She was and still is "the Queen of Crime." As an author, Agatha Christie has outsold everyone except William Shakespeare and the Bible. One of her plays, The Mousetrap, is the longest-running show in the world. She has devoted fans all over the world.
Those fans can gorge themselves on tasteful, ingenious murder to their heart's content with a trio of new DVD releases.
We'll start with the big one: Agatha Christie's Poirot: Complete Cases Collection, 70 episodes on 33 discs from Acorn Media for $349.99.
Back in 1989, David Suchet began portraying Christie's most famous detective: the brilliant Belgian Hercule Poirot. Over the next 25 years, he starred as Poirot in filmed versions of all 33 Poirot novels and all 54 short stories. Quite an achievement.
And now, they're all together in one DVD set.
That's a lot of murder and mayhem. The quality of the productions varies. The sets and costumes are always fabulous but some adaptations are better than others. Some are faithful or have changes that don't detract too much but a couple are (unnecessarily) altered so much from the source material that one wonders why they didn't rename the episode.
Regardless, Suchet is a magnificent Poirot, making him lovable yet sharp, amusing but never comic.
Despite a few disappointments, the series is great fun, a treasure for lovers of old-fashioned, cozy mysteries and of the finicky, eccentric little man and his little gray cells.
For extras, there are four documentaries: "Being Poirot," in which Suchet discusses his experiences playing Poirot and the creation, history and popularity of the character; "Super Sleuths: Poirot," which also examines the character and the series but without Suchet as host; "David Suchet on the Orient Express," part travelogue, part history lesson; and "Behind the Scenes," which is just what it sounds like -- a special filmed while making one of the later seasons.
It all comes in a sturdy, attractive box, the symmetry of which would have pleased Poirot.
Those who already own most of the Poirots shouldn't see much reason for double-dipping but it's a great gift for other Christie fans who haven't been collecting all along.
Christie's other most famous detective was Miss Marple, an elderly spinster whose observation skills, life experiences in an English village and complete lack of faith in humanity made her an expert at solving crimes.
While there have been more recent incarnations of Miss Marple, most Christie purists feel the 1984-92 series with Joan Hickson came closest to accurately capturing the deceptively harmless lady Christie created.
The BBC has started remastering the series in high definition and Volume 1 is now available with The Murder at the Vicarage, The Body in the Library, The Moving Finger and A Murder Is Announced on three discs for $39.98.
Like the best of the Poirots, the episodes are charming, cozy, a little creepy and cleverly plotted. There's usually some tasteful humor thrown in to boot.
As far as extras go, there's "A Very British Murder: The New Taste for Blood," a documentary that explores the English fascination with murder stories, starting in the early 1800s. It's the first part of an extensive feature and one would assume future Marple volumes will include the other parts.
Lastly, there's the great lady herself. The Mystery of Agatha Christie, a one-hour feature from PBS ($24.99), features Suchet exploring Christie's life and personality through visits to her home and interviews with family, experts and biographers. It's not terribly deep, but it serves as a nice introduction to Christie and Suchet makes a charming guide.
New this week: Better Off Ted, Season 2; Drunk History, Seasons 1-2; Inspector Lewis, Season 7.
Next week: Broad City, Season 1; Gunsmoke, Season 11; Happy Days, Season 6; Justified, Season 5; Perry Mason, Movie Collection 10-12; The Simpsons, Season 17; Sliders, Complete Series; The Strain, Season 1.
Style on 11/23/2014