I HAVE ALWAYS IMAGINED THAT PARADISE WILL BE A KIND OF LIBRARY

I HAVE ALWAYS IMAGINED THAT PARADISE WILL BE A KIND OF LIBRARY

Thursday, October 6, 2016

AGATHA CHRISTIE




"Agatha Christie" (1890-1976) was born "Agatha May Clarissa Miller", in Torquay, Devon, England. 

She was the youngest of three children in a conservative, well-to-do family.

Taught at home by a governess and tutors, as a child "Agatha Christie" never attended school. She became adept at creating games to keep herself occupied at a very young age. A shy child, unable to adequately express her feelings, she first turned to music as a means of expression and, later in life, to writing.

In 1914, at the age of 24, she married Archie Christie, a World War I fighter pilot. While he was off at war, she worked as a nurse. It was while working in a hospital during the war that "Agatha Christie" first came up with the idea of writing a detective novel. 

Although it was completed in a year, but she was initially unsuccessful at getting it published. However, in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", featuring the character of "Hercule Poirot." This launched her literary career.

In 1926, Archie asked for a divorce, having fallen in love with another woman. "Agatha", already upset by the recent death of her mother, disappeared. All of England became wrapped up in the case of the now famous missing writer. She was found three weeks later in a small hotel, explaining to police that she had lost her memory. Thereafter, it was never again mentioned or elaborated upon by "Agatha Christie".

She later found happiness with her marriage in 1930 to Max Mallowan, a young archaeologist who she met on a trip to Mesopotamia.

"Agatha Christie" ultimately became the acknowledged Queen of the Golden Age. In all, she wrote over 66 novels, numerous short stories and screenplays, and a series of romantic novels using the pen name Mary Westmacott. 

Several of her works were made into successful feature films,  Her work has been translated into more than a hundred languages. In short, she is the single most popular mystery writer of all time.

In 1971 she was awarded the high honour of becoming a Dame of the British Empire.

HERCULE POIROT MYSTERY BOOKS

1) The Mysterious Affair At Styles (1920)
2) Murder On The Links (1923)
3) Poirot Investigates (1924)
4) The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
5) The Big Four (1927)
6) The Mystery Of The Blue Train (1928)
7) Peril At End House (1932)
8) Lord Edgware Dies (1933), aka: Thirteen At Dinner
9) Murder On The Orient Express (1934)
10) Murder In Three Acts (1935), aka: Three Act Tragedy
11) Death In The Air (1935), aka: Death In The Clouds. 
12) The A.B.C. Murders (1935)
13) Murder In Mesopotamia (1936)
14) Cards On The Table (1936) 
15) Dumb Witness (1937), aka: Poirot Loses A Client
16) Death On The Nile (1937)
17) Dead Man's Mirror (1937) aka: Murder In The Mews And Other Stories
18) Appointment With Death (1938)
19) Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938), aka: Murder For Christmas, aka: A Holiday For Murder
20) The Regatta Mystery And Other Stories (1939)
21) Sad Cypress (1940)
22) The Patriotic Murders (1940), aka: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, aka: An Overdose Of Death
23) Evil Under the Sun (1941)
24) Murder In Retrospect (1943), aka: Five Little Pigs
25) The Hollow (1946), aka: Murder After Hours
26) The Labours Of Hercules (1947)
27) There Is A Tide (1948), aka: Taken At The Flood
28) Witness For The Prosecution And Other Stories (1948)
29) Mousetrap And Other Stories (1950)
30) The Underdog and Other Stories (1951)
31) Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952)
32) Funerals Are Fatal (1953), aka: After The Funeral
33) Hickory Dickory Death (1955) aka: Hickory Dickory Dock
34) Dead Man's Folly (1956)
35) Cat Among The Pigeons (1959)
36) The Adventure Of The Christmas Pudding (1960)
37) Double Sin And Other Stories (1961)
38) The Clocks (1963)
39) Third Girl (1966)
40) Hallowe'en Party (1969)
41) Elephants Can Remember (1972) 
42) Hercule Poirot's Early Cases (1974)
43) Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (1975)

MISS MARPLE MYSTERY BOOKS

1) Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
2) The Tuesday Club Murders (1932), aka: The Thirteen Problems
3) The Regatta Mystery And Other Stories (1939)
4) The Body in the Library (1942)
5) The Moving Finger (1943)
6) Mousetrap & Other Stories (1950)
7) A Murder is Announced (1950)
8) Murder with Mirrors (1952), aka: They Do It With Mirrors
9) A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
10) What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (1957), aka: 4:50 from Paddington
11) The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960)
12) Double Sin & Other Stories (1961)
13) The Mirror Crack'd (1962), aka: The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side
14) A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
15) At Bertram's Hotel (1965)
16) Nemesis (1971)
17) Sleeping Murder (1976)
18) Miss Marple Final Cases (1979)
19) Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (1985)

SUPERINTENDENT BATTLE MYSTERY BOOKS

1) The Secret Of Chimneys (1925)
2) The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)
3) Cards On The Table (1936)
4) Murder Is Easy (1939), aka: Easy To Kill
5) Towards Zero (1944), aka: Come And Be Hanged

TOMMY AND TUPPENCE MYSTERY BOOKS

1) The Secret Adversary (1922)
2) Partners In Crime (The Collection Of Short Stories) (1929)
3) N or M (1941)
4) By The Pricking Of My Thumbs (1968)
5) Postern Of Fate (1973)

OTHER MYSTERY BOOKS

1) The Love Detectives
2) The Christmas Tragedy
3) The Jewel Robbery
4) The Incredible Theft
5) The Man in the Brown Suit  (1924)
6) The Mysterious Mr. Quin  (1930)
7) The Sittaford Mystery (1931), aka: The Murder at Hazelmoor
8) Why Didn’t They Ask Evans (1934), aka: Boomerang Clue 
9) Parker Pyne Investigates (1934), aka: Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective
10) The Regatta Mystery And Other Stories  (1939)
11) And Then There Were NoneTen Little Indians
12) Murder Is Easy (1939), aka: Easy to Kill
13) Sparkling Cyanide (1945), aka Remember Death
14) Death Comes as the End (1944)
15) Crooked House  (1949)
16) They Came to Baghdad (1951)
17) Destination Unknown (1954), aka: So Many Steps to Death
18) Ordeal By Innocence  (1958)
19) The Pale Horse  (1961)
20) Endless Night  (1967)
21) Passenger to Frankfurt  (1970)
22) The Golden Ball and Other Stories  (1971)
23) Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories (1997)


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