restoration of Christie's

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

residence, the

Greenway Estate Greenway, also known as Greenway House, is an estate on the River Dart near Galmpton in Devon, England. Once the home of the author Agatha Christie, it is now owned by the National Trust. The estate is served by a steam railway service with t ...

. With the assistance of Christie's grandson,

Mathew Prichard Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

, he has researched the author's personal archives and notebooks. He has written two books on the subject, the first containing two previously unpublished

Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and ''Alibi''), and more t ...

short stories: the short story on which Christie's novel ''Dumb'' ''Witness'' was based; and the original version of Christie's short story " The Capture of Cerberus". The second features the previously unpublished original version of the

Miss Marple Miss Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Jane Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Chr ...

short story " The Case of the Caretaker". He has also collaborated with the most famous illustrator of Christie's paperback editions, Tom Adams, on ''Tom Adams Uncovered'', collecting the covers he produced for the author. Curran's fourth book, ''The Hooded Gunman'', collects covers of detective novels by more than 250 writers, published under the

Collins Crime Club Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crime ...

label (containing an image of a hooded gunman) during its lifespan from 1930 to 1994. To promote his first scholarly work on the subject of Christie's archive, in 2009 he wrote an article for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' listing what he considers her ten best novels. For the

Agatha Awards The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expl ...

, Cullan won the Best Non-Fiction category with his 2010 publication '' Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making''. The following year, ''Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks'' was nominated for Best Non-Fiction at the 2011 Agatha Awards.

Bibliography

*'' Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making'' (2009, updated and re-released with an introduction by

David Suchet Sir David Courtney Suchet''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor known for his work on British stage and television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenh ...

in 2016) *''Agatha Christie's Murder in the Making: Stories and Secrets from Her Archive'' (2011) *''Tom Adams Uncovered: The Art of Agatha Christie and Beyond'' (2015) *''The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club'' (2019)

Other material

*afterword for ''Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly'', a previously unpublished novella by Christie written to raise money for a church, but left unpublished until 2013.

References

Irish writers Irish scholars and academics Agatha Christie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Agatha Award winners {{Ireland-academic-bio-stub