Everyone loves a whodunit | Agatha Christie

By Rebecca Reed

Here at World of Books, we love all the authors that bring such wonderful tales to us. None more so than the brilliant crime fiction works of Agatha Christie.

She was born on the 15^th September 1890 and died on the 12^th January 1976.

With 80 crime novels and story collections, 14 plays and several other books which have sold roughly 4 billion copies, Agatha Christie has earned the title of the ‘Queen of Crime’. She has created two of the most enduring figures in crime fiction in her novels, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

During the first world war, Agatha Christie worked as a nurse, and later worked in a hospital pharmacy. This was believed to be her inspiration of her writing as many murders in her novels are carried out with poison.

In 1914 on Christmas Eve she married her first husband Archibald Christie. Together they had one daughter Rosalind Hicks. Their marriage did not last, and in 1928 they were divorced, 2 years after Agatha discovered his affair.

Everything was not lost, Agatha did remarry, in 1930 to her new husband Max Mallowan, after she joined him on an archaeological dig, however she kept her Christie name as that was recognised in her writing. They remained happily married, up until her death in 1976.

Over her career, she was given many honours. In 1956 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire, in 1957 she was named President of the Detection Club and finally in 1971 appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Her works of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple have spanned television series’ that have captured the hearts and imaginations of many viewers, and with the upcoming cinematic adaptation of The Murder on the Orient Express we are sure it will bring a new audience to the Crime Fiction genre.

Agatha Christie will always be remembered here as one of the greatest Crime Fiction writers of all time.

Did you know?

• Agatha wrote romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott.
• She spent 10 months traveling the world with her first husband Archibald Christie in 1922
• She was one of the first recorded British women to surf.
• Her writing career actually started as a bet with her sister. Her sister bet that she would be unable to write a detective novel, in which the reader would be able to correctly guess the murder. So, at the age of 26 she began work on what would be her first published novel.
• Agatha has written the longest running play in the world. The Mousetrap began running in 1952 and is still going strong to this very day. It is celebrating its 65^th year this year!

You can browse all of Agatha Christie’s work here at World of Books.