MARPLE

AND

POIROT

AND THE DETECTIVE FICTION OF

AGATHA CHRISTIE

An English writer known for her sixty-six detective novels, Dame Agatha Christie created two of the most popular fictional detectives; Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

She is the bestselling novelist of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Guinness World Records also lists her as the most translated author of all time, with 7,236 translations derived from her written works catalogue by UNESCO’s Index Translationum.

Her 1939 novel And Then There Were None has 100 million sales to date, making it the world’s bestselling mystery. Meanwhile, her stage play The Mousetrap, which opened in the West End in November 1952, holds the world record for the longest-running play with more than 27,000 performances!

“Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions.”

Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon to wealthy American Frederick Alvah Miller and his wife Clara. The youngest of three siblings, she was educated at home by her mother, who taught her all the skills a young woman was expected to need at the time.

At age five, Christie decided to teach herself to read, having been fascinated by books and words. Her father also bought her textbooks for mathematics having recognised her ability in the subject. When she was 15, she moved to a finishing school in Paris for 18 months to study vocals and piano.

In 1912, she met Colonel Archibald Christie, a Royal Flying Corps pilot, at a local dance. They married on Christmas Eve 1914 while he was home on leave from fighting in France. After the outbreak of World War I, Christie took up nursing and it was during this time that she began writing. Her early stories however were met with rejection from publishers.

Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, eventually found a publisher in 1920. She had long been a fan of detective novels, but had only decided to write one herself after her sister, Madge, bet her she couldn’t write a good one!

In 1919, Christie gave birth to her only child, Rosalind, while living in Ashfield, Torquay where she had settled into married life. In 1926, she released her sixth novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which was a great success and later marked as a genre classic, as well as being one of the author’s all-time favourites.

It was also in 1926 that her husband revealed that he was in a relationship with another woman. Traumatised by the revelation and her beloved mother’s death a few months previously, Christie disappeared, sparking a public outcry. Her car was found abandoned several miles away and the story became front-page news, a reward was offered and a nationwide search ensued. She was discovered ten days later at a Harrogate hotel, registered under the name of Mrs Neele of Capetown.

In 1928, Christie made a statement to the Daily Mail, telling them that she had fled and attempted suicide but crashed her car, hit her head and lost her memory. Her autobiography however, does not reference this.

In 1928 her divorce was complete and she left England for Baghdad on the Orient Express. During this trip, she met an archaeologist 13 years her junior, Max Mallowan, who she married in September 1930. Her husband’s work took them to many exotic locations which would influence stories such as Appointment With Death, Murder in Mesopotamia and Death on the Nile.

During the Second World War, Christie worked in the pharmacy at University College Hospital, London, where she used the knowledge of medicines and poisons she had acquired during World War I, a knowledge that she also put to good use in her post-war crime novels. She also became a grandmother in 1943 when Rosalind gave birth to a baby boy.

Post-war, Christie wrote consistently until 1973 when her health began to fail. She died peacefully aged 85 years old on 12 January 1976 and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary’s in Cholsey. She was survived by her second husband, Max.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

An English writer known for her sixty-six detective novels, Dame Agatha Christie created two of the most popular fictional detectives; Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

“Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions.”

Agatha Christie

HERCULE POIROT

Famous throughout the world, the Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot is undoubtedly Agatha Christie’s most famous creation. Once a celebrated Belgian policeman and chief of police in Brussels, Poirot retired, relocated to England and found employment as a private detective.

It’s believed that the inspiration for the nationality of the character came from Christie’s childhood observations near her Torquay home of Belgian refugees, following their displacement and relocation during the First World War.

While developing the character, Christie was heavily influenced by the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as explained in her autobiography: “I was still writing in the Sherlock Holmes tradition – eccentric detective, stooge assistant, with a Lestrade-style Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Japp”. Christie also adopted the same narrative style as the Holmes stories, in which the mysteries are narrated in the first person by the detective’s assistant, in this case Captain Hastings.

Poirot is described by Hastings as “a quaint dandified little man, hardly more than five feet four inches, with a head the exact shape of an egg and a moustache which was very stiff and military”. He also commented on “the incredible neatness of his attire’ and how ‘a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound”.

Hercule Poirot appeared in 33 novels, one play, and more than 50 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

Image of Hercule Poirot book cover alongside a cover of The STrand magazine featuring Poirot

MISS MARPLE

Jane Marple is a prim, elderly spinster and amateur detective who appeared in 12 novels and 20 short stories beginning in 1927. Her name is thought to derive from the name of a train station between Manchester and Sheffield.

Miss Marple lives in the quaint English village of St. Mary Mead. The early version of Miss Marple is a gleeful gossip and not an especially likeable woman, but she developed in later books to modernise and become a kinder, more rounded character.

Although often appearing flustered or confused, her mind is sharp, and she often leaves local police embarrassed by solving crimes they have been unable to. Behind her unassuming elderly appearance is an unexpected wisdom and intelligence which is constantly observing and evaluating.

Agatha Christie attributed the inspiration for the character to a number of sources, stating that Miss Marple was “the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my step grandmother’s Ealing cronies – old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl”.

Miss Marple’s final appearance in print was in Sleeping Murder, 1976. The story is set in the 1930s, though was written during the Second World War and stored in a bank vault for safe keeping. It was published posthumously one year after Christie’s death.

ESSENTIAL CHRISTIE

A selection of the best Agatha Christie detective fiction books.

Image: Dame Agatha Christie’s former Devon home, Greenway House.

ESSENTIAL CHRISTIE

A selection of the best Agatha Christie detective fiction books.

Image: Dame Agatha Christie’s former Devon home, Greenway House.

Image of the 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' book cover

The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920

This was Dame Agatha Christie’s first published novel. It first appeared as a weekly serial in The Times, and later, was one of the first 10 books published by Penguin Books when it began in 1935.

The story features many of the elements that became icons of the golden age of detective fiction, largely due to Christie’s influence. It is set in a large, isolated country manor, there are a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding secrets and the plot includes a number of red herrings and surprise twists.

The book launched Christie’s writing career and she and her husband would subsequently name their home in Surrey ‘Styles House’.

Image of the 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' book cover

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926

Dame Agatha Christie’s sixth book, and the third to feature Hercule Poirot as the lead detective. The novel was well-received and brought Christie to greater prominence. It is one of her best-known and most controversial novels, due to its innovative twist ending which had a significant impact on the genre. In 2013 the British Crime Writers’ Association voted it the best crime novel ever.

Like many of Christies’ books, this popular favourite has been adapted to stage, radio, film, television and even a graphic novel.

Quote by Hercule Poirot from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd reads "The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to the seeker after it."

Image of the 'Peril at End House' book cover

Peril at End House, 1932

This seventh Poirot book by Dame Agatha Christie was written at the beginning of a particularly prolific period of her life as she finally accepted that being an author was now her profession.

It uses a variety of Christie’s best-known techniques and the plot was described by The Times Literary Supplement in 1932 as quite unusually ingenious and arranged with almost mathematical neatness’, while The New York Times Book Review described it as ‘diabolically clever, with a most surprising finish’.

Image of the 'Murder on the Orient Express' book cover

Murder on the Orient Express, 1934

This is undoubtedly one of Dame Agatha Christie’s greatest and most well-known mystery novels. It is an intricate story revolving around a group of characters onboard the famous train who are cut off when a snowdrift blocks the tracks and a murder is committed onboard.

In December 1931, a flood washed away sections of track and halted Christie’s return from her husband’s archaeological dig at Mesopotamia aboard Orient Express. The result was a delay of 24 hours onboard the train. Her autobiography details the event, and describes several passengers who inspired both the plot and the characters in the novel.

In writing the story, she painstakingly noted the details of the carriages; clues such as the position of door handles would prove vital to Poirot’s investigation.

Quote by Hercule Poirot from Murder on the Orient Express reads "The impossible could noit have happened therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances."

The ABC Murders, 1936

There’s a serial killer on the loose, working his way through the alphabet. With each murder the killer is getting more confident, but leaving a trail of deliberate clues to taunt famous detective, Hercule Poirot.

This is one of the earliest examples of the ‘serial killer’ novel, and is classic Dame Agatha Christie, based on a simple premise with an ingenious plot that baffles at every turn.

In chapter three of the book Poirot describes his idea of the perfect crime, which Christie would later use for the plot of the Poirot book Cards On The Table in 1936.

Image of the 'And Then There Were None' book cover

And Then There Were None, 1939

Dame Agatha Christie described this as the most difficult of her books to write. The plot is based on a traditional American minstrel song in which the title is its last five words.

With more than 100 million copies sold, this book contributed to Christie becoming the greatest-selling novelist. It is also the world’s bestselling crime and mystery novel, consequently making it one of the bestselling books ever: Publications International puts it sixth on the list of all-time bestsellers.

Quote by Poirot describing his perfect crime reads " A very simple crime. A crime with no complication. A crime of quiet domestic life, very unimpassioned, very intimate."

Image of the 'Five Little Pigs' book cover

Five Little Pigs, 1942

First published as a novel in the U.S. under the title Murder in Retrospect, the story shows Dame Agatha Christie’s fascination with memory and time, and is considered one of her lesser-known gems.

Poirot is asked to solve the mystery of a 16-year-old murder through the testimonies of those who were present on the day. The detective must reconstruct the scene and study the words of witnesses to reveal the truth.

Like some of Christie’s other works, Five Little Pigs gets its name from a nursery rhyme, where each of the five main characters from the rhyme are perfectly reflected within the story.

A Murder is Announced, 1950

This was Dame Agatha Christie’s 50th book. It was also the fifth in her series of Miss Marple novels, which is often described as the elderly detective’s finest hour.

When the date, time and location of a murder is announced in the local paper of a small village, a crowd begins to gather, unable to resist the mysterious invitation – is it a practical joke? Is it a hoax? Without warning, the lights go out…

Notable also for its setting in post-war Britain (a factor vital to the plot), the book is without doubt another Christie crime classic.

Miss Marple quote from "A Murder is Announced" reads "Really, I have no gifts - no gofts at all - except perhaps a certain knowledge of human nature."

Endless Night, 1967

Described as her best novel from her last 20 years, this book proves that even after 45 years Dame Agatha Christie had not lost the power to confound and thrill her readers.

This stand-alone crime story features a newly-wed rich American heiress and her husband who settle into their dream house in the country, before it becomes clear that not everyone is happy for them.

Christie finished Endless Night in six weeks, as opposed to the three or four months that most of her other novels took, and despite being in her seventies while writing, she found no difficulty finding the voice of the twenty-something narrator of the book.

Image of the 'Curtain: Poirot's Last Case' book cover

Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, 1975

An old and frail Hercule Poirot returns to the scene of his first case, the country house Styles, now a guest house, to identify the killer he suspects is a fellow guest. Christie uses every trick in the book to produce an unforgettable, yet poignant, swan-song for the little Belgian detective.

The novel was written during World War II, as a gift for her daughter should she not survive the bombings, and it was kept in a safe for over 30 years. It was eventually published in October 1975, one year before Dame Agatha Christie herself died. Following its publication, Poirot received a front-page obituary in the New York Times – still the only fictional character to have received such an honour.