Agatha Christie

1890–1976 · English detective novelist, creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and one of the best-selling authors of all time.

Writers & Poets Early 20th Century Record-breaker

Agatha Miller was born in Torquay, England, in 1890 and was mostly educated at home. During the First World War she worked in a hospital dispensary, where she learned about poisons that later appeared in her books. She married Archibald Christie in 1914, and her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) made her famous. That same year she disappeared for several days, an episode that drew national attention. After her divorce she married the archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 and often joined his excavations in Syria and Iraq, which inspired novels such as Murder in Mesopotamia and Death on the Nile. She created the village detective Miss Marple, and her play The Mousetrap opened in London in 1952 and became the longest-running play in history. She wrote 66 detective novels and was made a Dame in 1971. She died in 1976.

Agatha Christie is also an author in the library: author page and works.

Faith: A lifelong, quietly devout member of the Church of England who attended church regularly. Source: Wikipedia

Key dates

1890 Born in Torquay
1920 The Mysterious Affair at Styles published
1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd published
1934 Murder on the Orient Express published
1952 The Mousetrap opens in London
1971 Made a Dame
1976 Dies

Fun facts

As a girl she learned to play the piano and the mandolin. (Source: Agatha Christie (Wikipedia))

Record-breaker

Firsts and records, worded as the sources give them ("first known", "at the time").

Her murder mystery The Mousetrap, performed in London's West End since 1952, is the world's longest-running play. (Source: Agatha Christie (Wikipedia))