Jen Pitts's Blog - Posts Tagged "curtain"
Happy Birthday Agatha Christie!
Today, all cozy mystery authors and readers celebrate Agatha Christie's birthday! Here's a piece I wrote about a line from one of her books that has always stayed with me.
Everyone is a potential murderer—in everyone there arises from time to time the wish to kill � though not the will to kill.
Hercule Poirot in Curtain by Agatha Christie
I wish I could recall the first Agatha Christie novel I read. I do remember how I devoured her books starting in the fifth grade. The fun, but tame Nancy Drew books fell to the wayside as I read the Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple books with their inventive plots and insight into human nature.
I’ll read just about any mystery book, but the ones that tell personal stories are my favorite. What I mean is serial killers don’t interest me. Killing for the sake of killing doesn’t make for a compelling story. I want to read about people who decide they have no other choice but to commit murder.
As I began writing my own mysteries, I thought long and hard about the books I love. Agatha Christie’s books topped the list. Most, if not all, of her stories are about the personal reasons that made the murderer feel she or he had no other choice. This line from the book Curtain has stayed with me:
Everyone is a potential murderer � in everyone there arises from time to time the wish to kill � though not the will to kill.
Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, says this sentence in the book, Curtain. To me, it sums up my fascination with murder mysteries. What drives someone to kill? What is the tipping point that made a person decide that murder was the best option? What makes a person go from potential murder to an actual one?

When I write a book, I start with why the murderer has killed. I don't always know who the victim is or even who the killer is, but I begin with their motivations. The point of a mystery novel is to find out who the killer is, but for me it’s just as important to discover why. Human nature is fascinating and as a mystery writer, I get to explore the dark side of it. But also the good side when the killer is revealed, and all is right for the surviving characters.
Agatha Christie’s one line in Curtain sums up my fascination with mysteries and sent me down the path to being a mystery author. I’m not a potential murderer � I have the wish and the will to kill, but only as a writer.
Jen Pitts
Author of The French Quarter Mysteries
Everyone is a potential murderer—in everyone there arises from time to time the wish to kill � though not the will to kill.
Hercule Poirot in Curtain by Agatha Christie
I wish I could recall the first Agatha Christie novel I read. I do remember how I devoured her books starting in the fifth grade. The fun, but tame Nancy Drew books fell to the wayside as I read the Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple books with their inventive plots and insight into human nature.
I’ll read just about any mystery book, but the ones that tell personal stories are my favorite. What I mean is serial killers don’t interest me. Killing for the sake of killing doesn’t make for a compelling story. I want to read about people who decide they have no other choice but to commit murder.
As I began writing my own mysteries, I thought long and hard about the books I love. Agatha Christie’s books topped the list. Most, if not all, of her stories are about the personal reasons that made the murderer feel she or he had no other choice. This line from the book Curtain has stayed with me:
Everyone is a potential murderer � in everyone there arises from time to time the wish to kill � though not the will to kill.
Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, says this sentence in the book, Curtain. To me, it sums up my fascination with murder mysteries. What drives someone to kill? What is the tipping point that made a person decide that murder was the best option? What makes a person go from potential murder to an actual one?

When I write a book, I start with why the murderer has killed. I don't always know who the victim is or even who the killer is, but I begin with their motivations. The point of a mystery novel is to find out who the killer is, but for me it’s just as important to discover why. Human nature is fascinating and as a mystery writer, I get to explore the dark side of it. But also the good side when the killer is revealed, and all is right for the surviving characters.
Agatha Christie’s one line in Curtain sums up my fascination with mysteries and sent me down the path to being a mystery author. I’m not a potential murderer � I have the wish and the will to kill, but only as a writer.
Jen Pitts
Author of The French Quarter Mysteries
