Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot

Through 33 novels: when Poirot died in print in 1975, the New York Times ran a front-page obituary.

💡 Did you know? Poirot's fussy vanity and waxed moustache made him a cult figure: Christie herself came to find him „insufferable“.

Miss Marple

The old lady solves crimes through knowledge of human nature: every evil has its likeness in the village.

💡 Did you know? Miss Marple solves her cases by recognising the evil of the wider world in the small doings of her village.

Orient Express

Poirot's solution is legendary: practically everyone did it: filmed many times.

💡 Did you know? „Murder on the Orient Express“, with its astonishing solution, is one of the most famous detective novels of all.

And Then There Were None

Staged to a counting rhyme, with around 100 million copies the best-selling mystery ever.

💡 Did you know? „And Then There Were None“, with over 100 million copies, is the best-selling crime novel in history.

best-selling novelist of all time

Only the Bible and Shakespeare are read more, according to Guinness.

💡 Did you know? Only the Bible and Shakespeare have outsold Christie's roughly two billion books: the best-selling novelist of all time.

from the hospital dispensary

Her poison descriptions were so precise that professional journals praised them and once a real case was solved with their help.

💡 Did you know? As a pharmacy assistant in the First World War, Christie learned poisons intimately: few authors dispatched their victims so knowingly.

She vanished without trace

Half of England searched: she was found in a Harrogate hotel, checked in under the name of her husband's mistress. She never explained it.

💡 Did you know? In 1926 Christie vanished for eleven days: a nationwide search ended at a hotel where she was staying under a false name; the cause remained a mystery.

The Mousetrap

The longest-running theatre production in the world: audiences are asked never to reveal the culprit.

💡 Did you know? „The Mousetrap“ has run continuously in London since 1952; the longest-running play in the world; the audience is asked not to reveal the culprit.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The device broke the unwritten rules of detective fiction and made Christie's name for good.

💡 Did you know? „The Murder of Roger Ackroyd“ broke every rule in 1926 with a narrative trick so bold that some condemned it as „unfair“: today it is seen as a milestone.

archaeologist

She accompanied his digs in the Middle East: producing 'Murder in Mesopotamia' and 'Death on the Nile'.

💡 Did you know? Her second husband was an archaeologist: Christie joined him on digs in the Middle East, the setting for novels like „Murder in Mesopotamia“.

Torquay

On the 'English Riviera': the 'Agatha Christie Mile' now leads past her life's landmarks.

💡 Did you know? Christie grew up in the fashionable seaside resort of Torquay: where she also took up surfing, then a sensation.

Queen of Crime

In 1971 the real Queen made her a Dame Commander of the British Empire.

💡 Did you know? As the „Queen of Crime“, Christie shaped the whole genre; her whodunit formula with its surprise solution is still a model today.

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie was a British crime writer whose detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple became world-famous.

💡 Did you know? With around two billion books sold, she is regarded as the best-selling novelist of all time.