What did Agatha Christie do before writing. Brief biography of Agatha Christie. Detective novels and short story collections

Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, née Miller, better known as Agatha Christie, is an English writer. He is one of the world's most famous authors of detective fiction and is one of the most published writers in the entire history of mankind (after the Bible and Shakespeare).

Occupation: novelist, playwright
Years of creativity: 1920 – 1976
Direction: fiction
Genre: detective, adventure novel, spy novel, autobiography
Debut: The Mysterious Affair in Styles

Her parents were wealthy immigrants from the United States. She was youngest daughter in the Miller family. The Miller family had two more children: Margaret Frary (1879-1950) and a son, Louis "Monty" Montan (1880-1929). Agatha received a good education at home, in particular music, and only stage fright prevented her from becoming a musician.

During the First World War, Agatha worked as a nurse in a hospital; she loved the profession and described it as “one of the most rewarding professions a person can engage in.” She also worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, which subsequently left an imprint on her work: a total of 83 crimes in her works were committed through poisoning.

For the first time, Agatha Christie married on Christmas Day in 1914 to Colonel Archibald Christie, with whom she had been in love for several years - even when he was a lieutenant. They had a daughter, Rosalind. This period was the beginning creative path Agatha Christie. In 1920, Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published. There is an assumption that the reason for Christie's contact with the detective was a dispute with older sister Madge (who had already proven herself to be a writer) that she, too, could create something worthy of publication. Only the seventh publishing house published the manuscript in a circulation of 2,000 copies. The aspiring writer received a fee of £25.

Disappearance.

In 1926, Agatha's mother died. Late that year, Agatha Christie's husband, Archibald, admitted to infidelity and asked for a divorce because he had fallen in love with fellow golfer Nancy Neal. After an argument in early December 1926, Agatha disappeared from her home, leaving a letter to her secretary in which she claimed to be heading to Yorkshire. Her disappearance caused a loud public outcry, since the writer already had fans of her work. For 11 days, nothing was known about Christie's whereabouts.

Agatha's car was found, and her fur coat was found inside. A few days later the writer herself was discovered. As it turned out, Agatha Christie registered under the name Teresa Neil at the small spa hotel Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now Old Swan Hotel). Christie offered no explanation for her disappearance, and two doctors diagnosed her with amnesia caused by a head injury. The reasons for the disappearance of Agatha Christie were analyzed by British psychologist Andrew Norman in his book The Finished Portrait, where he, in particular, argues that the hypothesis of traumatic amnesia does not stand up to criticism, since Agatha Christie's behavior indicated the opposite: she registered in a hotel under the name of her husband’s mistress, she spent time playing the piano, spa treatments, and visiting the library. However, after examining all the evidence, Norman came to the conclusion that there was a dissociative fugue caused by a severe mental disorder.

According to another version, the disappearance was deliberately planned by her to take revenge on her husband, whom the police inevitably suspected of the murder of the writer.

Archibald and Agatha Christie's marriage ended in divorce in 1928.

Second marriage and later years.

In 1930, while traveling around Iraq, at excavations in Ur, she met her future husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. He was 15 years younger than her. Agatha Christie said about her marriage that for an archaeologist a woman should be as old as possible, because then her value increases significantly. Since then, she periodically spent several months a year in Syria and Iraq on expeditions with her husband; this period of her life was reflected in the autobiographical novel “Tell How You Live.” Agatha Christie lived in this marriage for the rest of her life, until her death in 1976.

Thanks to Christie's trips to the Middle East with her husband, several of her works took place there. Other novels (such as And Then There Were None) were set in or around Torquay, Christie's birthplace. The 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express was written at the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. In room 411 of the hotel where Agatha Christie lived, she is now memorial museum. The Greenway Estate in Devon, which the couple bought in 1938, is protected by the National Trust.

Christie often stayed at the mansion Abney Hall in Cheshire, which belonged to her brother-in-law James Watts. At least two of Christie's works were set on this estate: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, a story also included in the collection of the same name, and the novel After the Funeral. “Abney became an inspiration to Agatha; hence the descriptions of such places as Stiles, Chimneys, Stonegates, and other houses, which in one degree or another represent Abney, were taken.”

In 1956, Agatha Christie was awarded the Order British Empire, and in 1971, for her achievements in the field of literature, Agatha Christie was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the holders of which also acquire the noble title “dame”, used before the name. Three years earlier, in 1968, Agatha Christie's husband, Max Mallowan, was also awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the British Empire for his achievements in the field of archaeology.

In 1958, the writer headed the English Detective Club.

Between 1971 and 1974, Christie's health began to deteriorate, but despite this she continued to write. Experts at the University of Toronto examined Christie's writing style during these years and suggested that Agatha Christie suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

In 1975, when she was completely weakened, Christie transferred all the rights to her most successful play, The Mousetrap, to her grandson, Mathew Prichard, who also inherited the rights to some of her literary works, and his name is still associated with Foundation "Agatha Christie Limited".

The last book published during Agatha’s lifetime was “The Curtain.” Christie hesitated for a long time to publish it, as if sensing that it was a requiem. According to the plot of the story, in Stiles, the setting of the first novel, Hercule Poirot dies after solving another murder. Poirot's game is over, Agatha Christie's life is over. Poirot's farewell letter to Hastings is like Agatha's farewell to her readers. " We will never again set foot on the path of crime together. But it was a wonderful life! Oh, what a wonderful life it was!»

Agatha Christie died on January 12, 1976, at home in Wallingford, Oxfordshire after a short cold, a year after her triumph last book.
Agatha Christie's autobiography, which the writer graduated in 1965, ends with the words: “ Thank you, Lord, for my good life and for all the love that has been given to me.».

Christie's only daughter, Rosalind Margaret Hicks, also lived to be 85 years old and died on October 28, 2004 in Devon.

Agatha Christie (1890 – 1976) is a famous English writer. From her pen came famous detective stories, she gave life to Poirot and Miss Marple.

Childhood

Agatha Mary Clarissa was born on September 15, 1890 into a wealthy Miller family. The girl became their youngest daughter. Like her older sister and brother, she received a decent education at home until their father died in 1901 from complications after suffering from pneumonia.

After this grim event, life on their Ashfield estate changed dramatically. Social entertainment had practically disappeared along with the numerous guests who had previously hovered around my father. The girl's mother, suddenly finding herself in a difficult financial situation, was forced to switch to a regime of strict savings. Most of all, she was afraid of losing her family nest. Now only one governess was involved in the education of children, so they did not receive particularly extensive knowledge. However, Agatha herself did not particularly strive to comprehend what did not fascinate her.

In 1906, Agatha went to study in Paris. There she became interested in music and mastered piano and vocals. If not for her natural shyness, she could well have ended up on stage. But fate decreed otherwise.

Marriage

Soon the first romance happened in Agatha’s life. With all the fervor of her youth, she fell in love with the young Lieutenant Archibald Christie. His feelings were no less ardent. However, several obstacles stood in the way of the young people. The first was the lack of money of both, because of which they could not afford to get married. The second is the war, which forced us to separate for a long time.

While her fiancé was participating in the battles, Agatha worked in a military hospital. She combined her work as a nurse with studying pharmacology. It was then that she first felt a craving for literary creativity.

1914 became a landmark year for Agatha. She got married and took the last name Christy. The young couple did not manage to stay together for long; Archie had to return to the front. Agatha went to work in the pharmacy department, so she now had a lot of free time. And she did not waste it; already in 1915, her first creation about Poirot, “The Mysterious Incident at Styles,” was published.

Not a single publishing house wanted to publish the detective novel, so Agatha threw it away and switched her attention to more important activities.

First publication

After the end of the war, life for the Christie family flowed peacefully and slowly. In 1919, the couple had a daughter, Rosalind. Due to Archie's unreasonable spending, they were constantly short of money. Therefore, one day he suddenly remembered his wife’s literary experiments.

The second attempt to publish “The Mysterious Incident” was successful. The novel was a huge success, and Agatha realized that writing was her calling and a way to ensure a comfortable existence.

Unfortunately, the idea that one could live comfortably on earnings from literary creativity occurred not only to her, but also to her husband. He began to get involved in dubious financial transactions, which consistently brought huge losses.

Divorce

In 1926, Archie told his wife that he wanted to divorce her because he had met someone else. Everything would be fine, but he chose the most “appropriate” time for this. Agatha's mother died, her brother became seriously interested in drugs, and problems began in relations with publishers.

The writer did not suffer long and publicly. She just took it and... disappeared. And ten days later she showed up. Rested and ready for new challenges.

Having filed for divorce, she boarded the Orient Express and headed to Baghdad.

New better life

The train journey, which she immortalized in her novel of the same name, gave Agatha Christie a lot of ideas for her future works. And in 1930 she met her second husband, Max Mallowan. A talented archaeologist, he participated in the excavations of the city of Ur in Iraq, which the writer visited.

That same year, the lovers went to London and got married. And Agatha published Murder at the Vicarage, the novel in which Miss Marple first appeared.

In 1939, war began again. Agatha Christie's husband went to work as a translator in Cairo, and the writer herself again combined creativity with work in the hospital.

After the final defeat of the Nazis, the Christie family lived a calm and measured life.

Achievements and awards

In 1952, audiences saw “The Mousetrap” for the first time, Agatha Christie’s famous play. From then on, until the eighties, the performance was played every day. This is a record that has gone down in history.

In 1955, several significant events happened at once. The Mallowan couple had a silver wedding. Agatha Christie received the Poe Award for her play Witness for the Prosecution. The Crime Writers Association of America introduced the title of “Grand Master of Detective Literature” and awarded it to the famous writer.

A year later, Agatha Christie was awarded the Order of the British Empire. And in 1971 she received the title of Cavalierdam, which brought her the title of nobility.

Last years

Since 1971, the writer began to feel unwell. There were rumors that she had Alzheimer's disease. However, she never stopped creating for a single day.

In 1976, a cold finally sapped the strength of the resilient Englishwoman. On January 12, Agatha Christie died in her own home. The legacy of the great writer will live forever.

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan ( known by her first husband's surname as Agatha Christie- English writer.

Born September 15, 1890 in Torquay (Devon County) in a family of wealthy American immigrants. Agatha received a good education at home, in particular music, and only stage fright prevented her from becoming a musician.

First world war Agatha Miller worked as a nurse and did it with pleasure. She also had work as a pharmaceutical pharmacist, which later helped her repeatedly “kill” her literary characters through poisoning.

Agatha married for the first time on Christmas Day in 1914 to Colonel Archibald Christie, with whom she had been in love for several years - even when he was a lieutenant. They had a daughter, Rosalind.

In 1914, Agatha Miller became Agatha Christie, marrying officer Archibald Christie. In 1920, her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published. The manuscript of an unknown writer was accepted only by the seventh publishing house, paying a very modest fee. The beginning of his creative career was very successful; the novel immediately made its author famous.

A striking and mysterious episode in the biography of A. Christie was her disappearance, which took place in December 1926. Her husband told her about his love for another woman, asked for a divorce, and after a quarrel with him about the whereabouts of the writer, who allegedly went to Yorkshire for 11 days nothing was known. The event caused considerable resonance. Then Christie was found in a modest spa hotel registered under the name of her husband’s mistress: she was diagnosed with amnesia, the cause of which was a head injury. The second version of the disappearance is connected with the desire to annoy the husband, to bring upon him the inevitable suspicion of murdering his wife.

In 1928, Agatha and Archibald divorced, but already in 1930, during a trip to Iraq, fate brought together famous writer with the man with whom she lived until the end of her days. Her companion was the outstanding archaeologist Max Mallowan.

In 1956, A. Christie became a Knight of the Order of the British Empire, II degree. In 1965, the writer completed work on her autobiography, the last phrase of which was “Thank you, Lord, for my good life and for all the love that was given to me.” For services in the field of literary activity in 1971, Agatha Christie was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In 1919, the Christie couple had a daughter, Rosalind.

In 1928, her marriage to Colonel Christie ended in divorce; in 1930, Agatha Christie married archaeologist Max Mallone.

Agatha Christie's first detective novel, The Mysterious Crime at Styles, was published in 1920. main character whose private detective, Belgian Hercule Poirot, later became the hero of numerous novels by the writer. (Poirot dies in one of Christie's last novels, The Curtain (1975)).

In 1930, a new character appeared in the novel "Murder at the Vicarage" - a lover of private investigation, the insightful Miss Marple.

Agatha Christie - "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1934), "Death on the Nile" (1937), "Ten Little Indians" (1939), and "Meeting in Baghdad" (1957), " What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw" (1957). Among her later novels, The Dark of Night (1968), The Halloween Party (1969) and The Gates of Destiny (1973) stand out.

Christie also performed successfully as a playwright - 16 of her plays were staged in London, and films were made from some of them. The plays "Witness for the Prosecution", staged in 1953 in London and in 1954-1955 in New York, and "The Mousetrap", staged in 1952 in London and withstood the largest number of performances in the entire history of the theater, enjoyed great success.

The last one took place in 1974 public speaking writers at the premiere of the film version of "Murder on the Orient Express".

Christie was awarded the Order of the British Empire, 2nd class.

In 1971, the writer was awarded the noble title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Agatha Christie is one of the symbols of Great Britain. She is one of the world's most famous crime fiction authors, and her books are the most published after the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Agatha Christie's books have been translated into more than 100 languages.

In 2005, an unknown manuscript by Agatha Christie was discovered by a specialist in the writer's work, John Curran, in the attic of her country house. After several years of painstaking work, he managed to restore the text and establish the history of the creation of the novel "The Taming of Cerberus", which was published in 2009.

Agatha Christie's grandson Matthew Pritchard discovered 27 tapes in the closet of the writer's house on the Greenway estate, on which Christie herself talks about her life and work for 13 hours.

Agatha Christie's house on the Greenway estate was open to visitors. In 2000, the estate was transferred to the management of the National Trust for the protection of cultural monuments. For eight years, only the garden, boat house and paths were open to visitors, while the house itself underwent extensive reconstruction.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

English Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, born Miller(English) Miller), better known by her first husband's surname as Agatha Christie

English writer; is one of the world's most famous authors of detective fiction

Agatha Christie

short biography

The full name of the writer, who is called the queen of detective stories, is Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan, née Miller, but she is known throughout the world as Agatha Christie, after the surname of her first husband. He is one of the most popular detective authors. Her works rank third in number of publications after the Bible and William Shakespeare, and have been translated into more than a hundred languages. During her lifetime alone, her books were published in more than 120 million copies.

Agatha Christie born on September 15, 1890 in Torquay (Devon County) in a family of wealthy American immigrants. The Miller couple provided their children with a quality home education. If young Agatha had not been afraid of the stage, she could have become a musician.

During the First World War, Agatha Miller worked as a nurse and did it with pleasure. She also had work as a pharmaceutical pharmacist, which later helped her repeatedly “kill” her literary characters through poisoning.

In 1914, Agatha Miller became Agatha Christie, marrying officer Archibald Christie. In 1920, her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published. There is a version according to which she was forced to take the path of writing detective stories by a bet with her older sister: Agatha wanted to prove that she could write a book that she would see general public. The manuscript of an unknown writer was accepted only by the seventh publishing house, paying a very modest fee. The beginning of his creative career was very successful; the novel immediately made its author famous.

A striking and mysterious episode in the biography of A. Christie was her disappearance, which took place in December 1926. Her husband told her about his love for another woman, asked for a divorce, and after a quarrel with him about the whereabouts of the writer, who allegedly went to Yorkshire for 11 days nothing was known. The event caused considerable resonance. Then Christie was found in a modest spa hotel registered under the name of her husband’s mistress: she was diagnosed with amnesia, the cause of which was a head injury. The second version of the disappearance is connected with the desire to annoy the husband, to bring upon him the inevitable suspicion of murdering his wife.

In 1928, Agatha and Archibald divorced, but already in 1930, during a trip to Iraq, fate brought the famous writer together with the man with whom she lived until the end of her days. Her companion was the outstanding archaeologist Max Mallowan.

In 1956, A. Christie became a Knight of the Order of the British Empire, II degree. In 1965, the writer completed work on her autobiography, the last phrase of which was “Thank you, Lord, for my good life and for all the love that was given to me.” For services in the field of literary activity in 1971, Agatha Christie was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

During 1971-1974. Her health deteriorated more and more, but the writer did not stop working. There is an assumption (suggested by scientists from the University of Toronto based on a study of her writing style) that Christie had Alzheimer's disease. On January 12, 1976, she died at her home in Wallingford. She was buried in the village of Cholsi.

In the literary detective genre, which was popular before her, Agatha Christie became the creator of a new direction, placing emphasis on intelligence and brilliant intuition. These qualities are fully present in the characterization of her famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, to whom she devoted entire series. Christie's creative legacy includes more than seven dozen novels, 19 collections of short stories, and more than thirty plays, the most famous of which are The Mousetrap (1954) and The Witness for the Prosecution (1954). The first one is included in the Guinness Book of Records as a work that has withstood the maximum number of theatrical productions. Many films have been made based on the works of the “Queen of Detectives”.

Biography from Wikipedia

Childhood and first marriage

Her parents were wealthy immigrants from the United States. She was the youngest daughter in the Miller family. The Miller family had two more children: Margaret Frary (1879-1950) and a son, Louis "Monty" Montan (1880-1929). Agatha received a good education at home, in particular music, and only stage fright prevented her from becoming a musician.

During the First World War, Agatha worked as a nurse in a hospital; she liked this profession and spoke of it as “ one of the most rewarding professions a person can engage in" She also worked as a pharmacist in a pharmacy, which subsequently left an imprint on her work: 83 crimes in her works were committed through poisoning.

Agatha married for the first time on Christmas Day in 1914 to Colonel Archibald Christie, with whom she had been in love for several years - even when he was a lieutenant. They had a daughter, Rosalind. This period marked the beginning of Agatha Christie's creative career. In 1920, Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published. There is an assumption that the reason for Christie’s turn to the detective was a dispute with her older sister Madge (who had already proven herself to be a writer) that she, too, could create something worthy of publication. Only the seventh publishing house published the manuscript in a circulation of 2,000 copies. The aspiring writer received a fee of £25. In 1922, together with her husband, Agatha Christie made a round-the-world sea voyage along the route Great Britain - Bay of Biscay - South Africa - Australia and New Zealand- Hawaiian Islands - Canada - USA - UK..

Disappearance

In 1926, Agatha's mother died. Late that year, Agatha Christie's husband Archibald admitted to infidelity and asked for a divorce because he had fallen in love with fellow golfer Nancy Neal. After an argument in early December 1926, Agatha disappeared from her home, leaving a letter to her secretary in which she claimed to be heading to Yorkshire. Her disappearance caused a loud public outcry, since the writer already had fans of her work. For 11 days, nothing was known about Christie's whereabouts.

Agatha's car was found, and her fur coat was found inside. A few days later the writer herself was discovered. As it turned out, Agatha Christie registered under the name Teresa Neal at the small spa hotel Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now Old Swan Hotel). Christie gave no explanation for her disappearance, and two doctors diagnosed her with amnesia caused by a head injury. The reasons for the disappearance of Agatha Christie were analyzed by British psychologist Andrew Norman in his book The Finished Portrait, where he, in particular, argues that the hypothesis of traumatic amnesia does not stand up to criticism, since Agatha Christie's behavior indicated the opposite: she registered in a hotel under the name of her husband’s beloved, she spent time playing the piano, spa treatments, and visiting the library. However, after examining all the evidence, Norman came to the conclusion that there was a dissociative fugue caused by a severe mental disorder.

Despite mutual affection at the beginning, Archibald and Agatha Christie's marriage ended in divorce in 1928.
In her novel The Unfinished Portrait, published in 1934 under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie describes events similar to her own disappearance.

Second marriage and later years

In 1930, while traveling around Iraq, at excavations in Ur, she met her future husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan. He was 15 years younger than her. Agatha Christie said about her marriage that for an archaeologist a woman should be as old as possible, because then her value increases significantly. Since then, she periodically spent several months a year in Syria and Iraq on expeditions with her husband; this period of her life was reflected in the autobiographical novel “Tell How You Live.” Agatha Christie lived in this marriage for the rest of her life, until her death in 1976.

Thanks to Christie's trips to the Middle East with her husband, several of her works took place there. Other novels (such as Ten Little Indians) were set in or around Torquay, Christie's birthplace. The 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express was written at the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. Room 411 of the hotel where Agatha Christie lived is now her memorial museum. Estate The Greenway Estate in Devon, which the couple bought in 1938, is protected by the National Trust.

Christie often stayed at the mansion Abney Hall in Cheshire, which belonged to James Watts, her sister's husband. At least two of Christie's works were set on this estate: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, a story also included in the collection of the same name, and the novel After the Funeral. “Abney became an inspiration to Agatha; hence the descriptions of such places as Stiles, Chimneys, Stonegates, and other houses, which in one degree or another represent Abney, were taken.”

In 1956, Agatha Christie was awarded the Order of the British Empire, and in 1971, Agatha Christie was awarded the title of Lady Commander(English Dame Commander) of the Order of the British Empire, the holders of which also acquire the noble title “dame”, used before the name. Three years earlier, in 1968, Agatha Christie's husband, Max Mallowan, was also awarded the title of Knight of the Order of the British Empire for his achievements in the field of archaeology.

In 1958, the writer headed the English Detective Club.

Between 1971 and 1974, Christie's health began to deteriorate, but despite this, she continued to write. Experts from the University of Toronto examined Christie's writing style during these years and suggested that Agatha Christie suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

In 1975, when she was completely weakened, Christie transferred all rights to her most successful play, The Mousetrap, to her grandson.

The writer died on January 12, 1976 at home in Wallingford, Oxfordshire after a short cold and was buried in the village of Cholsey.

Agatha Christie's autobiography, which the writer graduated in 1965, ends with the words: “ Thank you, Lord, for my good life and for all the love that has been given to me.».

Christie's only daughter, Rosalind Margaret Hicks, also lived to be 85 years old and died on October 28, 2004 in Devon. Agatha Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, inherited the rights to some of Agatha Christie's literary works, and his name is still associated with the foundation. Agatha Christie Limited».

Creation

One Indian correspondent who interviewed me (and, admittedly, asked a lot of stupid questions), asked: “Have you ever published a book that you consider to be downright bad?” I answered indignantly: “No!” No book came out exactly as intended, was my answer, and I was never satisfied, but if my book had turned out to be really bad, I would never have published it.

Agatha Christie "Autobiography"

In an interview with the British television company BBC in 1955, Agatha Christie said that she spent her evenings knitting with friends or family, while in her head she was busy thinking about a new storyline, by the time she sat down to write a novel, the plot was ready from start to finish. By her own admission, the idea for a new novel could have come anywhere. Ideas were entered into a special notebook full of various notes about poisons and newspaper articles about crimes. The same thing happened with the characters. One of the characters created by Agatha had a real-life prototype - Major Ernest Belcher, who at one time was the boss of Agatha Christie's first husband, Archibald Christie. It was he who became the prototype for Pedler in the 1924 novel “The Man in the Brown Suit” about Colonel Race.

Agatha Christie was not afraid to address social issues in her works. For example, at least two of Christie's novels (The Five Little Pigs and Ordeal by Innocence) depicted miscarriages of justice involving the death penalty. In general, many of Christie’s books describe various negative sides English justice of that time.

The writer has never made crimes of a sexual nature the theme of her novels. Unlike today's detective stories, there are practically no scenes of violence, pools of blood or rudeness in her works. “The detective story was a story with a moral. Like everyone who wrote and read these books, I was against the criminal and for the innocent victim. No one could have imagined that the time would come when detective stories would be read for the scenes of violence described in them, for the sake of obtaining sadistic pleasure from cruelty for the sake of cruelty ... "- this is what she wrote in her autobiography. In her opinion, such scenes dull the feeling of compassion and do not allow the reader to focus on main topic novel.

Agatha Christie considered her best work to be the novel “Ten Little Indians.” The rocky islet on which the novel takes place is copied from life - this is the island of Burgh in southern Britain. Readers also appreciated the book - it has the largest sales in stores, but to comply with political correctness it is now sold under the title And Then There Were None- “And there was no one.”

In her work, Agatha Christie demonstrates the conservatism of her political views, which is quite typical for the English mentality. A striking example serves as the story “The Clerk’s Story” from the series about Parker Pyne, about one of the heroes of which it is said: “He had some kind of Bolshevik complex.” A number of works - "The Big Four", "The Orient Express", "The Captivity of Cerberus" - feature immigrants from the Russian aristocracy, who enjoy the author's unfailing sympathy. In the aforementioned story, "The Clerk's Tale," Mr. Pine's client becomes involved in a group of agents who are passing secret blueprints of Britain's enemies to the League of Nations. But according to Pine’s decision, a legend is invented for the hero that he is carrying jewelry that belongs to a beautiful Russian aristocrat and saves them together with the owner from agents of Soviet Russia.

Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple

In 1920, Christie published her first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which had previously been rejected by British publishers five times. Soon she has a whole series of works in which the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot acts: 33 novels, 1 play and 54 stories.

Continuing the tradition of the English masters of the detective genre, Agatha Christie created a pair of heroes: the intellectual Hercule Poirot and the comical, diligent, but not very smart Captain Hastings. If Poirot and Hastings were largely copied from Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, then spinster Miss Marple is collectively, reminiscent of the main characters of writers M. Z. Braddon and Anna Catherine Green.

Miss Marple appeared in the 1927 short story " Evening club "Tuesday"“” (English: The Tuesday Night Club). The prototype of Miss Marple was Agatha Christie's grandmother, who, according to the writer, “was a good-natured person, but always expected the worst from everyone and everything, and with alarming regularity her expectations were justified.”

Like Arthur Conan Doyle from Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie was tired of her hero Hercule Poirot by the end of the 1930s, but unlike Conan Doyle, she did not decide to “kill” the detective while he was at the peak of his popularity. According to the writer’s grandson, Matthew Pritchard, of the characters she invented, Christie liked Miss Marple more - “an old, smart, traditional English lady.”

During the Second World War, Christie wrote two novels, The Curtain (1940) and The Sleeping Murder, with which she intended to end the series of novels about Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, respectively. However, the books were not published until the 1970s.

Other Agatha Christie detectives

Colonel Reis(eng. Colonel Race) appears in four novels by Agatha Christie. The Colonel is an agent of British intelligence, he travels around the world in search of international criminals. Reis is a member of MI5's spy department. He is a tall, well-built, tanned man.

He first appears in the novel " Man in a brown suit", a spy detective story set in South Africa. He also appears in two Hercule Poirot novels, Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile, where he assists Poirot in his investigation. IN last time he appears in the 1944 novel Sparkling Cyanide, where he investigates the murder of an old friend. In this novel, Reis has already reached old age.

Parker Pine(English Parker Pyne) - the hero of 12 stories included in the collection " Parker Pine investigates", and also partially in the collections " The Secret of the Regatta and other stories" And " Trouble in Pollensa and other stories" The Parker Pyne series is not detective fiction in the generally accepted sense. The plot is usually not based on a crime, but on the story of Pine's clients, who... various reasons unhappy with your life. It is these dissatisfaction that brings clients to Pine's agency. In this series of works, Miss Lemon first appears, who leaves her job with Pine to become a secretary to Hercule Poirot.

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford(eng. Tommy and Tuppence Beresford), full names Thomas Beresford and Prudence Cowley - young married couple amateur detectives, first appearing in the 1922 novel The Mysterious Assailant, not yet married. They begin their lives with blackmail (for money and out of interest), but soon discover that private investigation brings more money and pleasures. In 1929, Tuppence and Tomie appear in the collection of short stories "Partners in Crime", in 1941 in " N or M?", in 1968 in " Click your finger just once", and for the last time in the novel " Gate of Fate 1973, which was the last Agatha Christie novel written, although not the last published. Unlike the rest of Agatha Christie's detectives, Tommy and Tuppence age along with real world and with each subsequent novel. So, to latest novel, where they appear, they are nearly seventy.

Superintendent Battle(English: Superintendent Battle) - detective, hero of five novels. Battle is entrusted with sensitive matters related to secret societies and organizations, as well as cases affecting the interests of the state and state secrets. The Superintendent is a highly successful Scotland Yard employee; he is a cultured and intelligent policeman who rarely shows his emotions. Christie says little about him: thus, Battle’s name remains unknown. About Battle's family it is known that his wife's name is Mary, and that they have five children.

Inspector Narracott is a detective, the hero of the novel “The Riddle of Sittaford”.

Main literary heroes

• Miss Marple
• Hercule Poirot
• Captain Hastings
• Miss Lemon (Poirot's secretary)
• Chief Inspector Japp
• Ariadne Oliver
• Superintendent Battle
• Colonel Reis
• Tommy and Tuppence Beresford

Also other detectives who appeared in just one collection of detective stories:

• Parker Pine
• Harley Keene
• Mr Satterthwaite

About Agatha Christie

• Hack R. Duchess of Death. Biography of Agatha Christie / Trans. from English M. Makarova. - M.: KoLibri, Azbuka-Atticus, 2011. - 480 pp., 5000 copies.
• Tsimbaeva E. N. Agatha Christie. - M.: Young Guard, 2013. - 346, p., l. ill. - (Life wonderful people. Small series; Vol. 44). - 5000 copies.

Memory

• In 1985, the Christie crater on Venus was named in her honor.
• On November 25, 2012, to mark the 60th anniversary of the play “The Mousetrap,” a monument to Agatha Christie is planned to be opened in the theater district of London, in the very center of Covent Garden (sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies)
• In 1985, the Russian rock group Agatha Christie was named in her honor.

Computer games

A trilogy was released based on Agatha Christie's books. computer games in the quest genre, as well as casual games.