Bryony Rheam wins Agatha Christie Competition

Zimbabwean writer Bryony Rheam has won the May ‘Write Your Own Christie’ competition. The prize? Dinner in London with Agatha Christie’s grandson and with Agatha Christie's British and American publishers.

The competition involves writing a chapter of a novel in the style of Agatha Christie, following on from the chapters of previous winners. The competition is run on a monthly basis and has been going for eight months, it finishes in July. Bryony was also runner-up in the April competition.

The judges commented about her winning May entry: ‘It was a confident chapter with a terrific ending, as well as a carefully plotted solution.’

You can read the winning entry here:

http://www.agathachristie.com/write-your-own-christie/read-the-story-so-far/chapter-eight/

Several references to Agatha Christie occur in Bryony’s award-winning novel This September Sun – the character of the grandmother, Evelyn, like Bryony, being an enthusiast.

But the old-fashioned crime, the Agatha Christie whodunnit, this is a true exposition of the human psyche. She, Gran believed, understood what drove the ordinary person to murder: the old lady, the vicar, the housewife; all were capable of the greatest sin on earth. And that in the end is what is so unsettling: it’s you, it’s me. No one can say, ‘I wouldn’t do that.’ Behind the murder are jealousy, hatred, envy. Love. How many crimes are committed in its name?

This September Sun is published in Zimbabwe by 'amaBooks and by Parthian Books in the United Kingdom, and will be published in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan by Longhorn Press. It is available as an ebook in Africa through shop.mazwi.co , and elsewhere through Parthian, www.africanbookscollective.com and many other online outlets.

This September Sun is a set text for ZIMSEC 'A' level Literature in English and, in May 2013, became the best-selling book on Amazon in the United Kingdom.