Death on the Nile

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie became, and remains, the best-selling novelist of all time. She was an extraordinary woman with a remarkable mind.

Key Facts

• Wrote her first mystery novel in 1916 when she was just 26, following a bet with her sister. It was published four years later as The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
• Prolific writing career spanning five decades, with 66 crime novels, 6 non-crime novels and 150 short stories. Her work includes Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and the genre-defining And Then There Were None.
• Created Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, two of the most famous detectives of all time.
• Wrote over 25 plays, of which the most famous, The Mousetrap, is the longest running play in the world, having debuted in 1952.
• With more than 2 billion books published, she is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her works have been widely adapted and produced across most media platforms around the world, including TV, film, radio, publishing, stage, games and digital.
• Easily translatable, her books have been published in over 100 languages, making her the most translated writer of all time.
• Over 120 hours of film and television adaptations.

She spent a three month “coming out season” in Cairo which resulted in various marriage proposals, and then in 1912 she met Archie Christie, a qualified aviator who had applied to join the Royal Flying Corps. They married on Christmas Eve 1914, with Archie returning to the war in France on Boxing Day. Agatha became a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the Red Cross Hospital in Torquay, and when the hospital opened a dispensary, she accepted an offer to work there and completed the examination of the Society of Apothecaries. This sparked a lifelong interest in the use of poisons, which made a huge contribution to her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The murderer’s use of poison was so well described that Christie received an unprecedented honour for a writer of fiction – a review in the Pharmaceutical Journal.

She was spurred on to write a detective story by her elder sister Madge, who set her the challenge. As there were Belgian refugees in most parts of the English countryside, Torquay being no exception, Christie thought that a Belgian refugee, perhaps a former great Belgian policeman, would make an excellent detective for her first novel. Hercule Poirot was born.

By 1919, at the end of the war, Archie had found a job in the City and they had just enough money to rent a flat in London. Later that year Agatha gave birth to their daughter, Rosalind. This was also the year that publisher John Lane contracted Christie to produce five more books. She went on to be one of the first authors Penguin ever published in paperback, with fantastic results.

Following the war Agatha continued to write and to travel with Archie, including a Grand Tour of the Empire in 1922 during which she learned to surf in South Africa and Hawaii. Agatha and Archie divorced in 1928, and Agatha then fulfilled one of her lifelong ambitions: to travel on the Orient Express to the Middle East. This and future trips are recognised in books such as Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia, Appointment With Death and They Came to Baghdad, as well as many short stories.

During a trip to the excavations at Ur in 1930, Agatha met archaeologist Max Mallowan - the man who became her second husband, and who was fourteen years her junior. Their marriage would last forty-six years. Agatha accompanied Max on his annual archaeological expeditions for nearly 30 years. The excursions did nothing to stem the flow of her writing and her book, Come, Tell Me How you Live, published in 1946, wittily describes her early days on digs in Syria with Max.

By 1930, having written several novels and short stories, Agatha had created a new character to act as detective. Miss Jane Marple was an amalgam of several old ladies she used to meet in villages she visited as a child. When she created Miss Marple, Agatha did not expect her to become Poirot’s rival, but with The Murder at the Vicarage, Miss Marple’s first outing in a full length novel, it appeared she had produced another popular and enduring character.

In 1971 Agatha achieved one of Britain’s highest honours when she was made a Dame of the British Empire. Her last public appearance was at the opening night of the 1974 film version of Murder on the Orient Express starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. Her verdict? A good adaptation with the minor point that Poirot's moustaches weren't luxurious enough.

Agatha died peacefully on 12 January 1976. She is buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey, near Wallingford.

Agatha Christie Limited (ACL) has been managing the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world since 1955, working with the best talents in film, television, publishing, stage and on digital platforms to ensure that Christie’s work continues to reach new audiences in innovative ways and to the highest standard. The company is managed by Christie’s great grandson James Prichard.

Visit www.agathachristie.com for more information.