(From left) Emily Cunningham and Katie Reynolds of Agecroft Hall & Gardens
The clock struck 6; it was time. The guests began gathering to discuss the ghastly incident over a glass of sparkling cyanide.
Thus begins the Agatha Christie Book, Bingo and Trivia Night at Agecroft Hall & Gardens, where local sleuths and bibliophiles are invited to spend an evening immersed in the world of the iconic English mystery writer. The next quarterly gathering, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28, will focus on Christie’s 1969 novel “Hallowe’en Party,” the sinister story of a teenager found drowned in an apple-bobbing tub after bragging about having seen a murder.
“Our book and bingo nights are loosely based on a book club, but there are a couple of things different,” says Katie Reynolds, Agecroft’s tour services manager and co-founder of the event. For one, the evening includes short tours of the museum, with guides relating Agecroft’s history and highlighting items and events related to Christie and the chosen book.
And most book clubs don’t play bingo — although this month, Reynolds notes, there will also be a trivia game “to kind of switch things up,” she says. Prizes include items from the museum’s gift shop.
Agatha Christie bingo
Apart from the additions, the evening still closely resembles a book club meeting. The organizers provide a list of book-related questions for discussion, and guests are encouraged to mingle and discuss the tale. Light refreshments are provided, including Christie-inspired mocktails. “They’re fun and different,” Reynolds says. Previous concoctions have included a Corpse Reviver (lemon, orange and apple juices swirled with simple syrup) and the aforementioned Sparkling Cyanide (cranberry and grape juices mixed with lemon-lime soda), the latter named for a Christie novel.
Reynolds and Emily Cunningham, Agecroft’s business manager, created the event last November, inspired by Executive Director Anne Kenny-Urban’s lecture “Murder and the Manor House: Agatha Christie and the Changing Fortunes of the English Country House” and the realization that Christie had become popular again, thanks to recent film adaptations of “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Death on the Nile” and “A Haunting in Venice,” as well as video games featuring Christie detective Hercule Poirot.
“As a museum, we do some ’20s, ’30s and ’40s interpretations,” Reynolds explains. “I thought it would be a good idea to create a different Agatha Christie-themed event. … It made sense to do a pseudo book club.” She notes that Cunningham chooses the novel for each event; previous choices have included “Peril at End House,” “How Does Your Garden Grow?” and “Three Act Tragedy.”
Christie wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections in the five decades before her death in 1976, earning her a damehood in her home country and the moniker “Queen of Crime.” Known for startling plot twists and memorable characters, including Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, Christie is widely regarded as the bestselling novelist and No. 2 bestselling individual author of all time, surpassed only by William Shakespeare. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation, also making her the most-translated individual author.
Agecroft celebrates a century in Richmond in 2026.
Agecroft Hall is a fitting place to honor such a writer. Originally built in 16th-century England, the Tudor manor house was bought by Richmonder T.C. Williams Jr., fully dismantled and then shipped to the city in 1926 for rebuilding in the Windsor Farms neighborhood. Four decades later, the 23-acre estate was transformed into a museum.
According to Reynolds, the Agecroft team hopes to expand the museum’s association with Christie. “We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to sort of create Agatha Christie-appropriate things to go along with our selected books,” she says.
Among the ideas is a garden tour highlighting some of the poisonous plants mentioned in Christie’s works; foxglove, poppies and monkshood are already growing at Agecroft in what Reynolds calls “an Agatha Christie-appropriate” garden. It’s a nod to the writer’s pharmaceutical work during World War I — knowledge she relied on for her stories.
“We’re just trying to provide fun, easygoing events for people who enjoy Agatha Christie, and we’ve been just thrilled with the response and popularity of the events,” Reynolds says. “All so far have sold out, and we will keep doing them as long as they’re popular.”
The next Agatha Christie Book, Bingo and Trivia Night takes place from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Tickets are $15, and attendance is capped at 35. Reading the book isn’t required, but it’s a great way to absorb the theme.
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