Agatha Christie (1890–1976) was an English crime novelist, short-story writer and playwright. Her reputation rests on 66 detective novels and 15 short-story collections that have sold over two billion copies, an amount surpassed only by the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare.[1] She is also the most translated individual author in the world with her books having been translated into more than 100 languages.[2][3] Her works contain several regular characters with whom the public became familiar, including Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, Parker Pyne and Harley Quin.[4][1] Christie wrote more Poirot stories than any of the others, even though she thought the character to be "rather insufferable".[4] Following the publication of the 1975 novel Curtain, Poirot's obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times.[5][6]
She married Archibald Christie in December 1914, but the couple divorced in 1928.[4] After he was sent to the Western Front in the First World War, she worked with the Voluntary Aid Detachment and in the chemist dispensary, giving her a working background knowledge of medicines and poisons.[4] Christie's writing career began during the war, after she was challenged by her sister to write a detective story; she produced The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which was turned down by two publishers before being published in 1920.[4][7] Following the limited success of the novel, she continued to write and steadily built up a fan base. She went on to write over a hundred works, including further novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and two autobiographies. She also wrote six romantic novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.[8]
One of Christie's plays, The Mousetrap, opened in West End theatre in 1952, and ran continuously until 16 March 2020, when the stage performances had to be temporarily discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then re-opened on 17 May 2021. In 2009, the London run exceeded 25,000 performances.[9]
In September 2015, a public vote identified And Then There Were None as the public's favourite Christie novel; the book was the writer's favourite, and the one she found most difficult to write.[10]
In September 1930, Christie married the archaeologist Max Mallowan. The pair travelled frequently on archaeological expeditions, and she utilized the experiences she had while on her many adventures as a basis for some plots, including Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Murder in Mesopotamia (1936), Death on the Nile (1937) and Appointment with Death (1938). She also wrote the autobiographical travel book Come, Tell Me How You Live (1946), which described their life in Syria. Her biographer, Janet Morgan, reports that "archaeologists have celebrated ... [Christie's] contribution to Near Eastern exploration".[4] Christie died in 1976, her reputation as a crime novelist high.[11]
Initially in chronological order by UK publication date, even when the book was published first in the US or serialised in a magazine in advance of publication in book form.
Written in 1954 to raise money for a church.[18] Later reworked into Dead Man's Folly (see above).
Short fiction collections
Agatha Christie as a girl, date unknown
Many of Christie's stories first appeared in journals, newspapers and magazines.[19] This list consists of the published collections of stories, in chronological order by UK publication date, even when the book was published first in the US or serialised in a magazine in advance of publication in book form.
A total of 166 stories have been written and published in 15 collections in the US and the UK.[21] 165 stories were published in the UK, with the omission of "Three Blind Mice." The 12 original short stories that were used for The Big Four were published in the UK in 2017. 154 other stories were published in the US. Some stories were published under different names in the US collections.
Four short stories, including "The Submarine Plans," "Christmas Adventure," "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest," and "The Second Gong," were expanded into longer stories by Christie (respectively "The Incredible Theft," "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding," "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest," and "Dead Man's Mirror").
UK collections
This is a list of 166 stories sorted by the 15 UK collections in chronological order.
There are 14 US collections, excluding Poirot's Early Cases, since all of its eighteen stories appeared in earlier collections, and The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural and Midwinter Murder, which each include only one previously unavailable Christie story.
Blue plaque, at her former residence, 58 Sheffield Terrace, Kensington, London
Several of Christie's works have been adapted for stage and screen; the following is a list of only those works written by her on her own or as a member of a group.[35]
Unpublished. Written in 1931 and forgotten until the early 1980s when the script was discovered in the British Library Archive. Its existence was suppressed for 20 years at the request of Christie's daughter, but eventually came to light when it was discovered by another researcher who was unaware of the request. The play was unperformed until 2006. Based on the 1925 novel The Secret of Chimneys.
The Lie
Paignton, Devon
15 September 2018
Unpublished. Written in the 1920s and discovered by Julius Green in the Christie archive while doing research for Curtain Up.[45][46]
other UNPUBLISHED Scripts of Christie
The Conqueror
One act play
Teddy Bear
One act play
Eugenia and Eugenics
One act play
The Clutching Hand
Full-length play. Adapted from: The Exploits of Elaine, a novel by Arthur B. Reeve (1915)
The Last Seance
One act play
Ten Years
One act play
Marmalade Moon
One act play
Someone at the Window
Full-length play. Adapted from Agatha Christie's short story "The Dead Harlequin"
Miss. Perry
Full-length play
Bleak House
Full-length movie script. Adapted from the Charles Dickens novel
