Finally the Queen Mother of crime fiction herself returns, this time via France and in large-format, comic-book form. Agatha Christie’s Murder in Mesopotamia, adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Chandre (Harper, £9.99), is based on the classic Poirot murder mystery set around an archaeological dig in what is now Iraq. Ordeal by Innocence, adapted and illustrated by Chandre (Harper, £9.99), deals with the fallout when a convicted murderer dies in prison — and is then revealed to have been innocent: the killer is still at large in his family. The format that works so well for Tintin and Asterix doesn’t work so well here, partly because of the drab and unappealing way the books are packaged, but more because the stories themselves aren’t suited to a medium that thrives on the visually dramatic.
Andrew Taylor’s latest novel is Bleeding Heart Square (Michael Joseph).
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.