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Agatha Christie

English mystery and detective writer (1890-1976) · United Kingdom · Writers · Died at 85

Agatha Christie is read about 9,565 times a day, in 147 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 17 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 392 days, one point a day.

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She built the architecture of the modern whodunit - misdirection as precision craft, the least-likely-suspect reveal, the closed circle of guilt. Her books have sold over two billion copies, making her the best-selling novelist in history, and The Mousetrap has run in London's West End since 1952 without closing.

WritersWriter / AuthorLiteratureFictionScreenwritingStand UpPoetryTheatre

A life in dates

202650 years since their death, on 12 January.12 January 20262019Agatha and the Curse of IshtarBiopic about her life15 December 2019, British TV drama filmDirected by Sam YatesIMDb2012Agatha Christie MemorialTribute, memorial in London1997The Harlequin Tea Set and Other StoriesBook published after her death14 April 1997, 1997 short story collection by Agatha ChristieWhile the Light Lasts and Other StoriesBook published after her death, short story collection by Agatha Christie19971991Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other StoriesBook published after her death, 1991 short story collection by Agatha Christie1989Agatha AwardNamed after her, for mystery and crime writers1979Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other StoriesBook published after her death, 1979 short story collection by Agatha Christie1977Agatha Christie: An AutobiographyBook published after her deathNovember 1977, book by Agatha Christie1976Died12 January 19761971Dame Commander of the Order of the British EmpireAward1956“I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.”In their words14 May 1956LIFE magazine (14 May 1956)

Commander of the Order of the British EmpireAward1955The Grand MasterAward1937“I have given them life instead of death, freedom instead of the cords of superstition, beauty and truth instead of corruption and exploitation.”In their wordsAkhenaten, as portrayed in Akhnaton (1937); Christie later revised the play slightly in 1972, and it was published in 1973.

1920“The intense interest aroused in the public by what was known at the time as “The Styles Case” has now somewhat subsided.”In their wordsCaptain Arthur Hastings, first paragraph

“Ah!” Poirot shook his forefinger so fiercely at me that I quailed before it. “Beware! Peril to the detective who says: ‘It is so small - it does not matter. It will not agree.”In their wordsThis is the first story featuring "Hercule Poirot".

“Ah, my friend, one may live in a big house and yet have no comfort.”In their wordsThis is the first story featuring "Hercule Poirot".

“You give too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.”In their wordsThis is the first story featuring "Hercule Poirot".

1890Born15 September 1890

Also in Deutsch

Photos 12

Portrait of Christie entitled Lost in Reverie, by Douglas John Connah, 1894Portrait of Christie entitled Lost in Reverie, by Douglas John Connah, 1894Christie in the early 1900sChristie in the early 1900sChristie in the 1910sChristie in the 1910sChristie as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross, pictured outside her childhood home of Ashfield in 1915.Christie as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross, pictured outside her childhood home of Ashfield in 1915.Archie Christie, Major Belcher, their secretary Mr. Bates, and Agatha Christie in 1922Archie Christie, Major Belcher, their secretary Mr. Bates, and Agatha Christie in 1922Daily Herald, 15 December 1926, announcing that Christie had been foundDaily Herald, 15 December 1926, announcing that Christie had been foundChristie's room at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, with her photo shown on the rightChristie's room at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, with her photo shown on the right

In their own words 10

,
Agatha Christie
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. Oh dear, I never realized what a terrible lot of explaining one has to do in a murder!

    1956, Spider's Web (1956), Own words

  2. I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.

    May 14, 1956, LIFE magazine (14 May 1956), Own words

  3. I have given them life instead of death, freedom instead of the cords of superstition, beauty and truth instead of corruption and exploitation.

    1937, Akhenaten, as portrayed in Akhnaton (1937); Christie later revised the play slightly in 1972, and it was published in 1973., Own words

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Awards

Anthony Award2000
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire1971
Commander of the Order of the British Empire1956
The Grand Master1955
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

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Agatha Christie

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About this person

Born into a wealthy family in Torquay in 1890, Christie was home-schooled and faced six straight rejections before The Mysterious Affair at Styles introduced Hercule Poirot in 1920. She married Archibald Christie in 1914; after her mother's death and the collapse of that marriage in 1926, she disappeared for 11 days, making international headlines. Working in hospital dispensaries during both world wars gave her an expert's knowledge of poisons. In 1930 she married archaeologist Max Mallowan and spent months each year on digs in the Middle East, details that seeped into her fiction. She created Miss Marple in 1930 and Tommy and Tuppence in 1922, wrote six novels under the name Mary Westmacott, and in 1971 was made a Dame for her contributions to literature. And Then There Were None has sold roughly 100 million copies; UNESCO lists her as the most-translated individual author. She died in 1976, having written 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections - the gold standard and working blueprint of an entire genre.

Country
United Kingdom
Category
Writers
Type
Writer / Author
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1890 to 1976 · aged 85

In common with Agatha

Marlene DietrichAlso in Witness for the Prosecution (1957)John WilliamsAlso in Witness for the Prosecution (1957)Sean ConneryAlso in Murder on the Orient Express (1974)Charles AznavourAlso in And Then There Were None (1974)Margaret RutherfordAlso in Murder Most Foul (1964)Hayley MillsAlso in Endless Night (1972)

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