Agatha Christie, the 'Duchess of Death', produced over seventy novels, with volumes of detective fiction, short stories, poetry, and suspense drama. At the height of her career she published two or three books a year; they have been sold and translated in more than a hundred countries. Her work is identified with meticulously constructed plots and ingenious misdirection.
UNESCO reported in August 1961 that she was the world's best-selling author writing in English.
Her famous sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, hide their amazing ability beneath an unimpressive exterior.
Milestones
15 September 1890 Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller (later AC) was born at her family's home,
Ashfield, in
Torquay.
1926 AC published
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a detective novel which pioneered the device whereby the narrator turns out to be the murderer.
25 November 1952 AC's play
The Mousetrap opened at the
Ambassadors Theatre in
London: adapted from the title story in her
Three Blind Mice, and Other Stories, 1948. It was still playing in 2010, as the longest-running show in the world.
