Introduction: Dark Moods and Deadly Puzzles

Summary

Abstract In the introductory chapter, I posit the book's core argument—that the increasing engagement with Gothic horror aesthetics is not new to Agatha Christie adaptations. These darker moods, however, have the potential to compete with the centrality of the puzzle in Christie's stories. First, I establish the importance of the puzzle in Christie's work. Second, I provide an overview of Agatha Christie adaptations that draw on the horror genre. This provides a historical overview of Agatha Christie adaptations for the small screen. I engage with television aesthetics and how Christie adaptations increasingly display a stylistic excess. This grounds my use of the horror and Gothic mood. I will argue that the debate on fidelity will always be relevant and a topic of concern because it matters to audiences and critics. Finally, I establish the subsequent chapters’ arguments and conceptual frameworks.

Keywords: Agatha Christie, crime fiction, mood, aesthetics, genre studies, fidelity, adaptation studies, Gothic horror

We begin by closely examining the moving hands of a clock. Dorothy Squires’ “Anything I Dream Is Possible” warbles faintly in the background. The next shot in this opening montage pans across a newspaper clipping that depicts a woman surrounded by smiling children. The article's title tells us that she is “The Orphan's Saviour.” The screen then cuts to black with the sound of a WHACK and a THUD. Dorothy Squires is slowly drowned out by menacing, low-pitched strings. This is followed by a blurry sequence of the woman, the “orphan's saviour,” on the ground, arm up, feebly attempting to stand. When we return to being in focus, we are given an extreme close-up shot of blood dropping onto fabric; it lands with a loud sizzle as if it burns to the touch. Blood drips down a more recent photograph of the woman with her now adult children; a smiling young man has his arm around her in an embrace. Cut. We are now outside under the bright moonlight. That same man in the photograph exits the household grounds. A sign indicating the estate's name ironically reads “Sunny Point.” The man seems to be in a total panic and hurriedly stops a car. When we return to inside, we first see the pendulum of a grandfather clock ticking. The camera tilts up to the face of the clock where we see the reflection of another woman screaming, having discovered the murder scene.