In her mid-thirties, crime novelist Agatha Christie disappeared without explanation. Her beloved mother had recently passed away and there was growing discord and acrimony in the Christie household. A massive manhunt ensued which bizarrely involved two other authors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy Sayers. Agatha was found 11 days after at the Swan Hydro, a luxurious hotel in the spa town of Harrogate. It appeared that she had earlier checked in under the assumed name of the rumoured mistress of her husband, Archibald. Agatha’s husband would later ascribe the author’s disappearance to “memory loss”.
The mystery has persisted even almost a century after Agatha Christie’s disappearance. The “memory loss” explanation strikes one as unimaginative considering that it is the enigmatic Agatha who is involved here. Did the author really enter a psychogenic trance, a condition brought on by trauma or depression? Did she stage her disappearance as a publicity stunt to promote her books? Or did she do it as a comeuppance to her philandering husband?
Kristel Thornell attempts to fill the gaps in her “On the Blue Train” (2016). We see Agatha’s escape to freedom and carefree days at Harrogate shopping, relaxing, dining, and dancing. Fans of the author may find it hard to believe, however, that this is all to Agatha’s story. It is diaphanous, and the introduction of the lightweight widower Harry McKenna creates a weakness in Thornell’s narrative.
