Agatha Christie - the best-selling author of all time

Agatha Christie - the best-selling author of all time

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay in the southwest of England. She was the youngest of three siblings. She was educated at home, and considering that as a child she had a very vivid imagination and enjoyed creating characters, her mother constantly encouraged her to write.

When the writer was five or six years old, the family, due to a difficult financial situation, was forced to rent a house in Torquay and move to a more affordable France. They spent their time there in Paris, Brittany and Pyrenees hotels, which seems to have greatly influenced the young Agatha. 

"The two winters and one summer I spent in Paris were some of the happiest days of my life. Wonderful things were happening all the time."                                                                                  Agatha Christie

She received a formal musical education in France and also developed an interest in fashion. However, French society disappointed her so she enjoyed going to the opera, trips to Versailles, Fontainebleau and other historical places much more.

She went on her first trip outside of Europe with her mother. They went to Cairo, where the young Agatha Christie was introduced to the "high society" there. She went to dances, socialized and had fun, and what she was not so interested in at that moment were the sights of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

She later stated: "Luxor, Karnak and the beauty of Egypt had a wonderful effect on me about 20 years later. The experience would have been spoiled if I had seen them with ungrateful eyes."

Agatha Christie married a colonel and royal pilot in 1914. Archibald Christie. They had one daughter. 

In December 1926, she disappeared for 11 days, which caused panic in the media. As she stated herself, the reason for her disappearance was amnesia caused by a nervous breakdown due to her mother's death and her husband's infidelity.

She married a second time in 1930 to a British archaeologist 14 years younger than her.

"An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets, the more interested he is in her."                                                          Agatha Christie 

During the First World War, the "Queen of Crime Stories" worked as a nurse in a hospital and then in a pharmacy. This had a significant impact on her literary works considering that many of the murders in Agatha's novels were committed with poison.

Writing style

Photo: Agatha Christie's writing style, source: Antikvarijat Biblos

Agatha Christie started the plot of her novels with a murder. She had a knack for creating memorable, multi-layered characters, and the plots usually focused on the process of finding the villain. Most often, in the end, the culprit is the person who is least suspected.

She said that she came up with the plot just before writing the book, since the ideas came to her in everyday situations, for example, while walking or visiting a hat shop.

She published her first book entitled "Mysterious Event in Styles" in 1920. The story focuses on the murder of a rich heiress, and in that novel Agatha Christie introduced readers to her most famous character - the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. She wrote more than 80 novels and plays that have sold more than a billion copies. the great writer's story has been adapted into films.

"The secret of success is just to get started."                                                      Agatha Christie's literary works src="https://www.antikvarijat-biblos.hr/media/img/blog/qmcS05kVm_image_6487327(2).JPG">

Photo: books by Agatha Christie, source: Antikvarijat Biblos

Murder in The Orient Express

Probably Agatha Christie's most famous novel with the main character Hercule Poirot. A Belgian detective is on a legendary train on a three-day journey from Istanbul to Paris. 

During the night, a snowstorm stopped the train in a deserted place somewhere between Vinkovci and Slavonski Brod. The silence was interrupted by a loud howl. For one person, the trip ended in the worst possible way, namely, she was stabbed to death in her locked compartment. In the morning, Hercule Poirot goes in search of the culprit.

Death on the Nile

It is about one of Agatha Christie's best novels. Young, beautiful and elegant Linnet Ridgeway shot is during an exotic Nile cruise. She was a girl who had everything, until she lost her life. 

By chance, the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is also on board. The backbone of the story is the love triangle between Linnet, Simon Doyle and Jacqueline De Bellefort.

Alongside them, Poirot meets other members of high society who, despite their wealth and position, have dark secrets of their own. catch 

Agatha Christie's crime novel starring the famous detective Poirot. A few weeks after marrying the attractive widow Rosaleen Underhay, Gordon Cloade is killed in a bomb explosion in London. 

The young woman, a double widow, became the sole heir to his family's vast fortune.

Soon after, Hercule Poirot is visited by the dead man's sister-in-law, who claims she was warned by "spirits" that the first husband of Mrs. Underhay is still alive.

The Sad Cypress

The novel was the first of the detective Poirot series whose action takes place at least partially in the courtroom. Along with the Belgian detective, lawyers and witnesses also participate in solving the crime.

In this crime story by Agatha Christie Poirot tries to save the life of a young woman who is accused of a double murder.

Elinor Carlisle is sentenced to death for poisoning her aunt. However, Hercule cannot shake the feeling that something is wrong. Despite the evidence against her, it is possible that one tiny clue will prove her innocence. Is there a better person for that than Poirot?

A cat among pigeons

It is the beginning of the school year at an exclusive school for girls. Apparently, everything is normal, like in any other school in the world. Until the murder happens! 

One evening, two female teachers see a mysterious light in the sports pavilion. During this time, the rest of the school sleeps. They come across the body of a woman - stabbed in the heart at close range.

They line up strangely nor events, international intrigues, and all the people involved - students, teachers and school staff may not be who they appear to be.

Prepared by: Marijana Matijević