Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, one of my favorite authors since my teenage years, was born in England on September 15, 1890. You know her better by the name Agatha Christie. The novels, short stories, and plays written by this woman are outsold only by the Bible.
This fantastic author believed the main point of the novel was the plot; sex and violence would pull the reader’s attention away from that. At one time she was thought to be the best at creating plots in all of detective fiction.
As an encouragement to those who home school their children, Agatha didn’t attend public school. She was taught at home by her mother.
During World War I she worked as a nurse. A favorite of the patients, she quickly advanced to work in the dispensary. The experience and knowledge she gained from this work was put to use in many of her books.
She introduced delightful sleuth such as Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple. She also wrote books in which crimes were not solved by her series detectives. They each solved crimes in their own unique way.
Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduced the Belgian detective with the famous mustaches, Hercule Poirot. The book was an immediate success. Hercule Poirot solved murders using his little grey cells for 36 more books .
He lived in London and resided at 28 Whitehaven Mansions. Poirot was unmarried and taken care of by his valet, George, who had the ability of reading a person’s character. Miss Lemon, his secretary, was a perfectionist. If she made a mistake, something was definitely wrong.
Hercule Poirot, shocked when people didn’t recognize his name, had a huge ego. He believed the greatest tool to be used in solving crimes was the mind. Though not above snooping into the personal items of people, his preferred method of crime solving was to sit in a chair to reflect and use his little grey cells.
In 8 novels, Poirot is assisted by his friend, Captain Arthur Hastings. Hastings also is the narrator of these novels. He appears in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Murder on the Links, The Big Four, Peril at End House, Lord Edgware Dies, The ABC Murders, Dumb Witness, and Curtain.
Ariadne Oliver, a successful novelist with unruly hair who loves apples, appears in 6 novels with Hercule Poirot. In The Pale Horse, she appears without Hercule Poirot.
Curtain, published in 1975, was written many years earlier when Christie became tired of the Belgian detective. Perhaps she had grown to dislike him as much as Ariadne Oliver disliked her Finnish detective, Sven Hjerson.
Hercule Poirot has been portrayed in film by Tony Randall, Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, and Alfred Molina. David Suchet, the English actor who currently plays the part, is said to be the most faithful to the character of Poirot.
Even if Dame Agatha Christie grew to dislike her Belgian detective, the rest of the world loved him. When the character of Hercule Poirot died, he received front page coverage by the New York Times. He was the first fictional character to receive such an honor.
You can purchase The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, my favorite Hercule Poirot novel, from Amazon. The first and last novels he appears in, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Curtain, are also available through Amazon for your enjoyment.
The murder of Roger Ackroyd
Curtain and the Mysterious Affair at Styles
