Other notable Christie characters include Tuppence and Tommy Beresford, Colonel Race, Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver. Miss Marple has been featured in books like The Moving Finger (1942) and A Pocket Full of Rye (1953), and been played on screen by actresses like Angela Lansbury, Helen Hayes and Geraldine McEwan. Poirot made the most appearances in Christie's work in titles that included Ackroyd, The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) and Death in the Clouds (1935).

Poirot and Marple are Christie's most well-known detectives, with the two featured in dozens of novels and short stories. The year of her new nuptials also saw the release of Murder at the Vicarage, which became another classic and introduced readers to Miss Jane Marple, an enquiring village lady. In 1930, she married archaeology professor Max Mallowan, with whom she traveled on several expeditions, later recounting her trips in the 1946 memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live. Traumatized by the revelation, Christie disappeared only to be discovered by authorities several days later at a Harrogate hotel, registered under the name of her husband's mistress.Ĭhristie would recover, with her and Archibald divorcing in 1928. She dealt with tumult that same year, however, as her mother died and her husband revealed that he was in a relationship with another woman.

In 1926, Christie released The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a hit which was later marked as a genre classic and one of the author's all-time favorites. She published her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920 the story focused on the murder of a rich heiress and introduced readers to one of Christie's most famous characters-Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. In 1914, she wed Colonel Archibald Christie, a Royal Flying Corps pilot, and took up nursing during World War I. As a child, Christie enjoyed fantasy play and creating characters, and, when she was 16, she moved to Paris for a time to study vocals and piano. The youngest of three siblings, she was educated at home by her mother, who encouraged her daughter to write. Early Life and BackgroundĬhristie was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on September 15, 1890, in Torquay, Devon, in the southwest part of England. She sold billions of copies of her work and was also a noted playwright and romance author. Best-selling author Agatha Christie published her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920, and went on to become one of the most famous writers in history, with mysteries like Murder at the Vicarage, Partners in Crime and Sad Cypress.

Agatha Christie by Agatha Christie