When it came to gripping mysteries, imaginative settings and captivating characters, Agatha Christie cracked the code on what it took to write a bestselling novel. In fact to this day, Christie remains the world’s bestselling author of all time with an estimated 2 billion sales worldwide. But just who was the woman behind such characters as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple?
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on September 15, 1890, in Ashfield, Torquay. Although she grew up quite comfortably in a middle class family, Christie was the only child at home and often bored out of her mind. Despite her mother’s wishes that she not learn to read until she was 8, Agatha taught herself in secret at age 5. At a young age, inspired by the stories of Edith Nesbit and Louisa May Alcott, Christie began writing poems. By the time she was 18, Christie had begun writing short stories with the help of family friend and author Eden Philpotts. Many of these stories were later published, albeit in a heavily revised form, in the 1930s. In 1910, Christie moved to Cairo for a three-month “season” at the Gezirah Palace Hotel. It was here that she met Archie Christie, a qualified aviator, with whom she enjoyed a whirlwind romance. The pair married on Christmas Eve 1914 and remained married until 1928 raising one child, Rosalind Hicks, together.
As a longtime fan of detective novels, and partly in response to a bet from her sister that she couldn’t write a good detective story, Christie began writing her first detective novel in 1916. Her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which also featured the first appearance of now iconic sleuth Poirot was an uphill battle to publish. Finally, after a number of rejections, The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920. Following the widespread success of Poirot, Christie created Tommy and Tuppence and then Miss Marple in quick succession. In celebration of her second novel, The Secret Adversary, Christie traveled to Cape Town where she became the first British woman to surf standing up. While her professional life was on an upswing, Christie’s personal life was suffering. Her mother had recently passed and Archie was leaving her for Nancy Neele.
Distraught, Christie disappeared in late 1926 causing a nationwide stir. She was eventually found at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel registered under the name Teresa Neele – an apparent dig at her husband. Christie claimed to have no memory of what occurred during the 10 days she was missing, possibly suffering from amnesia. Interestingly, Doctor Who offered a fictional explanation as to what happened during this time in the episode “The Unicorn and the Wasp.” Once regaining her wits, Christie published The Big Four, The Mystery of The Blue Train, and her first of six Mary Westmacott novel’s Giant’s Bread. In 1928, Agatha traveled on the Orient Express and met archeologist Max Mallowan, whom she married in 1930. Throughout this happy marriage, and the inspiration she drew from the Middle East, Agatha wrote Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia, Appointment With Death, They Came to Baghdad, and the world’s longest-running play The Mousetrap.
Although Christie passed on January 12, 1976, the impact her detective novels had on the literary world continue to this day. Nearly all of her books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games, and comics, and more than 30 feature films have been based on her work. The most recent adaptation, Murder on the Orient Express, debuted in theaters on November 10, 2017. The film features Kenneth Branagh as Poirot, alongside such stars as Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Penélope Cruz, Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Olivia Colman, Derek Jacobi, and Leslie Odom Jr. Due to the success of the latest adaptation, Twentieth Century Fox has already greenlit the movie’s sequel Death on the Nile. Despite having passed over 40 years ago, Christie continues to inspire a new generation of readers, writers, and viewers to enjoy the mysteries of life.
