Agatha Christie was called the best-selling fiction author of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind second
to William Shakespeare.She was born in Torquay, England as Agatha Miller on September 15, 1890.
Agatha Christie wrote80
novels and
short story collections. She also wrote over a dozen plays.Christie's first novel,
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), was also the first to feature her eccentric Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot. Surely one of the most famous fictional creations of all time, Poirot's 'grey cells' assisted him to solve the detective puzzles in 33 novels and 54 short stories. Along with
Hercule Poirot Christie created another character named
Miss Jane Marple of St. Mary Mead. Miss Marple has appeared in 12 novels, and 20 short stories, since her debut in
The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930.Her writing was influenced by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe.Most of her books and short stories have been filmed (
Murder on the Orient Express,
Death on the Nile), and most have also been adapted for television and radio.
Agatha Christie died peacefully at home on January 12, 1976 at age 85 from natural causes.