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Continue reading →: My year with Agatha: Wartime spies and sleuthsIn 1941 Agatha Christie published her wartime thriller N or M? It was an interesting exploration into wartime Britain, hostilities towards foreigners, and suspicions about spies lurking around every corner. It also brought Agatha to the attention of MI-5.
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Continue reading →: Review: The Walnut Tree: women, violence and the law by Kate MorganMarriage or misery is how some historical novelists presented the choices available to women from the Georgian period onwards, but what about the stories of women who endured marriage AND misery? The history of women, violence and the law is explored in Kate Morgan’s book The Walnut Tree.
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Continue reading →: My year with Agatha: the allure of EgyptIn the 1930s, Agatha wrote one of her most beloved detective stories, Death on the Nile. Egypt had captured Agatha’s imagination from her first visit when she was seventeen, and throughout her life she returned frequently, writing short stories, two novels and a play, all inspired by the landscapes and…
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Continue reading →: Review: That Dark Spring by Susannah StapletonSusannah Stapleton’s newest book, That Dark Spring has a tagline that is guaranteed to send tingles down the spine of true crime buffs. It reads, ‘a true story of death and desire in 1920s Provence.’ A simple sentence, and yet a tantalizing prospect.
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Continue reading →: My year with Agatha: the golden age of the 1930sThe 1930s was a golden age for Agatha Christie, heralding a decade of unrivaled productivity. Her success coincided with her marriage to Max Mallowan and her entry into The Detection Club. She also found inspiration in some unlikely places.
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Continue reading →: A rogues gallery: prisoner photographs in the nineteenth centuryIn the mid-1850s discussions began about the ways in which photography might be used to help fight crime and make it easier for police to identify habitual criminals. The rapid expansion of modes of transport had created a new ‘transient’ criminal and police were looking for more reliable ways to…
Hello,
I’m Melissa Jones
I’m a Librarian with an Agatha Christie obsession. You’ll often find me with my nose in a book. My areas of interest for my research and writing include: the history of crime and policing, true crime & crime writing, Victorian era literature, British history, folk and fairy tales, children’s literature, local and family history, special collections, libraries, and oral histories.
I am an alumni of the Faber Writing Academy Creative Non-fiction course and am currently writing my first historical true crime book which investigates an unsolved mystery from 1920s London through the lens of golden age detective fiction.
I’m currently based in Melbourne, Australia, but previously lived in Edinburgh, Scotland.
