A quaint English village with a serial killer problem, it has to be Agatha Christie. In the Folio edition of Murder is Easy a simmering sense of menace pervades Fergus Hare’s bucolic illustrations and brings the suspenseful charm of Wychwood under Ashe to life.
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Editor’s Note
Sophia Schoepfer, Editor
A quaint English village. A retired police officer. A series of mysterious murders. These are all the ingredients for another iconic Agatha Christie mystery. In this standalone novel, ex-policeman Luke Fitzwilliam is tasked with apprehending a serial killer who is at large in the seemingly benign village of Wychwood under Ashe. In seven full-page illustrations, artist Fergus Hare captures bucolic countryside scenes that, while beautiful, convey a simmering sense of menace. Another gem of Golden Age of Detective Fiction, reinvigorated in this stylish and covetable edition.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Three-quarter bound in blocked cloth, with a printed and blocked textured paper front cover designed by the artist
Typeset in Bell with Kabel as display
232 pages
7 evocative full-page colour illustrations by the artist
Plain slipcase
Sized at 9˝ x 5¾˝
SYNOPSIS
‘In illustrating this wonderful story, I feel honoured to be asked by The Folio Society to be a part of the Agatha Christie legacy.’
Fergus Hare, Illustrator
Retired police officer Luke Fitzwilliam encounters an elderly woman named Miss Pinkerton on a train, who claims that a serial killer is at work in her village. When she later dies under suspicious circumstances, Fitzwilliam heads to the village of Wychwood-under-Ashe to investigate. As he delves into the seemingly tranquil community, he uncovers a series of mysterious deaths that appear to be anything but accidental. With each new clue, Fitzwilliam finds himself drawn deeper into a web of intrigue and danger, where identifying the killer becomes a race against time.
BIOGRAPHIES
About Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and is the author of over 80 works, including detective novels and short stories, 19 plays and six novels published under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published in 1920 and introduced the world to Hercule Poirot, who would become one of the most popular fictional detectives since Sherlock Holmes (as would another of Christie's sleuths, the amateur detective Miss Marple). In 1952 her play The Mousetrap premiered in London's West End and has run continuously ever since. Christie's books have sold more than two billion copies in over 100 languages (said to be outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare) and have been adapted many times for film and television. She was made a dame in 1971 and died in Oxfordshire in 1976. In 2013, she was voted the greatest crime writer of all time by the Crime Writers' Association.
About Fergus Hare
Fergus Hare is an artist based in Brighton, East Sussex. He studied Illustration at Norwich School of Art and Design and continues to exhibit his paintings and drawings internationally. His drawings of the The Moon have been featured in Astronomy magazine, and discussed in the book Moon: Art, Science and Culture. His work has been discussed in lectures focusing on British Romanticism in contemporary art. A study of Hare’s career by Jenny Uglow was published in 2022.
Reviews Powered By
Average Score for 11 Review(s)
Beautiful
Review by
Rev Pius Peter Schroh
on 2nd February 2025
Was beautiful and very well made. Quality is one of the reasons I buy Folio books.
Review by
MRS DOROTHY WATSON-YOUNG
on 2nd January 2025
More please
Review by
REV PATRICK O'REGAN
on 31st December 2024
The newest addition to the Folio crime library is Crooked House, the book that Agatha Christie herself believed was one of her best. This edition features evocative illustrations by Sally Dunne.
A delectable collector’s edition of Agatha Christie’s Sparkling Cyanide joins the Folio Society crime library. With exquisite illustrations by Michael Philip Dunbabin.
A glamorous family, unbearable suspense and murder. The Folio edition of this classic mystery from the queen of detective fiction, Agatha Christie’s Ordeal by Innocence is illustrated by Laura Hope.
Queen of Crime Agatha Christie invites you into a shadowy world of black magic and cold-blooded murder. The Pale Horse is the latest volume in the Folio Christie collection.