Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie (September 15, 1890 - January 12, 1976), was a British crime fiction writer.

Christie published over eighty books and other works, mainly whodunits. While her work is not considered part of the literary canon, she is a major figure in detective fiction. In particular, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is noted for its use of narrative and its twist on the established genre.

Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, 4.50 from Paddington). The BBC has produced television and radio versions of most of the Poirot and Marple stories. A later series of Poirot dramatizations starring David Suchet was made by Granada Television.

She also used the pen name Mary Westmacott for romantic novels. She was married to Sir Max Mallowan, a British archaeologist, which contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Other novels were set in Torquay, Devon, where she was born.

During World War I she worked as a pharmacist, a job that also influenced her work: many of the murders in her books are carried out with poison.

In December 1926 she disappeared for eleven days and caused quite a storm in the press. Opinions are still divided as to whether this was a publicity stunt or an emotional breakdown.

Famous characters include Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Her stage play The Mousetrap[?] holds the record for the longest run ever in London, opening in London in November 1952 and still running after 50 years and more than 20,000 performances.

Sir Richard Attenborough, who was in the original production, participated in an anniversary performance: "It lasted so long because it is a bloody good play. Agatha Christie is very, very clever indeed."

Two of her novels were written at the height of her career, but held back until after her death: they were the last cases of Poirot and Miss Marple. As she did not want these characters to continue after her own death, both died in the course of these final books.

Bibliography

• 1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles (her first book, which introduced Hercule Poirot)
• 1922 The Secret Adversary[?] (introduced Tommy and Tuppence)
• 1923 Murder on the Links[?]
• 1924 The Man in the Brown Suit[?]
• 1925 The Secret of Chimneys[?]
• 1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• 1927 The Big Four[?]
• 1928 The Mystery of the Blue Train[?]
• 1929 The Seven Dials Mystery[?]
• 1930 The murder at the Vicarage[?] (introduced Jane Marple)
• 1930 The Mysterious Mr Quin[?] (introduced Mr Harley Quin)
• 1931 The Sittaford Mystery[?]
• 1932 Peril at End House[?]
• 1933 The Hound of Baskerville[?] (twelve short mysteries)
• 1933 Lord Edgware Dies
• 1934 Murder on the Orient Express
• 1934 Parker Pyne investigates[?] (twelve short mysteries)
• 1934 The Listerdale mystery[?] (twelve short mysteries)
• 1935 Three Act Tragedy[?]
• 1935 Why didn't they ask Evans?[?]
• 1935 Death in the Clouds
• 1936 The A.B.C. Murders
• 1936 Murder in Mesopotamia[?]
• 1936 Cards on the Table
• 1937 Death on the Nile[?]
• 1937 Dumb Witness[?]
• 1938 Appointment with Death[?]
• 1939 Ten Little Niggers (also known as And Then There Were None, Ten Little Indians)
• 1939 Murder is Easy[?]
• 1939 Hercule Poirot's Christmas[?]
• 1941 Evil under the Sun[?]
• 1941 N or M?[?]
• 1941 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe[?]
• 1942 The Body in the Library[?]
• 1942 Five Little Pigs[?]
• 1942 The Moving Finger[?]
• 1944 Towards Zero[?]
• 1944 Sparkling Cyanide[?]
• 1945 Death comes as the End[?]
• 1946 The Hollow[?]
• 1947 The Labours of Hercules[?] (twelve short mysteries featuring Hercule Poirot)
• 1948 There is a Tide[?] (also known as Taken at the Flood)
• 1949 Crooked House
• 1950 A Murder is Announced[?]
• 1951 They came to Baghdad[?]
• 1952 Mrs McGinty's Dead[?]
• 1953 A Pocketful of Rye[?]
• 1953 After the Funeral[?]
• 1955 Hickory Dickory Dock[?]
• 1955 Destination Unknown[?]
• 1956 Dead Man's Folly[?]
• 1957 4.50from Paddington[?]
• 1957 Ordeal by Innocence[?]
• 1959 Cat Among the Pigeons[?]
• 1961 The Pale Horse[?] (murder by thallium)
• 1962 The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
• 1963 The Clocks[?]
• 1964 A Caribbean Mystery[?]
• 1965 At Bertram's Hotel[?]
• 1966 Third Floor Flat[?]
• 1967 Endless Night[?]
• 1968 By the Pricking of my Thumbs[?]
• 1969 Hallowe'en Party[?]
• 1970 Passenger to Frankfurt[?]
• 1971 Nemesis[?]
• 1972 Elephants Can Remember[?]
• 1973 Postern of Fate[?]
• 1974 Poirot's Early Cases[?] (eighteen short mysteries)
• 1975 Curtain[?] (Poirot's last case)
• 1976 Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple's last case)

Co-authored Works:

• 1931 The Floating Admiral[?] written together with G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers and certain other members of the Detection Club.

Works written as Mary Westmacott:

• 1930 Giant's Bread[?]
• 1934 Unfinished Portrait[?]
• 1947 The Rose and the Yew Tree[?]
• 1952 A Daughter's a Daughter[?]
• 1956 The Burden[?]

External Links

• Official Agatha Christie site (http://www.agathachristie.com/)
• Project Gutenberg edition: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=863)
• Abacci.com: e-text of The Secret Adversary (http://www.abacci.com/books/book.asp?bookID=2094)

Dame Agatha appears as one of the title characters, with Dorothy L. Sayers, in the fictional murder mystery Dorothy and Agatha by Gaylord Larsen[?].

The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley[?] contains characters based on Christie, Sayers, Carr, and Chesterton.