Many people know Christie as the queen of mystery and that is no exaggeration. She has written over 60 novels and 14 short stories in her long career. She has also been listed as the best-selling mystery author of all time by Guinness World Records with over two billion copies sold.
Agatha Christie’s Writing Career
Her writing career started off slow after getting rejected six consecutive times. Her luck turned around in 1920 when her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles featuring detective Hercule Poirot was published.
Christie enlisted in both World Wars and served in hospital dispensaries where she learned about poisons which have been featured in her books often. Her second marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 led to her learning new stuff that was also included in her books.
Agatha Christie is the most translated individual author according to UNESCO. Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the highest selling novels of all time with over a 100 million copies sold. It is not only her books that set impressive records as Christie stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run.
Agatha Christie Disappears for 11 Days
Besides her mystery books, Christie is also famous for disappearing for 11 days in 1926 due to her marriage. It is rumored that Christie disappeared one after her then husband Archie went away for a weekend with his friends and mistress. That same night, Christie left her daughter with her maid and left the house.
She was missing for 11 days and she made headlines during her disappearance. Christie was found at the Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire going by the name of Theresa Neale. The police presented Christie with a newspaper of her disappearance and when her husband approached her, she didn’t recognize him. The couple would divorce shortly after.
Some people speculate that Christie had a mental breakdown from her husband’s affair while other believe she did it for the media coverage as she was still a small-time writer albeit a successful one. In her 1977 autobiography that was published posthumously, Christie never mentions the disappearance and it was never solved as to what actually happened.
Unlike Christie’s books, some real life mysteries go unsolved. The event has become something that is always mentioned because it sounds like it belongs in a book. Christie being found unharmed was great and that is good enough.
Conclusion
Her impact on the mystery genre is immeasurable and how can it be when she is only outsold by the bible? Reading her books gives you a few hours of escape as you play detective and ultimately fail because Christie has one too many tricks up her sleeve. The good news is that there’s over 60 books try and hopefully you’ll get one prediction right!
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