Agatha Christie
Author
of
Miss Marple Tells a Story
Agatha Christie, The
Author
• Agatha Christie was one of the most
prolific and admired mystery writers of
the twentieth century.
• She was born Agatha May Clarissa
Miller in 1890 in the southwest part of
England where many of her novels and
plays are set.
• As a child, finding it difficult to express
herself, she first turned to music. Later
in life she took up writing.
Agatha Christie, The
Author
• During World War I, Christie worked as
a nurse while her husband Archie
Christie, a fighter pilot, was off at war.
• Shortly after her 1914 marriage to
Archie, she wrote her first mystery
novel.
• It was written as a result of a bet. Her
sister Madge wagered Agatha that
writing a detective novel would be too
difficult a task.
• Although she completed it in a year, it
Agatha Christie, The
Author
• In 1926, the Christies divorced after
Archie fell in love with another woman.
• She later married Max Mallowan, an
archaeologist she met in
Mesopotamia, and had a long, stable
marriage with him.
Agatha Christie’s
Characters: Hercule
Poirot
• Her famous detective Hercule Poirot
was introduced in her first novel, The
Mysterious Affair at Styles.
• She featured Poirot in over 30 novels.
• In her diary, Christie explained that
she had always found him
insufferable.
• Hercule Poirot died in Curtain, and he
was so well loved as a character that
he received a front-page obituary in
the New York Times.
Agatha Christie’s
Characters: Jane Marple
• After marrying her second husband
Max, she created her most loveable
antagonist, Miss Jane Marple
• Miss Marple is a senior citizen in the
fictional but very British village of St.
Mary Mead.
• Miss Jane Marple appears to be
bumbling, but she solves complex
mysteries in twelve novels through her
observation and intuition.
Agatha Christie’s
Characters: Jane Marple
• Miss Marple represents the homely
style of mystery that defined the
Golden Age of British fiction of the
1920s and 1930s.
• Christie had a great fondness for Miss
Marple, who was apparently based on
Christie's grandmother.
Agatha Christie: The
Author
• At the height of her career, Christie
wrote two novels that she intended
to be published after her death.
• They were the last cases of her two
great detectives, Hercule Poirot in
Curtain and Jane Marple in Sleeping
Murder.
• When she wrote the novels, Christie
had not thought she would live so
long.
Agatha Christie: The
Author
• Following the success of the film
version of Murder on the Orient
Express in 1974, Christie authorized
the release of Curtain, in which Poirot
is killed off.
• Upon seeing the great success of
Curtain, Christie did give permission
sometime in 1975 to release Sleeping
Murder, but she died in January 1976
before the book could be released.
Agatha Christie: The
Author
• Agatha Christie died on January 12,
1976, at age 85 from natural causes,
at Winterbrook House, Cholsey. She is
buried at St. Mary's Churchyard in
Cholsey, Oxon.
• Christie's only child, Rosalind Hicks,
from her first marriage, died on
October 28, 2004, also aged 85, from
natural causes.
• Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard,
now owns the royalties to his
Agatha Christie’s
Accomplishments
•In 1971, five years before her death,
she was named Dame of the British
Empire.
• This was to honor her for writing:
66 mystery novels
21 short story collections
19 screenplays
7 romantic novels she wrote
under the name of Mary
Westmacott
2 books of poetry
2 autobiographical works
Agatha Christie’s
Accomplishments
•She wrote an average of 2 novels a
year through her working life.
• Christie has been called, by the
Guinness Book of World Records
among others, the best-selling writer
of fiction of all time.
• Her books are only outsold by The
Bible and William Shakespeare.
• An estimated one billion copies of her
novels have been sold in English, and
another billion in 103 other
Agatha Christie’s
Accomplishments
•Agatha Christie has been
acknowledged as the Queen of the
Golden Age of British Fiction.
• Her stage play The Mousetrap holds
the record for the longest run ever in
London.
• It opened at the Ambassadors
Theatre on November 25, 1952, and
as of 2006 is still running after more
than 20,000 performances.
Agatha Christie’s
Accomplishments
•In 1955, Christie was the first
recipient of the Mystery Writers of
America’s highest honor, the Grand
Master Award
• Also in 1955, her play Witness for the
Prosecution was given an Edgar
Award by the MWA, for Best Play.
• Most of her books and short stories
have been filmed, some many times
over and most have also been
adapted for television and radio.
And Then There
Were None
By Agatha Christie
And Then There Were
None
•AKA: Ten Little Indians
• Published in 1939.
• The novel soon became a best-seller,
gaining critical success along with its
popularity.
• Critics praise the novel’s intricate
plotting and innovative technique,
noting that in it, Christie adds new
twists to the mystery genre.
And Then There Were
None
• It was first published in England as
Ten Little Niggers in 1939.
• The book was renamed And Then
There Were None, from the closing
line of the nursery rhyme, for
publication in the United States
because the original title was
deemed too offensive for the
American public.
• Later, the title would be changed in
England to Ten Little Indians.
And Then There Were
None
• The novel is hailed as the best selling
crime novel of all time with over 100
million copies sold to date
• Most scholars, along with her
devoted fans, consider And Then
There Were None to be one of the
best mystery novels ever written.
And Then There Were
None
• After Christie adapted the novel for
the stage, it enjoyed successful runs
in both England and America and was
twice adapted for film.
• It has also been translated into
several different languages.
• It has even been made into a
computer game!
