Queen of Mystery

Born on September 15, 1890, in Torquay, England Agatha Christie is still a best-selling author. The youngest of three siblings, she was educated at home by her mother, who encouraged her daughter to write. As a child, Christie enjoyed fantasy play and creating characters and when she was 16, moved to Paris to study vocals and piano.

When she was 24, she got married to Colonel Archibald Christie who was a pilot. She published her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, at the age of 30. 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.

When she was 36 years old, Christie released The Murder of Roger Ackroyd which was one of the author’s all-time favourites.

Christie divorced in 1928 and two years later she married an archaeology professor Max Mallowan.

She wrote more than 70 detective novels as well as short fiction. She also wrote romance novels like Unfinished Portrait (1934) and A Daughter’s a Daughter (1952) under the name Mary Westmacott.

She earned titles like the “Queen of Crime” and the “Queen of Mystery.” Christie can also be considered a queen of all publishing genres as she is one of the top-selling authors in history, with her combined works selling more than 2 billion copies worldwide.

Christie was known as a playwright as well, with works like The Hollow (1951) and Verdict (1958). Her play The Mousetrap has been performed more than 8,800 times.

Christie died on January 12, 1976.

 

Adapted from biography.com