Fifty years after her death, Agatha Christie is still outselling almost every other crime writer. And the mystery of her enduring appeal is one her great-grandson, James Prichard, is happy to help solve. In an interview with Sneha Bhura, Prichard, who was at the opening night of Jaipur Literature Festival, London, to unpack the life and legacy of his great-grandmother, speaks about Christie’s global footprint and why AI can never truly replicate her genius.1. You’re CEO of Agatha Christie Limited (ACL). When did you first realise the scale of her cultural influence, and how do you view your role as custodian of that legacy today?My strongest personal memory of her is actually the day she died. I was five or six, and I remember coming home from school, and she was the lead story on the six o’clock news. That was probably the moment I realised she was something a little special. When I took over from my father (in 2016), I jokingly — but essentially seriously — said, “You’ve run it for 40 years without messing it up, and now I’ve got to be the one who does it.” It’s an extraordinary business. The fact that her reputation continues to grow rather than diminish over 100 years after my great-grandmother started writing and almost exactly 50 years since she passed away says everything. We believe around 1 billion copies have been sold in English, and 1 billion in other languages, and we still sell roughly 4 million books a year.2. How has Christie’s popularity evolved in the digital age?The biggest thing during my tenure — which had nothing to do with me — was Kenneth Branagh’s film ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (2017). It allowed people within the industry to see that Christie could be done on a massive scale. The biggest change in the English-language market has been the growth of audiobooks. We’ve also done dramatised audio, including productions with Audible, with Peter Dinklage as Poirot. But film and television reach a far wider audience than books ever can. One statistic that always amazes me is that in 75 years of ‘The Mousetrap’ running in London’s West End, around 10 million people have seen it. That’s a huge number, but when ‘And Then There Were None’ was broadcast on UK television about ten years ago, it attracted an overnight audience of 10 million in the UK alone. That scale has completely changed the game.3. Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of ‘The Sittaford Mystery’ as ‘Charlie Chopra & The Mystery of Solang Valley’ was your first official Indian collaboration. How did it come about?To be honest, there have been a few Indian adaptations that may have breached our rights previously. So, it was simply lovely to have someone approach us through the appropriate channels. Vishal had a real feel for the story and an extraordinary track record. Over the years, we’ve done quite a lot of local-language productions in Japan, Korea, France, etc. One of the joys of those adaptations is it allows some scope for change: putting things in the modern day, playing with them a little. I’m hopeful we will do more in India.4. There is the upcoming World of Agatha Christie exhibition with the British Library. What exhibit are you most excited about?The things that stand out to me in particular are her notebooks with material she used for planning her books. But there isn’t one knockout exhibit that is going to blow people away. What I hope is that people will leave with a much fuller sense of my great-grandmother. People often view her as if she was born old. That’s partly because that was when she became famous, but it’s probably also connected to how photography developed and perhaps to people mistaking her for Miss Marple. But she was an extraordinary woman who did some very adventurous things. She travelled all over the world as a young woman, including India. It was only recently that we became aware she had been to Delhi at all.5. The use of sensitivity readers on some of Christie’s works, including Poirot and Miss Marple novels, to remove offensive language sparked considerable debate. What’s your view?It’s a very complicated area. An interesting fact that many people don’t know is that her works have been altered in terms of language throughout time. She altered the language herself during her lifetime. We believe very strongly that my great-grandmother was an entertainer who wanted readers to enjoy her work, and over time, we have taken out words and phrases that modern readers would frankly stumble over. We will continue to change things as we see fit.6. There is an AI avatar of her that teaches a writing class. Can AI ever generate an authentically Christie-like novel?I am absolutely sure that, either now or very soon, AI will be capable of generating books — Christie-like or otherwise — that are perfectly readable. What I don’t think it will ever do is reach the heights of great artists. AI only works from what already exists. What human beings do is invent new ways of telling stories. My great-grandmother, along with other writers of her era, essentially helped invent the modern murder mystery genre. All AI can do is draw on her work and the work of others to create something derived from what already exists. That may serve a purpose for some readers, but it won’t take things to the next level like she did.7. What is so unique about her work?Put simply, my great-grandmother had a gift for creating plots that stand the test of time. One thing that often goes unnoticed is how short her books are, just around 60,000 to 70,000 words. To do what she did in that space is extraordinary. She sometimes gets criticised for characterisation. It’s not seen as deep as other people, but she could sketch a person in just a few words, and you’d completely get them. The novel ‘Endless Night’ was written when she was probably close to 80, and yet it’s narrated by a 20-year-old man. It does not feel as though it was written by an 80-year-old. Also, there simply aren’t any bad books, and to achieve that across 66 novels, 150 short stories, and however many plays, that’s an extraordinary accomplishment.