The Queen of Crime Writing - Agatha Christie
by Julie Oreskovich
“Anyway (poetry) is not the most important thing in life, is it? Frankly, I'd much rather lie in a hot bath sucking boiled sweets and reading Agatha Christie, which is just exactly what I intend to do as soon as I get home.” -- Dylan Thomas
Crime, murder, the Orient Express, Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot - these are all terms synonymous with the queen of crime writing, Agatha Christie. Born on September 15, 1890, Christie grew up in Torquay, Devon, where she enjoyed a happy childhood.
Christie's works include 80 detective novels, in addition to many short stories, romances, and stage plays, including The Mousetrap, which has been running continuously at London's St. Martin's Theatre since 1952. Christie's works have been translated into many different languages and spawned hugely successful movies, including Murder on the Orient Express. She ultimately became one of the first authors to be published in paperback by Penguin Books.
A worked in a dispensary during WWI and it was there that her life-long interest in the use of poisons as a method of murder in detective fiction was born. Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles published in 1920, introduced popular detective Hercule Poirot, who went on to appear in 33 novels and 54 short stories. Miss Marple, Christie's other famous detective, didn't make an appearance until 1930, in The Tuesday Night Club, a short story originally published in a magazine. She appears in a total of 12 novels and 20 short stories.
It has been suggested that close to four billion copies of Christie's books have been sold worldwide. It should come as no surprise then that AbeBooks has an incredible selection of Agatha's work, including scarce first editions, signed copies, as well as affordable new and used copies of her best work. While an Agatha Christie collection doesn't necessarily have to break the bank, a Collins’ Crime Club first edition of Death on the Nile, published in 1937, did sell on AbeBooks for $9,836.
To learn more about Agatha Christie and her lustrous career, visit agathachristie.com. See an interesting timeline of Christie's life.
A Selection of Agatha Christie's Works
Significant Dates in Agatha Christie's Life
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| Agatha Christie (1890 -1976) |
- 1890 Born September 15th
- 1901 Death of her father, Frederick Alvah Miller
- 1906 Attends finishing school in Paris
- 1914 Marries Archibald Christie, December 24th
- 1919 Rosalind Hicks, Christie’s only child, born August 5th
- 1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles – her first published novel
- 1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
- 1928 Divorce granted from Archibald Christie
Christie visits the Middle East for the first time - 1930 The Murder at the Vicarage
Christie meets archeologist Max Mallowan at Ur in the Middle East
Christie and Max are married in Scotland, September 11th - 1933 Christie accompanies Max to Arpachiyah, where he conducts his first dig
- 1934 Murder on the Orient Express
- 1936 The ABC Murders
- 1937 Death on the Nile
- 1939 And Then There Were None
- 1942 The Body in the Library
- 1943 Agatha Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard, born
- 1947 Christie writes the radio play Three Blind Mice for Queen Mary’s birthday
- 1948 Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
- 1949 Christie accompanies Max to Nimrud
- 1950 Christie begins writing her autobiography on site at Nimrud
- 1952 The Mousetrap opens in London
- 1953 Witness for the Prosecution opens in London
- 1956 Christie honoured as a Commander of the British Empire (CBE)
- 1960 Max honoured as Commander of the British Empire (CBE)
- 1965 Christie finishes writing her autobiography
- 1968 Max is knighted for his work in archaeology
- 1971 Christie is honoured as a Dame of the British Empire (DBE)
- 1974 Christie’s last public appearance at the premiere of the Hollywood film Murder on the Orient Express
- 1976 Dame Agatha dies, January 12th
- 1977 An Autobiography is published
- 1978 Sir Max Mallowan dies, August 19th
- 2000 Christie voted Best Writer of the Century and Poirot novels and short stories named Best Series of the Century at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention
- 2005 The first PC game is published, based on And Then There Were None
- 2008 The first Agatha Christie Nintendo Wii game published
- 2009 The first Agatha Christie Nintendo DS game published
