In 1926 Agatha Christie disappeared in real life for eleven days. She appeared in a north Yorkshire hotel with no knowledge of what happened to her. She was under pressure at the time as her marriage was falling apart.

This television film speculates that Christie pretended to be a lawyer called Mary Westmacott who assembled some suspects for the death of Florence Nightingale Shore six years earlier. She was a nurse like her famous grandmother and found bludgeoned in a train compartment.

Christie is persuaded by Florence's lover, Mabel Rogers also a nurse to investigate the death.

The film is really Agatha Christie, crime investigator as she goes about questioning the suspects. When a suspect dies Inspector Dicks appears on the scene. He has a very direct and frank approach which Christie finds initially off putting.

It is an enjoyable mystery, rather low budget and nothing to do with any realistic cause of Christie's disappearance which has been explored in other movies. There are even some discussions about Agatha Christie's writings such as the obvious suspect but I felt it should had been done in a more playful manner.

Following up on the comment that the movie made Florence Nightengale a lesbian. No, they did not. The Florence in this movie was Florence Nightengale's Goddaughter and her namesake, not the famous owl toting nurse.

In 1926 the authoress Agatha Christie famously disappeared for eleven days then reappeared claiming no knowledge of what happened; this story imagines what might have happened. Agatha is suffering writer's block and her husband is seeking a divorce; then she is approached to solve a real murder. Initially unenthusiastic she later agrees and starts investigating. Pretending to be a lawyer named Mary Westmacott she assembles the suspects, with the lure of a large inheritance and starts questioning them. She quickly realises that real mysteries and works of fiction are quite different.

I confess I was a little unsure about the premise of putting a real person in an obviously fictional situation... but surprisingly it really works if you can suspend your disbelief somewhat. The story nicely combines known facts about her life at the time with an interesting fiction. The mystery she investigates has the feel of one of her stories, perhaps somewhat helped by the way the time period is captured. There are a good number of suspects, each with their own motives, as well as one or two red herrings. The cast are really good; most notably Ruth Bradley as Agatha Christie, Pippa Haywood, as the woman who brought the mystery to her and Tim McInnerny as one of the suspects. As stated before it is necessary to suspends one's disbelief at times; noticeably towards the end when a local policeman recognises our protagonist but does tell the authorities despite it being made clear that there is a nationwide manhunt for her. Overall though this was a fine murder mystery that could easily have come from the pen of the great women herself.