Anna Lech The Queen of Crime

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Do you know an author whose books have been just a bit less popular than the Bible and the works of Shakespeare? Well, it’s the English novelistnovelistnovelist Agatha Christie!

Although the Queen of Crime, as she is called, passed awaypassed away [pass away]passed away almost half a century ago, she still remainsremains [remain]remains the best‑selling author of all time. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.

Born in an English seaside resort of Torquay in 1890, the novelist has been read by the old and young alike and the popularity of her books doesn’t seem to be decliningdeclining [decline]declining. Her books are detective novelsdetective novels [detective novel]detective novels with a mysterymysterymystery to solvesolvesolve. In each of them, there is a mysterious murdermurdermurder and a murderermurderermurderer to be discovered. The readers have a unique opportunity to run the investigationrun the investigationrun the investigation in their heads alongside the eccentric detective. They have to discover “who has done it” and this very phrase gave birth to a whole genregenregenre of novels called whodunitswhodunitwhodunits.

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Christie’s intriguing and methodic style of writing lets us follow the plotplotplot, analyse the suspectssuspect [suspects] (noun)suspects’ behaviour, dismiss the alibisdismiss the alibisdismiss the alibis and discover some unexpected secrets of the victimvictimvictim. And when we are pretty sure who committedcommitted [commit]committed the crime, the skilledskilledskilled writer confusesconfuses [confuse]confuses us with an unexpected plot twistplot twistplot twist! Here lies the secretlies the secretlies the secret of the enduringenduringenduring popularity of Christie’s novels. We all love being detectives! Speaking of detectives, the most famous detective created by Agatha Christie is Hercule Poirot, a peculiarpeculiarpeculiar gentleman from Belgium with a twisted moustache.

Christie herself talked of her whodunits as something between “a crossword puzzle and a  hunthunt (noun)hunt in which you can pursue the trailpursue the trailpursue the trail sitting comfortably at home in your armchair.” What is more, you get many hours of entertainment because there are so many mysteries to solve!

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Christie was an extremely prolificprolificprolific writer. She wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest‑running play – The Mousetrap.

Let us have a look at her life and work from a different perspective.

6 years: If you want to read an Agatha Christie novel every single month, it will take you six years.

3–4 months: This is how long on averageon averageon average Agatha Christie needed to write one book.

11 years: Agatha Christie's name appeared in print for the first time when she was just 11 years old. It was a poem about trams published in a London newspaper.

15 years: Although she was a fast and a prolific writer, it took Agatha Christie 15 years to write her autobiography. The book was published posthumouslyposthumouslyposthumously, and contains many intriguing facts about her life.

5 years: Agatha Christie taught herself to read by the age of five.

3 years: Agatha Christie spent only three years of her life working in a pharmacypharmacypharmacy during the First World War but her vast knowledgevast knowledgevast knowledge of poisonspoisons [poison]poisons is clearly visible in some of the best of her books.

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Year 2020 marked 100 years since the publication of Agatha Christie’s first novel, entitled The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Agatha’s sister Madge challenged her to write a story, and so she did. The novel is setis set [be set]is set at the beautiful Styles Court in the English countryside. UnsurprisinglyunsurprisinglyUnsurprisingly, a murder is discovered, and a Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is invited to investigate.

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Although written in the last century, Christie’s mystery novels don’t get old. On the contraryon the contraryOn the contrary, they keep up with the timeskeep up with the timeskeep up with the times and have been developed into a variety of… digital games. You can play your way through the mysteries, taking on the role of detective.

Christie’s works adapted into video games include the following titles And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Dead Man’s Folly and 4.50 From Paddington.

It looks like the Queen of Crime is truly timelesstimelesstimeless!

1 Źródło: Anna Lech, [na podstawie:] https://www.agathachristie.com/ [dostęp 22.06.2023], https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/863 [dostęp 22.06.2023], licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.