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- Column - The History of Mystery - |
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September 17/2000 There's Nothing Like a Dame: Agatha Christie  ByMystery Editor Nancy Mehl Few authors have achieved the status of the popular Queen of Crime - Agatha Christie. Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on September 15, 1880 at Ashfield, her family home in the seaside resort of Torquay, Devon. She was educated at home by her mother and then sent to finishing school in Paris where she showed talent as a singer and a pianist. She decided against a career in music because of her extreme shyness. As a child, she devoured detective stories and created mysteries with her sister, Madge. It was her sister’s encouragement that led her to pick up a pen and begin her writing career. In 1914 she married Archibald Christie, a young army officer. Separated during the war, Agatha volunteered as a nurse. One of her duties was to dispense medicines. It was here that she developed a thorough knowledge of pharmaceuticals and poisons, which she used in many of her stories. When Colonel Christie returned home, he entered the world of business, while Agatha stayed home with their daughter, Rosalind. In 1926, the death of her mother, and the destruction of her marriage caused a nervous breakdown and resulted in a story as mysterious and strange as any tale she’d ever written. Agatha disappeared for ten days, causing extensive coverage in the press and a nationwide manhunt. When she reappeared, she claimed to have developed amnesia. Her ten days had been spent in a Harrowgate hotel, under the name of Mrs. Neele. An odd name for her to choose, since this was the name of the woman her husband had fallen in love with. She never recanted her story about amnesia, although some suspect that she cooked up the disappearance to punish her husband and to promote her work. The Christies were divorced in 1928. Although Mr. Christie disappeared from her life, his name didn’t. She retained the name Agatha Christie throughout the rest of her career. She later married a young archeologist, Max Mallowan, and they remained together until her death in 1976. Agatha said of her marriage to Max, "An archeologist is the best husband any woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her." Agatha Christie was a prolific author, writing seventy-nine crime novels, short story collections, nineteen plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her work has been translated into forty-four foreign languages, more than the works of Shakespeare and second only to the Bible. Her books have sold over a billion copies and include characters that are as popular today as they were when she first created them. In 1920, Agatha submitted her first novel - The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which featured a small Belgian detective named Hercule Poirot. Poirot would appear in twenty-five novels. A courtroom scene written into this introduction to Poirot was so full of inaccuracies, that her publishers made her rewrite it. Through this experience, Agatha became a stickler for detail, always researching her facts before allowing her work to see publication. The last novel to feature the little detective, Curtain: Poirot's Last Case was published in 1975 according to her instructions, although it was written many years earlier. It caused quite a reaction from die-hard fans. Its surprise ending is still a hot topic among Christie fans who idolized the eccentric detective who depended so heavily on his "little gray cells." Whereas Poirot depended on his powers of observation to solve crimes, another of Christie’s most popular characters, Miss Marple, used her feminine sensitivity and empathy to solve crimes. This amazing, deceptively mild-mannered resident of St. Mary Mead, is a favorite among Christie’s creations. Jane Marple was a busybody whose frail manner hid a sharp mind and a penchant for getting to the bottom of a mystery no matter what the cost. Among the most famous of Christie’s novels are: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Murder at the Vicarage, Murder on the Orient Express, The A.B.C. Murders, Death on the Nile, The Moving Finger, Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, and The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Three of her plays, noted as brilliant works for theater, are Ten Little Indians, The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution. These are only a few of the titles that have achieved popularity not only in their original form, but have also been presented as movies and television shows. Agatha Christie was a master at creating a detailed and complex plot, with clues planted cleverly along the way. Her style is copied and studied by students of mystery all over the world. In 1971, five years before her death, Agatha became a Dame of the British Empire. This acknowledgment of her impact and the appreciation the public has for her contribution to the mystery genre is echoed around the world. Her work and her characters are still with us – and her legacy lives on through new movies and television serials that seek to share the talent and legend of the "Queen of Crime" with a new generation of devoted fans. Mystery Trivia - Last month’s Mystery Question – What famous mystery author also wrote under the name of Mary Westmacott? Answer – Agatha Christie Sources - Agatha Christie Czech Home Page – http://web.pinknet.cz/AgathaChristie/e-menu.html MysteryNet.com - http://www.mysterynet.com/timeline/ The Classic Mystery Home Page – http://members.aol.com/MG4273/classics.htm |
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