Agatha Christie
The Queen of Mystery

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay in England. Her father was called Frederick Miller so she was born as Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was educated at home and studied singing and piaon in Paris. In 1914 she married Archibald Christie, but then World War I had broken out. Agatha worked as a nurse in a Red Cross hospital in Torquay at that time and that experience was useful later on.

Her first pook was published in 1920, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. There, readers met Hercule Poirot, the eccentric Belgian detective with the funny-looking moustache. But Agatha's books first attracted attention in 1926 when she publised The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (which, by the way has, besides being published in a newspaper in 1938 in Icelandic, has been published as a book three times here in Icleand, 1945, 1971 and 1984).

Agatha made news herself when she disappeared for a few days after her husband wanted a divorce. She was soon found to be staying in a hotel under an alias. Her disappearance is still a mystery! She and Archibald divorced in 1928 (he died in 1962). When she was around 40 years old she went on a holiday and visited Iraq where she met young archaeologist Max Mallowan, who was 14 years younger. They married in 1930 and Agatha Christie became Agatha Christie Mallowan. During World War II Agatha worked in the dispensary of University College Hospital in London. She often assisted her husband on excavations, e.g. in Iraq and Syria.

Agatha Christie wrote nearly seventy novels in her career and more than a hundred short stories. Her most famous characters are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and the latter one was her personal favorite. She also wrote a few books about Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, and in some books there was no particular main character, e.g. in Ten Little Niggers. Agatha Christie also wrote six romantic novels under the name Mary Westmacott. Agatha's plays have also made her famous and her best known play, The Mousetrap, is most likely the best known mystery play in the world.

Agatha was the president of the Detection Club. She became Dame Agatha in 1971.

Agatha Christie died 12 January 1976, and two years later Max Mallowan died.

© Written by Ragnar Jünasson, 1997

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