Recently, I attended a presentation author Kate Gingold did at the Key West Library and was immediately smitten with her project, Agatha Annotated. Kate has investigaged everything in Agatha Christie books that modern American readers might not understand, including
- British period slang
- Poirot’s French phrases
- Explanations of etiquette and customs of the time
- References to places that maybe don’t even exist anymore (or don’t have the same names).
- Historical references, including the details of WWI that Christie’s original audience would have recognized by reference but require more context 100+ years later.
Kate has compiled all of this for Christie’s books written during the 1920s in Agatha Annotated: Investigating the Books of the 1920s. Kate’s work is available in print, fully linked on Kindle, and online via subscription. Kate is offering an exciting giveaway to three lucky commenters below.
In her post below, Kate gives us some insight into her process and investigations. Take it away, Kate!
Reading Christie Like a Flapper
As a mystery lover, nothing’s better than a vintage Agatha Christie novel, but as a history lover, niggling details kept interrupting my reading. After all, her first novels were written over one hundred years ago. Few people today keep a tantalus in the house, play Bolster Bar, or know how to make medlar jelly.
After looking up some of these details for myself, it occurred to me that other Christie fans might appreciate knowing them, too, so I started seriously working on the glossary I call Agatha Annotated. I re-read all of the 1920s books and wrote down quotations, references, French words – anything that I thought might be unfamiliar to someone in the new millennium.
Many of the words and phrases I noted were easy to define, but some took me down deep rabbit holes. The internet, of course, has revolutionized research, allowing me to read books or newspapers shelved in libraries half a world away, and putting me in touch with experts in an astonishing number of fields.
As an example, in The Secret Adversary, Julius Hersheimmer gives a supper at the Savoy Hotel for Tommy, Tuppence, and his cousin, Jane. I wondered: Why supper and not dinner? Where was this private room? What kind of meal did “carte blanche” provide?
A little research told me that “dinner” was served earlier in the day because it took a lot of work to prepare and clean up. Still, late-night meals were popular among the upper class after attending an evening’s entertainment such as the theater. One didn’t hold these less formal meals at home, however, because it was an imposition on one’s servants. Instead, one hosted friends at a hotel restaurant.
The Savoy Hotel, adjacent to the Savoy Theatre, the home of Gilbert and Sullivan, offered three private supper rooms in the 1920s, all named for operettas. While changes have been made in the last hundred years, the Savoy still has those three rooms. The Savoy also has their own archivist on staff.
Susan Scott, the archivist, was one of the experts I talked with over email. I shared with her a menu I found in the collection of the New York Public Library. It was for a 1927 banquet in honor of Charles Lindbergh. Susan enjoyed perusing it and pointed out that Lindbergh’s dinner was on “a bit of a budget” because “there is only one soup.” Julius’ supper would have been even grander!
Even so, the Lindbergh menu served thirteen courses, all with French names that I needed to translate. One of my favorites is “Gerbes de Lauris, Sauce Divine” which translates as “Sheaves from Lauris with Divine Sauce.” I learned Lauris is a town in Provence known for growing asparagus, the “sheaves,” and Divine Sauce is made with lemon and sherry. Doesn’t that sound delicious?
All my research was collected in an online database and also published as Agatha Annotated: Investigating the Books of the 1920s. These tidbits of history help me and, hopefully, fellow Agatha Christie fans, appreciate Christie’s books just like flappers did a hundred years ago.
Next, I’m working on publishing the public domain novels with annotations from my glossary and trying to decide whether it’s better to have footnotes or endnotes.
Readers: Do you prefer looking for notes on the bottom of the page or finding them all together at the back of the book? Share your opinion and three lucky commenters will be chosen at random to receive their own copy of The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Annotated), an ePub of Dame Agatha’s first work with terms linked to pop-up definitions from Kate’s glossary. (If you’re not feeling lucky, it’s also available for Kindle on Amazon!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CT8G15X3
About Kate Gingold
Kate Gingold loves sharing odd snippets of history. Her first book, a “Little House” version of Chicago-area settlers, was honored by the Illinois State Historical Society. Newly released is the glossary, Agatha Annotated: Investigating the Books of the 1920s. When not researching and writing about history, Kate runs a web development company with her husband and blogs about digital marketing.
Website URL: https://agathaannotated.com
Social Media Handles:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateGingoldAuthor
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kategingold/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kategingoldauthor/
Twitter: @KateGingold
About Agatha Annotated: Investigating the Books of the 1920s
Agatha Annotated: Investigating the Books of the 1920s is a comprehensive glossary covering the first decade of Agatha Christie’s mysteries with over 1800 terms, nearly 200 illustrations, and eleven “closer looks” on topics drawn from the novels to add new layers of enjoyment to these beloved stories.
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Agatha-Annotated-Investigating-Historical-References/dp/0979241960/
The Wickeds 
I love this so much, Kate, and welcome to the blog. Because I write historical mysteries (the latest being set in 1926) as well as contemporary ones, I love the research, the rabbit holes, and the archivists! I could spend hours poking around in the Online Etymology Dictionary (https://www.etymonline.com/) alone.
I much prefer footnotes to endnotes.
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Thanks, Edith! I haven’t written fiction for a while, but I wonder if you have the same difficulties I did. I wanted to include ALL the cool historical facts I just learned, but they really didn’t fit in the story. I CAN include them all in a glossary!
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I’m a footnote gal, preferring an easy look on the same page to disruptive flipping to the end notes and back again. However, I do love a good bibliography at the end of a book and often spend hours, even days looking up an author’s references to learn more.
Your Agatha book sounds like my kind of rabbit hole!
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Wow, you are thorough! I agree that it can be a new adventure to look up the bibliographic references and find resources you never knew existed. And then comes the fun part of tracking those references down!
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Fascinating stuff right here! I love learning about reasons behind ways things were. I prefer footnotes to endnotes, flipping back and forth can be distracting.
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Thanks, Kathy! The flipping distracts me, too. Sometimes I read all the endnotes for a chapter and then go back to read the chapter. Do you do that, too?
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Thank you so much for all the amazing research you have done to help the modern day fans understand and to enjoy the books all the more.
Personally, I love the footnotes because they are readily handy while reading without having to flip back and forth to the back of the book when looking for tidbits that make the reading more apt to be understood. That being said, I am a greedy reader meaning I would also love end notes too because they give the reader a constant point to find information. Say you are chapters ahead and need that information again, who is going to remember what chapter or page that information was on?
Would love the opportunity to read and review “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”. Thank you so much for your generosity of offering three copies in your giveaway. Hoping to be one of the fortunate ones selected.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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Thank you for the kind comments, Kay! One of the advantages of eBooks is the ability to highlight every occurrence of a word so even if you flew by it the first time, you could look it up the next time it occurs. Also, most eReaders have a “Search” function so you can find a specific word and its definition.
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Kate–what a wonderful idea! Writing it must have taken you on an exciting adventure every day. Footnotes for me.
CarolJ. Perry
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It was an exciting adventure! Much of the research was during the COVID lockdown and experts who were stuck at home were eager to talk with me and share their knowledge. Thanks for the kind words, Carol!
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Ellen Byron here (in case I come up as Anonymous). I definitely prefer end notes. I find notes within text distracting, but I can read end notes as another chapter. This book sounds wonderful!
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I read the end notes separately, too, Ellen. Of course, then I have to go reread the chapter to see how it all fits together! Thank you for sharing!
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This is so great! I’m okay with most of the British references, but I would have loved translations of Poirot’s French phrases as a I read.
Also, I’m a footnote person.
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Most of the French words are easy enough to translate via the internet, but sometimes they are too literal to make sense. My French consultant helped me clarify what they mean in conversation. Thanks for commenting, Liz!
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This is so cool, Kate! Thank you for taking on such an intriguing endeavor. I’m always struggling with Poirot’s comments in French.
I prefer footnotes. That way, I don’t have to go to the end of the book to find out what something means. Cheers!
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Thanks, J.C.! I also found it interesting to trace the etymology of the French phrases just as I did the English ones because a literal translation doesn’t always explain how it’s used in conversation. Some of those phrases have quite a colorful background!
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Welcome to the blog! What an amazing accomplishment! Your research must have been fascinating!
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It was! I got to talk with people who are experts on the most unusual topics. Thanks for the welcome, Sherry!
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I prefer footnotes for the more immediate gratification.
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Thanks for sharing, Wendy! It looks like footnotes rather than endnotes seem to be the majority opinion.
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What a fascinating project! I wrote a thesis on Agatha Christie and her use of POV, and love these deep dives. I’m a footnote fan. Thanks for visiting the blog today!
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How very cool! Your thesis must be the one Barbara was telling me about. Is it available somewhere to read? Thanks for commenting, Julie!
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Kate, this is simply marvelous! I am enchanted by your project! As to your question, I prefer end notes as it provides fewer distractions whilst reading. If I am curoius enough to interupt I flip to the back, otherwise, I look it over after I have finished with the main text.
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That makes sense, Jessie. Do you then go back and reread some pages to see the endnotes in context? I usually have to if it’s the first time I’m reading the book.
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It depends on how long it has taken me to read through the entire work. If too much time has passed I go back. If not, I usually remember what the end note was in reference to.
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I prefer to have them together at the back of the book, so much easier that way in my opinion.
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Thanks for sharing your preference, Crystal! While there are a lot of pro-footnotes folks, there is also a strong showing from endnotes folks!
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How absolutely fabulous! I prefer footnotes but will go to the endnotes and read all of them for a chapter.
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Thanks, Vida! I’ll notch another vote for footnotes. I tend to read the endnotes like you — all at once.
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I’m definitely a footnote person. I hate having to interrupt my reading by flipping back and forth. If there are only endnotes, I tend to read ahead several of them, but it is never as satisfying. I would love to add this volume to my shelves of Christie books.
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That makes sense. It does get to be a drag to keep flipping. Thanks for sharing your opinion, Ginny!
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I much prefer notes at the bottom of a page. If I have to keep my finger in the back of the book, I find it really frustrating.
(Yes, please enter me in this giveaway.)
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Will do, Mark! And I’ll note another vote for footnotes!
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Wow, this fills a real need!
Put me down (haha) on the side of footnotes. I find endnotes disruptive.
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Your vote is “down!” Thanks for commenting, Kate!
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I definitely prefer having the footnotes on the bottom of the page. It is so much more convenient!
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Another vote for footnotes! It is easier, especially if you’re holding the book with just one hand!
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I prefer them at the bottom of the page. It’s just easier to reference that way.
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I tend to agree, Lauren, but a lot of books use endnotes. I suspect it may be easier for page layout.
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Welcome, Kate! How very thrilling to know that you have gone to such an effort to “decipher” intriguing facts of so many types living inside the pages of my favorite author Agatha Christie’s mysteries! I read about your book on Amazon right now, and will be buying it, because I love everything Agatha Christie! I am fascinated by your blog, and I know I will have so much fun reading about what you have discovered. As a linguist, I am always interested in explanations about words or expressions …their meanings or origins. Yippee! I do prefer annotations to be at the bottom of the page, like in the Bible, but either way is fine, because I will definitely be reading the explanations no matter what, or I will research curious items myself, if not provided. We recently read “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” with my book club, and am intrigued to read what you found…because we picked it apart in so many ways with my friends! May you continue to find interesting facts about Agatha Christie mysteries! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Luis at ole dot travel
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Thank you for all the kind words, Luis! It’s so exciting to find other Agatha Christie fans! I’d love to hear how the glossary entries might have worked with a book club discussion like yours. If you get a chance, let me know!
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I love this! I am a sucker for annotated books. Fell madly in love with them when a friend gave me The Annotated Alice for a Christmas present. I’ve been through two copies of that, and I need to replace it again. Like the Cheshire Cat, my copies always disappear. Spooky. Like the Cheshire Cat the disembodied book always leaves a smile behind.
I prefer footnotes to endnotes, or ribbon tabs so I can keep track of the endnotes!
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There are several references to Alice in Agatha Christie’s novels. I imagine every child of her time read those stories. Don’t you agree that annotations in books make you feel like you’ve unlocked some “insider” knowledge? Also makes for fun cocktail conversation!
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I prefer them at the bottom of the page.
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One more vote for footnotes! Thanks for sharing!
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I prefer footnotes on the bottom of the page.
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Thanks for adding to the footnotes vote count!
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I enjoy reading footnotes at the bottom or on the side of the page. Thank you for sharing. God bless you
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I believe this is the first vote for “side of the page,” a choice I hadn’t considered. Thanks for commenting!
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Another vote for the bottom of the page.
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Gotcha! Thanks, Daria!
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Sorry to be a day late, but just in case you would like another option: I find Chapter End Notes work best for me. Not so very far to flip to, not taking up too much space on the page, and close enough to read all first and remember while reading the chapter. As to the inclusions of French in the text. It seems to be a social change in that educated English people of the late 1800s and early 1900s were expected to know French. (See Dorothy Sayers writing Peter Wimsey’s Uncle Panderus letters.) Elisabeth
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I agree with you that many English people learned French in the 1920s, but not so many Americans these days. I took German in high school and college so the French words meant nothing to me! Thanks for sharing the idea of chapter endnotes — that’s a cool idea!
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I prefer footnotes so I don’t have to flip to the back. If there are lots of them at the end of the book, I might need a bookmark. When I started reading Agatha Christie I was only 13 so I didn’t know that M stood for Monsieur. I just read it as the letter M when the books mentioned M. Poirot. I took German and French in high school. I own one volume of annotated Sherlock Holmes stories.
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I appreciate your “M.” story, Michelle. It was a struggle, but in the end, I decided to err on the side of annoying readers by defining what some call “easy” words because it’s not my place to judge what “everyone” already knows.
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Thank you to everyone who shared their opinion on footnotes vs. endnotes! And congratulations to Kait, Jessie, and Crystal, the winners of the ePub version of Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles, annotated.
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