Friday, April 24, 2026

Agatha Christie, She Watched - A, Excerpt, Review & Giveaway

 Review


AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED
By Teresa Peschel 

AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED is a brilliant big book. And I do mean big! Not only is the book a comprehensive guide to Agatha Christie movies, of which there are a lot, the physical book measures 8.5"x11" and is 430 pages. For each film not only is the basic information listed, cast, locations, the book it's based on, but, most importantly to me a rating of the fidelity to the text. There's also a quality of the movie rating and a sentence describing the film. Along with some photos the author then pens her insightful review with lots of book and filming details. The writing is smart, witty, and infinitely relatable. I chuckled as I was both entertained and educated. 

AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED is a delightful guide offering facts and commentary making it an invaluable resource of Agatha Christie films. 

Agatha Christie, She Watched by Teresa Peschel Banner

AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED

by Teresa Peschel

April 6 - May 15, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

Agatha Christie, She Watched by Teresa Peschel

One Woman's Plot to Watch 201 Christie Adaptations Without Murdering the Director, Screenwriter, Cast, or Her Husband

 

Care to match wits with Hercule Poirot? Share tea and gossip with Miss Marple? Chase spies with Tommy and Tuppence? "Agatha Christie, She Watched" will introduce you to must-see movies (and must-avoid) dogs that prove Agatha's genius depicting the hopeful and dark sides of human nature. These movies will tantalize you, mystify you, and make you laugh at the folly of humanity.

Teresa Peschel watched and reviewed 201 adaptations, from the German silent movie "Adventures, Inc." (1929) to "See How They Run" and "Why Didn't They Ask Evans" (2022). Each film was rated for fidelity to the original material and its overall quality. Each review takes up two pages and comes with six cast photos, list of major actors, and known film locations. Foreign movies with English subtitles from India, France, Russia, and Japan are included. We include eight movies in which the fictional Agatha Christie solves murder mysteries, debates Poirot, battles a space wasp (in Doctor Who), and plots to kill her husband's mistress.

“Agatha Christie, She Watched” is the only comprehensive collection of reviews about Christie adaptations. Use it to find the movies made from the novels you love, fill in your movie collection or host an Agatha Christie festival of your own.

Praise for Agatha Christie, She Watched:

"From the German silent movie Adventures, Inc. (1929) to Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2022), she covers all of your favourites (including the One True Poirot) and some you may never have heard of! The level of detail and vast array of images is incredible."
~ Labours of Hercule podcast

Book Details:

Genre: Movie & Video Reference, Movie & Video Guides & Reviews, Non-Fiction
Published by: Peschel Press
Publication Date: April 7, 2023
Number of Pages: 436 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 9781950347391 (ISBN10: 1950347397)
Book Links: Amazon | KindleUnlimited | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads | BookBub | Peschel Press

Read an excerpt:

Introduction

I’ve always been a fan of Agatha Christie, but not an obsessive one. I didn’t read and reread the novels. I didn’t go looking for obscure short stories. I didn’t read (and still haven’t) her Mary Westmacott novels. I treated her like most people did: She wrote good mysteries, and if they were handy, I read them.

Then Bill began the Complete, Annotated project by publishing Dorothy L. Sayers’ Whose Body?, followed by Agatha’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Over the years, as he annotated the next five of Agatha’s early novels, I read them carefully for possible footnotes. As I did, I paid more attention to her writing, her deft plotting, her sly sense of humor, and her ability to describe a character with a few sentences.

As I became more familiar with her novels, I realized that she’s underrated, probably because she was categorized as a genre writer. Some even consider her works cozies. Clearly, they never read Appointment with Death (1938), And Then There Were None (1939), or Endless Night (1967). I suspect that her Mary Westmacotts — which are described as romances — are anything but.

The publishing world applies labels to make it easier for bookshops to shelve their books in the store, not because they’re accurate.

In July 2020, as the world began opening up from the Covid-19 shutdowns, I was at the library, looking for a DVD to borrow. I spotted Crooked House (2017). I liked the novel, so I thought, “Why not?”

Crooked House was the second Agatha Christie film adaptation I had seen. Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017) was the first.

We needed fodder for the website (peschelpress.com) and I’d already been reviewing books, so I wrote a review of Crooked House. This reminded me that Bill was working on an annotated edition of The Secret of Chimneys. Was there a movie version? A review for the book would be nice. There was. It was an episode in a box set from ITV’s Marple.

Oookaaaay.

Having become overly familiar with Chimneys, I knew Agatha wrote it years before Miss Marple was a twinkle in her eye. But we watched it anyway. It was terrible. Bill wrote his review for The Complete, Annotated Secret of Chimneys, and I wrote mine for the website.

Since the library’s Marple DVD set included three more episodes, we watched them and I reviewed them for the website.

That’s when Bill said the fateful words that brought us here: “Let’s watch more Agatha films. You write the reviews. I’ll post them on the website, and we’ll publish them as a book.”

So here we are nearly three years later. We had no idea how big the Agatha project would become or how many films have been made for cinema and TV. Bill and I have watched more than 200 adaptations. This includes all the English-language ones we could find beginning with Adventures, Inc. (a 1929 silent movie), and many of the foreign versions too. For those, we were limited by availability and whether or not they had English subtitles. It’s criminal neglect that some of the finest Agatha Christie film adaptations in the world are from Japan, yet they’re unavailable in the West.

To my knowledge, we are the only people who’ve watched all the films. I’m definitely the only person who’s written and posted reviews for all those forgotten TV shows and kinescopes.

Along the way, I became much, much more familiar with Agatha’s writing as I had to read the novels and short stories to compare them to the films. She was cutting edge from the beginning. She invented what we call The Poirot, the practice of bringing together the suspects, explaining the clues, and fingering the criminal. It was a trope born of necessity, when her first attempt — Poirot testifying at the trial — didn’t fly with her publisher.

She began experimenting with narrative structure in 1924 with The Man in the Brown Suit. That novel has two narrators, one of them unreliable. Brown Suit is also a romantic thriller disguised as a mystery. Read the passage where Anne Beddingfeld administers to a mysterious, half-naked, sexy stranger’s wounds. This scene could be ripped from any romance novel of today (the sweet kind, not the spicy which would include far more detail). As a side note, the 1989 TV movie is very true to the text despite being turned into a contemporary.

Agatha was an innovative writer throughout her career. Her The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) is a mash-up of P. G. Wodehouse and John Buchan thrillers. Partners in Crime (1929) is a loose cycle of 16 short stories starring Tommy and Tuppence. Each short story is also a parody of a famous mystery writer, including herself! And unlike Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence aged in real time, from the young, eager lovers in The Secret Adversary (1922) to retired grandparents in Postern of Fate (1973).

And what’s And Then There Were None (1939), in which 10 characters are dispatched in an entertaining manner for their sins, but a PG-rated slasher flick? As a sign of its influence, the basic plot has been lifted, the serial numbers filed off, and rewritten in dozens more novels and movies. The A.B.C. Murders (1936) is a prototypical serial killer novel.

Agatha’s innovations could fill a book and go a long way to explaining why she’s still read today.

The other reason is more subtle.

Whatever you can say about the quality of the adaptations (like The Secret of Chimneys, bleah), they keep Agatha in the public eye. Never underestimate the importance of TV shows and movies on an author’s reputation. For each person who reads, 100 people go to the movies, and a 1,000 people watch TV. Every time an Agatha Christie film is shown, people who’ve never heard of her learn she exists. Some of them search out her books and discover how good her writing is.

When a writer dies, they can vanish under the constant tsunami of books being written and published daily. Dorothy L. Sayers is a prime example. Sayers wrote at the same time as Agatha. She’s highly regarded and her books are great. But her estate, unlike Agatha’s, shows no interest in licensing her stories and novels for TV or movies. Say the phrase: “Murder at Downton Abbey,” then ask why her literary estate isn’t capitalizing on Lord Peter Wimsey, detective in the peerage and a duke’s brother.

The Agatha Christie estate does not want her writing to suffer that fate, so they license her short stories and novels. Some adaptations are excellent; some are dreadful. For a few, the only commonality between novel and film is the name. Most range in between but all have something to offer, even if it’s only great period clothes, quality acting, or English Country House Porn. Linenfold paneling! Crenelated ceilings! Parquet floors as elaborate as the finest Persian carpet!

Excuse me while I stop and fan myself.

Watching 200+ Agatha adaptations also taught me plenty about filmmaking, pacing, and soundtracks. I can now, sometimes, recognize an actor from another adaptation. I’ve enjoyed seeing how one novel can be interpreted multiple ways, resulting in wildly different films. The Pale Horse (1961) is a good example. The three films (including Miss Marple in one!) are recognizably the same story, yet they’ve nothing to do with each other. The emphasis is different, the characters different, the tone is different.

I’ve watched 13 different Poirots (including an anime version). Seven different Marples (including an anime version). Multiple Tommy and Tuppences. Each actor or actress brings something new to the character.

The foreign films demonstrate how universal she is. She wrote about dysfunctional families, mapped the class divide, noticed the lengths we go to for status and security, and found reasons for murder ranging from money to passion to safety.

Ironically, foreign filmmakers respect Agatha more than she is at home. Appointment with Death (1938) has been filmed three times, but the Japanese version is the only one that captures the novel’s cruelty and horror. The two English language versions fail, one moderately and one spectacularly. Of the four versions of The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side (1962), only the Japanese version gives a voice to Margo Bence, one of Agatha’s most abused secondary characters. The other three versions ignore her because to face Margo Bence’s pain would mean admitting that the film business cares nothing for children unless they can be sold to make money.

We did not watch every single foreign TV episode even when they were readily available. There just wasn’t enough time. The best we could do was see enough to convey the flavor of a given series. If you want to see them, enjoy yourself! They provide very different views of Agatha and can be rewarding.

The novel that’s been adapted the most is And Then There Were None (1939). We saw ten versions, ranging from a blurry kinescope to slick studio productions with an all-star cast, so it merits its own chapter. Some versions hew to the stage play with its radically rewritten ending. Others stick to the novel, nihilism intact. Some combine the stage play and the novel, so Vera Claythorne learns who the puppet master was, begs for her life, and receives rough justice.

One final warning before you go: spoilers abound, so beware! Unlike Agatha, I don’t play fair with my reviews and hide whodunnit. Where I play fair is in telling you what I thought of them. I liked films that critics panned, and I disliked films others loved. I say why. I go down sidetracks. I enjoyed myself and I hope you will too.

So won’t you join me for an Agatha Christie Movie Marathon? You’ve got hundreds of hours of viewing pleasure ahead of you. Just remember to never accept a cup of tea you didn’t make, or take trips to lonely islands (or châteaus, or country houses) with strangers.

How to use this book

The films are organized by the starring detective. Miss Marple comes first, followed by Poirot, and Tommy and Tuppence. Next, a chapter is devoted exclusively to And Then There Were None, followed by the rest of the adaptations, and the final chapter is movies in which Agatha herself is the star.

Each chapter opens with a photo gallery showing the actors and actresses who played her detectives and characters.

There’s also an index, which is more important than it appears.

Seems logical, yes? Except that some adaptations removed Agatha’s chosen detective, turning the novel into a police procedural. When that happens, the movie is not included in the detective’s chapter. It’s included in “The Rest of the Christies”. Many of the foreign adaptations fall into this category.

Other adaptations (cough, ITV’s Marple, cough) insert a detective who didn’t exist in the novel. That’s why many standalone novels appear in the Miss Marple chapter. She’s now the star of The Sittaford Mystery, Murder Is Easy, The Pale Horse, and others. She also appears in a Tommy and Tuppence novel, By the Pricking of My Thumbs. Similarly, Margaret Rutherford snatched two Poirot novels and made them her own, so they appear in the Miss Marple chapter.

The chapters dedicated to And Then There Were None and the movies not part of a detective series are self- evident. “Agatha the Star,” however, deserves an explanation. In addition to her stories, Agatha’s life has become fodder for Hollywood. This includes the dreadful Vanessa Redgrave/Dustin Hoffman biopic Agatha (1979), a documentary that quotes from her and her work, a Doctor Who episode, and three movies that show Agatha’s exciting life investigating mysteries in a parallel universe. It focuses on Agatha, not her writing. Any relationship to Agatha’s real life should be considered coincidental. Even the documentary in this chapter is not entirely reliable.

Within each chapter, the films are organized chronologically. As you move forward in time, you’ll see changes in how a character was depicted and movie-making styles. Adventures, Inc. (1929) sets the stage. It’s the earliest Agatha film and the scriptwriter, Jane Bess, played fast and loose with the text. She led the way for hack screenwriters everywhere to rewrite Agatha’s prose.

Each review gets two pages. We chose a banner image and six photos of important cast members. I rate films by fidelity to text (or life in “Agatha the Star,” and either the play or the novel in And Then There Were None) and by the quality of the movie overall. The two ratings are separate, but they complement each other and give you a clearer understanding of what to expect.

The cast lists place detectives and police at the top. Everyone else follows in rough order of importance. We group families together to make it easier to work out relationships. Our cast lists are not comprehensive but the main characters are there.

Also note that for those foreign films which don’t name their characters from the novel, we provide that information. This was omitted when they rewrote them so much (such as Unknown (1965), the Indian version of And Then There Were None) that it would not be helpful.

At the end of the list come the film locations, or (in a couple episodes) a song list. Internet Movie Database and Agatha Christie Wiki provided most of the locations, but Bill added to that from other sources (see the bibliography). Knowing the film locations means you, dear reader, can visit the same castle as Poirot or Miss Marple.

Subtitles matter to me. We always looked for versions with subtitles as so many actors mumble or the sound quality is bad. If I can’t understand the dialog, I miss important points. Not every DVD was released with subtitles.

Fortunately, some of the older films like the Joan Hickson Miss Marples are being cleaned up for streaming. They get subtitles. But they aren’t being released as new DVDs so, no subtitles. If you can watch a streamed version, no problem. If you must use your TV and DVD player, you’re out of luck.

We had to have subtitles for the foreign films. We couldn’t see some films we wanted to (we especially regret passing up the Japanese Murder on the Orient Express) because they either weren’t available with subtitles or they weren’t available at all.

The index will help you find a specific film. This isn’t just because some novels got Miss Marple inserted, putting them into the Miss Marple chapter. Agatha’s novels were often released under different names. For example, the novel Lord Edgware Dies (1933) was released in the U.S. as Thirteen At Dinner. It’s been filmed three times, twice as Lord Edgware Dies and once as Thirteen At Dinner. But they’re all based on the same novel and the index connects them.

I list all the names, with a note as to which film it applies to. Or, as with Margaret Rutherford, the film’s name doesn’t correspond to any edition of the novel but I tell you what to look for.

The bibliography provides further reading and shows where some of my information came from.

Enjoy the book. We enjoyed watching the movies, podcasting about many of them, and writing the reviews. We want it to be used, encouraging you to watch Agatha Christie on the screen, always different but always her.

How the movies are rated

Each movie is given two ratings. Fidelity of text is exactly what it sounds. How close is the film to the original text? Sometimes, only the names match. Other films are so faithful, they’re lifeless.

Quality of movie is about the movie itself. Did everything together work as a film? Often, a very good movie isn’t faithful to the text at all (see Miss Marple in Ordeal By Innocence (2007)). If something jars about the movie, I’ll indicate it here.

The rating icons demonstrate Agatha’s many, many ways of killing. Blunt objects, poisoned cocktails, garrotes, knives, guns, stranglers, being pushed down a flight of stairs. They usually reflect the first murder in the film.

A few films, such as And Then There Were None, get five different symbols to reflect all the ways those nasty people got iced.

How to find the movies

We watched the vast majority of the films on DVD on our TV set, the one our neighbors were throwing away. You’re correct that we count our pennies.

That’s why we use our public library. If yours is like ours, it contains a surprisingly large collection of Agatha Christie films. All you have to do is get a library card to borrow them.

You may, like us, have access to more than one library. It’s worth learning what’s available in your area. We belong to our local library (the Hershey Public Library) and to our county library (the much larger Dauphin County Public Library). They often carry different titles so I always check both before moving on to the next step.

Your library is bigger than your municipality, your county, or even your state. Ask for the interlibrary loan librarian. For us, it’s Denise Philips. Denise got us all kinds of DVDs from libraries across the country. This service is usually free, as libraries are tax-supported. Ask and you may be very pleased. The interlibrary loan may take a few weeks for the requested movie to arrive, but it nearly always will.

If Denise could not get us a title, Bill would search eBay and Amazon. We bought a universal DVD player so we could play DVDs from Europe.

There were obscure kinescopes that were on YouTube, so we watched them on the computer.

There are streaming services, including Amazon which gave us access to Britbox. Dailymotion let us watch the Japanese films.

We don’t recommend skeevy pirate sites. They’re illegal, don’t pay royalties to the creators, and whatever you get will be loaded with viruses and malware and the film may be incomplete or damaged.

*** A review ***

The Sittaford Mystery (2006)

Epic expansion of Trevelyan’s life
leaves little room for a coherent
mystery for Miss Marple to sort out

Fidelity to text: 1 pharaoh’s curse

The novel was eviscerated. The murder, séance, escaped prisoner, and a few names remain. Everything else, including the murderer, were altered beyond recognition. Miss Marple resented being shoved in; she stayed defiantly offstage for long stretches.

Quality of movie: 1½ pharaoh’s curses

The scriptwriter shoved ten pounds of plot into a five-pound running length and the result is incoherence with snow.

The Review

Queue up Sir Mix-a-Lot and “Baby Got Back” and recite along with me:

Oh. My. God.
Look at that plot!

You’ll have to sit through this episode twice (at least) to understand what’s going on. This film is 93 minutes long, not long enough for all the disparate plot threads to be woven in a cohesive fashion. The film needed a minimum of another twenty minutes running time to do it justice.

But since ITV didn’t do that, you, dear viewer, will be left asking what just happened? Rewind, dammit! That’s what we did. Repeatedly. Yet there were many moments when I still can’t tell you what was going on.

The trouble starts with forcing Miss Marple into a property that was never written for her. This can work: see ITV’s By the Pricking of My Thumbs, a Tommy and Tuppence novel.

Not here. In fact, Miss Marple disappeared for long stretches of the film, doing heaven only knows what in Sittaford House while sitting out the blizzard. Maybe she was questioning the staff (we only see one servant in the mansion but there must be more), knitting, and speed-reading Captain Trevelyan’s memoirs. She certainly wasn’t at the Three Crowns Inn, inspecting the body and questioning the guests, even though most of the action takes place there.

An entirely new plot is shoehorned in, vastly expanding Captain Trevelyan’s character and backstory. Suddenly, he’s a war hero (WWI), a suspected war profiteer (WWII), an Olympic skater in between (I think; the dialog was incomprehensible at many key points), a major candidate to be the next prime minister (Winston Churchill (!) has a scene with Captain Trevelyan), and he’s a noted archeologist having discovered a major tomb in Egypt back in 1927 that made his fortune! Compared with Capt. Trevelyan, Indiana Jones was a lazy amateur.

But all this rewriting was necessary to give Timothy Dalton scenery to chew to earn his paycheck. In the novel, Captain Trevelyan exists to be swiftly murdered. He doesn’t even get one line. In the movie — since he’s Timothy Dalton — when he’s not emoting in front of us, he’s the topic of conversation by the other characters.

Which I can understand. It’s Timothy Dalton, and my goodness does he look yummy. Some men age very well and he belongs to that lucky cohort. He’s also got to be expensive so the producers made sure to get their money’s worth. Pity they didn’t spend some of their money on a better script or more film stock.

But he didn’t age that well. I had a hard time believing that virginal, lovely, dewy, eighteen-year-old Violet Willets (Carey Mulligan) fell madly in love with a man old enough to be her grandfather. I know why he did, and it’s not just because Violet resembles the woman he callously abandoned twenty-five years prior in Egypt. Violet is delicious, naïve, and believes every word he says and what man doesn’t want that? As for Violet, she didn’t come across as a gold-digger, which is the usual reason sweet 18-year-olds marry men old enough to be their grandfather. Or maybe she was one and the tacked-on ending where Violet runs off to Argentina with Emily Trefusis proves it.

Violet certainly wasn’t broken up about her husband being murdered on their wedding night. If anything, she seemed relieved. She got it all. The Trevelyan name, the inheritance, two tickets to Buenos Aires, and she didn’t have to sacrifice her sweet toothsome body to some old man, even if he was Timothy Dalton.

The Egyptian subplot was of major importance yet it didn’t make any sense. There was the paranormal aspect too, with a ghostly maiden showing up in Captain Trevelyan’s visions. Was there a curse on the gold scorpion? Was he going crazy? We’re never told. The ghost follows a different movie’s script when it appears and vanishes.

This script also doesn’t tell us how an Egyptian servant can show up in isolated Sittaford in 1949 and get hired on, no questions asked. I understand that the servant problem was bad enough that the upper crust didn’t ask as many questions as they could. But here? Really?

We know Captain Trevelyan did potentially bad things in Egypt. Yet he wasn’t suspicious when this mysterious Egyptian showed up at his door? He’d been having weird dreams about his past. He’s got a burgeoning political career which means close scrutiny of his private life. He’s supposed to be a smart man.

Add in the even more incoherent subplot about the escaped prisoner from Dartmoor prison. None of that made sense; not the purchase of the inn a year prior to the events of the story, not the backstory of how the star-crossed lovers met, not how the prisoner escaped from Dartmoor prison and found his way across the moors to be reunited with his paramour and cousin and their eventual escape to freedom.

There’s also the American war profiteer who helped Captain Trevelyan make a fortune manufacturing substandard munitions that killed more American sailors than the enemy. The American war profiteer’s personal aide-de-camp and quack doctor made even less sense. Why did the war profiteer need him around, other than as a dogsbody? There was mumbled dialog that sounded like they were both in the mafia, but it was unclear.

We also meet the incompetent government clerk who’s looking into Captain Trevelyan’s background to ensure nothing questionable is revealed to the press, thus discrediting the party. He’s not doing a very good job if Captain Trevelyan was a known associate of American war profiteers and he doesn’t know.

Then there’s Charles Burnaby. In the novel, he’s boy-reporter Charles Enderby. The name change was the first step in his complete reworking of motives and backstory. Yet we get no foreshadowing of his dramatic personal life or of his connections to the Trevelyan family.

We get almost nothing of James Pearson’s connection to Captain Trevelyan either. We get even less of a reason for Emily Trefusis to be engaged to James Pearson, boy alcoholic, other than that old standby: He’ll inherit big when Captain Trevelyan dies. Maybe that’s why Emily runs off to Argentina with Violet. She gets the money and the girl and doesn’t have to marry the boy alcoholic.

I could rant on, but you get the picture: This movie was a mess, barely suitable for Timothy Dalton fans. ITV could have saved the cost of his salary and paid for a better script. Or, they could have capitalized on Timothy Dalton and added another twenty minutes of movie, explaining all the subplots and how they connected.

General Information

Based on: The Sittaford Mystery (U.S. title: The Murder at Hazelmoor; novel, 1931)

Run time: 1 hr., 40 min. Subtitles: No

Writer: Stephen Churchett

Director: Paul Unwin

Cast

Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple

Timothy Dalton as Clive Trevelyan
Mel Smith as John Enderby
Jeffery Kissoon as Ahmed Ghali
Laurence Fox as James Pearson
Zoe Telford as Emily Trefusis
James Murray as Charles Burnaby
Rita Tushingham as Miss Elizabeth Percehouse
Michael Brandon as Martin Zimmerman
Paul Kaye as Dr. Ambrose Burt
Patricia Hodge as Mrs. Evadne Willett
Carey Mulligan as Violet Willett
Matthew Kelly as Donald Garfield
James Wilby as Stanley Kirkwood
Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill

Film Locations

The Flower Pot Pub, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (pub exterior)
Dorney Court, Dorney, Buckinghamshire (Sittaford House interiors)

***

Excerpt from Agatha Christie, She Watched by Teresa Peschel. Copyright 2023 by Teresa Peschel. Reproduced with permission from Teresa Peschel. All rights reserved.

 

 

Author Bio:

Teresa Peschel

Teresa Peschel never planned to become a writer, nor did she plan to become an expert on film versions of Agatha Christie stories. Then, as a supportive wife, Teresa read and edited Bill’s annotations to Agatha’s first six novels. A desire to promote the books led to writing movie reviews for the Peschel Press website, which led to Bill suggesting they could publish a collection quickly. Two and a half years later, Agatha Christie, She Watched was born. This book got Teresa — and Bill as her supportive husband — an invitation to speak at the 2024 Agatha Christie festival in England.

Like Agatha Christie, Teresa reinvented herself and because of Agatha Christie, she’s become a better writer.

Catch Up With Teresa Peschel:

PeschelPress.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub - @peschel
Instagram - @peschel_press
YouTube - @peschelpress9911
X - @PeschelPress
Facebook - @PeschelPress

 

Tour Participants:

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A Mysterious Little Giveaway

This giveaway is hosted by Partners in Crime Tours for Teresa Peschel. See the widget for entry terms and conditions. Void where prohibited.
AGATHA CHRISTIE, SHE WATCHED by Teresa Peschel |

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Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading Death for Sale by Erik S. Meyers. This is the third book in the Sally Witherspoon Mystery series and was released earlier this year.

Thanksgiving is Sally Witherspoon's favorite holiday and she's excited to spend the day with the majority of  Berry Springs, Arkansas at the Grand Hotel. With Joanna catering the dinner the buffet is jammed packed with delicious food - roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, the works! Sally and her crew, along with some temporary bartenders, are serving the drinks while also enjoying the scrumptious spread. After the satisfying event Sally is woken in the early morning hours by a phone call from Sergeant Soder. Several party goers seem to have gotten food poisoning and some have even been hospitalized. Was there something wrong with the food? Could the fruit in some of her cocktails have been tainted? When one person dies and the police consider the death suspicious Sally once again gets out her pen and notebook determined to help solve another murder.

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Battered- A Recipe, Review, & Giveaway

Today at Cozy Up With Kathy I'm pleased to share a recipe from the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series by G. P. Gottleib along with my review of BATTERED, the first book in the series.  

 

Ginger-Molasses Cookies GF. V.


2 ½ cups old fashioned or steel cut oats
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp fine-grained sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger (or fresh ginger if you can get it)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ cup packed coconut or dark brown sugar
¼ cup canola or coconut oil
¼ cup unsulphured molasses
1 TBSP unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract


· Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and spray or line 2 cookie sheets

· In a processor or high-speed blender, blend oats into a fine flour, about 60 to 90 seconds

· Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices, and sugar – 30 seconds or until blended

· In a medium to large bowl, combine oil, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla

· Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir together with a spatula

· Moisten with 1 or 2 TBSP water if needed to form balls

· Use a small scooper or wet hands to form 20-26 (1 inch/25mm) loose balls, placing 10 to 13 balls on each cookie sheet (these cookies will spread just a little)

· Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown (if you over bake, they’ll be yummy but dry)

· Remove from the oven and let them cool before eating.

OPTIONAL:1½ cup unsalted roasted almonds can be used in place of one cup of oats

I keep these chewy cookies in the freezer (zap 30 seconds in a microwave). Sometimes I make a little sandwich with a piece of banana in the middle, but mostly I just grab them for little bursts of gingery deliciousness.

****************************************************************************

Review


BATTERED by G. P. Gottlieb
The First Whipped and Sipped Mystery 

Alene Baron's childhood dream came true when she was able to buy a cafe from Gary, a good family friend. Selling it at well below cost, his only stipulation was to keep his daughter and sister employed. While Alene loves having Kacey working with her, despite her trouble with addiction, Gary's sister is another story. Still, she's happy to have a community spot where she can give people second chances while her best friend creates delicious vegan delights! But tragedy strikes when Gary is found dead inside a neighbor's apartment. Who could have killed him? While Alene practically saw him as a saint, pretty much everyone she runs into becomes a suspect in her mind. Despite a good looking detective handling the case, Arlene wants to do everything she can to find the killer herself.

I enjoyed the mystery behind the first Whipped and Sipped Mystery. There were a lot of plausible suspects each with decent motives. But while the mystery was intriguing, especially when combined with the death of another neighbor eight years earlier and financial misdealings at a company, for the most part I did not like the characters. The big exception was Detective Frank Shaw. The majority of the characters were flat out awful people, Arlene's ex husband and his best friend as well both Gary's ex and current wife and most of their adult children. Arlene's eldest child is a sarcastic and rude twelve year old. Ruthie seems nice, but we don't really get to know her at all. The interconnectedness of all these people, most of them even live in the same apartment building was a little creepy. 

With a ragtag cast of characters BATTERED brings together vegan and vegetarian treats in a unique mystery. 

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About The Whipped and Sipped Cozy Mystery Series

Welcome to Whipped & Sipped—where the pastries are guilt-free, the coffee is strong, and the gossip might just get you killed. Murder is on the menu—served warm with muffins and lattes.


Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Illinois
Publisher: ‎ Anamcara Press LLC
Publication Date: ‎ September 10, 2025
Print Length: ‎ 284 pages

Alene Baron has built more than a café—she’s built a community. At Whipped & Sipped, customers linger over Ruthie’s decadent-but-healthy desserts, children flock to Saturday story hour, and knitting groups craft blankets for refugee families. Alene prides herself on knowing her patrons so well she can often place “a wholegrain blueberry muffin on the counter before the customer themselves knew” they wanted it.

But when her neighbor and close friend is murdered, Alene’s cozy world begins to unravel. Suddenly, everyone she knows could be a suspect, and she starts noticing the smallest inconsistencies, furtive glances, and unexplained comings and goings around the café. With each clue and misstep, Alene pieces together a tangled web of secrets, realizing that danger may be closer than she ever imagined—and that her own family could be in the killer’s sights.

With her sharp eye for detail, wry sense of humor, and fierce devotion to her children, Alene steps into the role of amateur sleuth. But in a community where tempers flare over hot chocolate, grudges linger for years, and secrets hide beneath friendly smiles, finding the killer may prove harder than whipping up the perfect soufflé.

Battered, the first in G.P. Gottlieb’s Whipped and Sipped Mystery Series, is a delectable blend of mouthwatering recipes, quirky neighborhood drama, and page-turning suspense. Perfect for fans of culinary cozies, it’s a tale where friendship, food, and murder are always on the menu.


About G.P. Gottlieb

 

G. P. Gottlieb has been a musician, teacher, and administrator, but she’s happiest writing recipe-laced murder mysteries and inventing mostly vegetarian recipes that are nothing like what she learned in courses at Chicago’s French Pastry School. Gottlieb is active in Sisters in Crime (Chicago and Colorado) and has interviewed over 275 authors as a host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. She writes stories and essays that are published in a variety of journals and blogs, is a mother and grandmother, and lives with her husband in a Chicago high-rise that is strikingly similar to the building portrayed in the Whipped and Sipped Mystery series.

Author Links: 

Website: https://www.gpgottlieb.com/  

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/gpgottlieb.bsky.social  

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorgottlieb/ 

 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/whippedsipped/  

Medium.com: https://medium.com/@gpgottlieb  

Substack: Recently started - https://substack.com/@gpgottlieb  

Twitter: https://x.com/GottliebGp 

Purchase Links:

Sunday, April 19, 2026

A Blue Ribbon Murder - A Review & Giveaway

 Review


A BLUE RIBBON MURDER by T.C. LoTempio
The Sixth Urban Tails Mystery 
 
With some aggressive campaigning Fox Hollow, Connecticut is hosting this year's Kitty Club Cat Show. With her mother as one of the event sponsors Shell McMillan, owner of the Urban Tails Pet Shop and former star of Spy Anyone, is not only serving as a vendor, she's entered Kahlua into the competition. That $25,000 grand prize certainly could help and there's also the added mystery of a second prize. While her Urban Tails booth is doing brisk business, she and her partner Gary can't help but notice plenty of cat fights. From volatile competitors and protesters to the exacting event organizer and her Lothario stepson there's plenty of catty behavior. But when Shell and Gary go to meet with Isobel, they find her murdered and the special prize gone. Did she interrupt the thief or was her murder the goal? Is there a thief and a killer or just one villain? While selling pet supplies and showing two of their cats Shell and Gary will once again put on their deerstalker hats and try to solve the crimes.
 
I really enjoy the Urban Tails Mystery series and loved the fun setting of a cat show in this sixth outing. While I missed seeing much of Josh I really love seeing Shell and Gary work their investigative magic. I also like how they work together, both in Urban Tails and as housemates. They really are a great team and always have each other's backs.The mystery was solid with smart sleuthing and a good variety of suspects and motives, although there was one time I yelled at Shell for running off to check out a suspect alone.
 
I love all of the cats and was glad to see Kahlua have her moment in the spotlight. Of course, Purriday is perfect and I love how he and Princess Fuzzypants love each other.
 
A BLUE RIBBON MURDER turns the controlled chaos of a cat show into a purrfect murder mystery.
 
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A Blue Ribbon Murder (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries) by T. C. LoTempio

About A Blue Ribbon Murder

A Blue Ribbon Murder (Urban Tails Pet Shop Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery 6th in Series
Setting - Connecticut
Publisher: ‎ Beyond the Page
Publication Date: ‎ March 31, 2026
Print Length: ‎ 260 pages

When the organizer of a major cat competition is murdered and the grand prize is stolen, Shell McMillan will have to claw through the clues to catch a killer . . .

The Kitty Club Cat Show has come to Fox Hollow, and everyone from casual cat lovers to competitive breeders has shown up for the contest. Pet shop owner Shell McMillan has two cats entered, and like everyone else she has her eye on the grand prize, a vibrant red leash with a solid gold cat-head figurine attached. As the judging begins, cat owners clash and the fur flies, until a power outage throws the whole arena into darkness. But when the lights come back up, the event’s organizer is found dead and the grand prize is missing.

Shell knows the obvious suspect is the victim’s stepson, who’s up to his neck in gambling debts and would kill to get his hands on his inheritance. But there are plenty of disgruntled competitors to consider too, including some who had an old score to settle with the victim. Every clue is catnip for Shell, especially as she puzzles out whether the thief and the murderer are the same person. Either way, with two crimes to solve and a killer on the loose, she’ll have to tread carefully so that her dreams of Best in Show don’t end with Rest in Peace . . .

About T. C. LoTempio

While Toni Lotempio does not commit – or solve – murders in real life, she has no trouble doing it on paper. Her lifelong love of mysteries began early on when she was introduced to her first Nancy Drew mystery at age 10 – The Secret in the Old Attic. She and her cat pen the Nick and Nora mystery series originally from Berkley Prime Crime and now with Beyond the Page Publishing. They also write the Pet Shop Series and the Tiffany Austin Food Blogger series and brand new Cozy Bookshop Mysteries!

You can cat-ch up with them at ROCCO’s blog, www.catsbooksmorecats.blogspot.com or her website, www.tclotempio.net

Social Media Links Webpage Blog Facebook X

Purchase Links Amazon B&N Kobo

Friday, April 17, 2026

The Night Nurse and the Jewel Thief - An Interview

I'm pleased to welcome Marilee Dahlman to Cozy Up With Kathy today. Marilee's first novel, THE NIGHT NURSE AND THE JEWEL THIEF was released yesterday!

Kathy: In THE NIGHT NURSE AND THE JEWEL THIEF we meet Nancy Norman a glamour-obsessed home care nurse. Would you say you're glamor-obsessed?

MD: Haha, I would have to say no. This is one area where Nancy and I are pretty different. I’ll leave the bedazzling and bling to Nancy. We do share a couple interests, though—we both adore Persian cats and love following the British royals!


Kathy: Nancy's latest assignment leads her to an eccentric billionaire's remote estate, where eco-activism hides darker secrets. What are your thoughts about eco-activism? Do you engage in any related activities?

MD: We need to protect our planet and conserve what we have. I support our national parks and zoos. Recently I visited a conservation center and bought a bracelet that came with an app that lets me track an endangered red panda on the other side of the world!


Kathy: What first drew you to mysteries and thrillers?

MD: I’ve always been a big reader. My favorites growing up and as a young adult were books like Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels, the Jason Bourne series, John le Carré novels and, of course, the works of the ultimate mystery writer, Agatha Christie.


Kathy: Do you write in any other genres?

MD: Yes, my short stories can veer into sci-fi and even a bit of horror. My next novel, MALL GODDESS, is more straight-up fiction with plenty of humor mixed in. The common thread in my writing tends to be personal transformation—strong women, middle-aged or older, who decide to change who they are and go after what they really want.

Kathy: Tell us about your book. 

MD: Sixty-five-year-old home care nurse Nancy Norman takes one last night shift, which happens to be at a billionaire’s mansion. Her quiet night is interrupted when intruders break in to steal a legendary sapphire collection.

Kathy: Do you have a favorite character? If so, who and why?

MD: I should say nurse Nancy…but villains are so fun! Elvira LeSabre was a blast to write. She’s evil, a badass, a boss, and has her own talents, flaws, dreams, and vulnerabilities. And then there’s GHOST, the mansion’s computerized home operating system, who began as a minor character and ultimately became part of the emotional heart of the story.

Kathy: Did you have a specific inspiration for your book?

MD: I come from a family of nurses, so that no-nonsense, capable, and caring type of personality inspired main character nurse Nancy. And I’m originally from Minnesota, hence the setting in the remote Northwoods. And my mischievous Persian cat Cosmo (RIP, bless his heart) inspired the cat character, Dr. GoldenPaw.

Kathy: What made you decide to publish your work?

MD: I’d been publishing short stories and taking creative writing classes for a while, and I kept going back to this plot, setting, and characters, over and over. Coming up with the winter wonderland Geyser House, on the shores of Lake Superior, was especially fun. I guess I didn’t want to leave, and the novel, bit by bit, came to life!

Kathy: If you could have a dinner party and invite 4 authors, living or dead, in any genre, who would you invite?

MD: Octavia E. Butler, because PARABLE OF THE SOWER is one of my all-time favorite novels. Ken Follett, to learn about his amazing storytelling ability. Agatha Christie – of course I would want to invite the most bestselling novelist of all time. And finally, William Shakespeare. I was an English literature major in college. I’ve got to invite him!

Kathy: What are you currently reading?

MD: THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans and THE DEMON OF UNREST by Erik Larson.

Kathy: Will you share any of your hobbies or interests with us?

MD: I’m a huge fan of farmers markets, cooking, and going to the movies.

Kathy: Name 4 items you always have in your fridge or pantry.

MD: Coffee, half ‘n half, oolong tea and dark chocolate. I’m possibly a caffeine addict, what can I say ;-)

Kathy: Do you have plans for future books?

MD: Yes. MALL GODDESS, a novel about the custodian of a ghost mall, comes out this August. And hopefully there will be a sequel to Night Nurse someday.

Kathy: What's your favorite thing about being an author?

MD: Easiest question of all—meeting readers! Thank you for reading!

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Author Links:
 
Websitehttps://marileedahlman.com
 
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Blurb:

Nancy Norman's world collapses when a fire destroys everything she owns. The glamour-obsessed home care nurse faces an impossible choice: retire with nothing-or take one last night shift that could change everything. She takes the job.

Her assignment leads her to an eccentric billionaire's remote estate, where eco-activism hides darker secrets. But her quiet shift erupts into chaos when thieves storm the mansion, hunting for a legendary sapphire collection. Suddenly, Nancy is fighting for her life against trained criminals, high-tech traps, and the mansion's bizarre defenses.

Caught between loyalty and desperation, Nancy discovers an unexpected talent for deception. As she matches wits with the charming mastermind Stephen Sinclair, she realizes the biggest heist of the night might be her own transformation. In a house where nothing is what it seems, Nancy must decide who she is-and what she's willing to steal to survive. This glittering thriller delivers a night of crime, betrayal, and self-discovery where the real treasure might be finding yourself.

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading The Night Nurse and the Jewel Thief by Marilee Dahlman. This book will be released April 16, 2026.

Nancy Norman's life changed the night of the fire. Certainly she faced some changes prior to that, like when her husband left her, but nothing compared to what transpired after the fire. After forty years as a nurse Nancy was ready to retire, but after losing her home in the fire the offer of a one night job at triple the rate was too good to pass up. But things get strange quickly. First she keeps getting alerts from the SeniorLOVE app that Sinclair, the man she swiped right, was nearby. Then after weird messages from her car nav when she arrived at the mansion of billionaire Gnut Berdqvist the temperature had dropped and there was snow and ice; not uncommon in Minnesota, but certainly not in the middle of summer, Minnesota or not! Nancy is soon faced with the snobby Claude who hired her and, more disconcerting, GHOST, the mansion's artificial intelligence operating system. With her beloved cat Dr. GoldenPaw by her side Nancy will attempt to follow the odd rules and care for her patient, but who knows what will happen next.

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Die to Your Own Tune - A Review & Giveaway

Review


DIE TO YOUR OWN TUNE by Rebecca McKinnon
The Third Octavia Fields Mystery

It's another musical season at Aerie Pines and while Octavia Fields has arrived later than usual her staff and best friend should know that time is flexible for her. Yet Mairi and Xavier seemed perturbed, Piper seemed miffed, and all three seem to be hiding something! Only Detective Price seems honestly happy to see her. Octavia is in for an unpleasant surprise when violist Tamsin Reed enters her store. A nemesis from her youth, Tamsin hasn't mellowed with age casting aspersions upon Octavia before Octavia throws her out of her shop. Tamsin isn't the only bad penny to show up as Octavia's ex-boyfriend is conducting and he fully believes that Octavia is, not only still his girlfriend, but his fiancée! What could be worse? Maybe finding another dead body.  

I absolutely love the Octavia Fields Mystery series and was absolutely delighted by this third entry. A nasty villain who turns out to be the victim, a deluded ex, and a tramp throwing herself at Jake make for some drama! But better than the drama is the humor. Octavia's thoughts kept me laughing and I found myself smiling nonstop as I read this funny mystery that was still heartwarming. 

Octavia Fields is an unusual woman who moves to the beat of her own drum... or viola. I love that she accepts who she is and doesn't feel the need to change. What's even better is that Jake not only understands this, but supports her! I was almost as surprised as Octavia when he suggested she help in the investigation and was pleased that she recognized the importance of that acceptance as well as her own limitations. I love their relationship and look forward to watching it grow. I also like how she's finally standing up for herself to her employees-they should be lucky they still have jobs, not only with their attitude, but the fact that financially the shop is still struggling.

With delightful characters, lots of laughs, and an intriguing mystery DIE TO YOUR OWN TUNE is a pitch perfect mystery. 

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 Die to Your Own Tune (Octavia Fields Mysteries) by Rebecca McKinnon

About Die to Your Own Tune

Die to Your Own Tune (Octavia Fields Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series
Setting - Rocky Mountains
Independently Published
Publication Date: ‎ April 23, 2026
After months of giving into her wanderlust, free-spirited violist Octavia Fields is ready to get back to her Aerie Pines music shop. But she hasn't even had a chance to unpack before running into her teenage nemesis, who's there to solo with the Aerie Peaks Symphony. Things get even more interesting when Octavia learns the conductor is none other than her ex-boyfriend, who seems to think they’re engaged. After finding her nemesis dead, Octavia jumps barefoot-first into another investigation. But Detective Dreamy isn't about to let her investigate alone — he knows her knack for attracting trouble. And he wants to keep an eye on the ex who’s twisted being separated for a year into an engagement. When Octavia’s asked to step in as the new soloist, she has to balance investigating with rehearsals. And what should be an honor puts Octavia directly in the spotlight — and possibly the killer's crosshairs. With tension mounting both on stage and off, Octavia realizes someone might be tuning up for an encore performance. She needs to unmask the killer before the final curtain falls and Octavia takes the deadliest bow of all!

About Rebecca McKinnon

Rebecca McKinnon enjoys playing with her imaginary friends and introducing them to others through her writing. She dreams of living in the middle of nowhere, but has been unable to find an acceptable location that wouldn’t require crossing an ocean.

Author Links:  

Website https://rebeccamckinnon.com/  

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rebeccamckinnon_author/?hl=en  

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebecca-McKinnon/956145304405426?ref=hl  

GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4993788.Rebecca_McKinnon  

BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rebecca-mckinnon  

Purchase Link - Amazon