Agatha Christie
Personal Information
Description
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, in the United Kingdom, the daughter of a wealthy American stockbroker. Her father died when she was eleven years old. Her mother taught her at home, encouraging her to write at a very young age. At the age of 16, she went to Mrs. Dryden's finishing school in Paris to study singing and piano. In 1914, at age 24, she married Colonel Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. While he went away to war, she worked as a nurse and wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), which wasn't published until four years later. When her husband came back from the war, they had a daughter. In 1928 she divorced her husband, who had been having an affair. In 1930, she married Sir Max Mallowan, an archaeologist and a Catholic. She was happy in the early years of her second marriage, and did not divorce her husband despite his many affairs. She travelled with her husband's job, and set several of her novels set in the Middle East. Most of her other novels were set in a fictionalized Devon, where she was born. Agatha Christie is credited with developing the "cozy style" of mystery, which became popular in, and ultimately defined, the Golden Age of fiction in England in the 1920s and '30s, an age of which she is considered to have been Queen. In all, she wrote over 66 novels, numerous short stories and screenplays, and a series of romantic novels using the pen name Mary Westmacott. She was the single most popular mystery writer of all time. In 1971 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Books
At Bertram's Hotel
An old-fashioned London Hotel is not quite as reputable as it makes out… When Miss Marple comes up from the country for a holiday in London, she finds what she’s looking for at Bertram’s Hotel: traditional decor, impeccable service and an unmistakable atmosphere of danger behind the highly polished veneer. Yet, not even Miss Marple can foresee the violent chain of events set in motion when an eccentric guest makes his way to the airport on the wrong day…
1920s Omnibus (Man in the Brown Suit / Secret Adversary / Secret of the Chimneys / Seven Dials Mystery)
Into the Mummy's Tomb
Arthur Weigall Thc Malevolence of Ancient Egyptian Spirits Louisa May Alcott Lost in a Pyramid, or The Mummy's Curse Various Egyptologists Raiding Mummies' Tombs Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Ring of Thoth Tennessee Williams The Vengeance of Nitocris H. P. Lovecraft Under thc Pyramids Howard Carter, with A. C. Mace Opening King Tutankhamen's Tomb Agatha Christie The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb An Ancient Egyptian Priest The Demon-Possessed Princess Mark Twain The Majestic Sphinx Sir H. Rider Haggard Smith and thc Pharaohs Edgar Allan Poe Some Words with a Mummy Ray Bradbury Colonel Stonesteel's Genuine Horne-Made Truly Egyptian Mummy Rudyard Kipling Dead Kings (excerpt) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Lot No. 249 Elizabeth Peters The Locked Tomb Mystery Sax Rohmer Thc Death-Ring of Sncfcru Anne Rice The Mummy or Ramses the Damned (excerpt) Bram Stoker The Jewel of Seven Stars (abridged)
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
E-book exclusive extras:1) Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side;2) "The Marples": the complete guide to all the cases of crime literature's foremost female detective.The quaint village of St Mary Mead has been glamourized by the presence of screen queen Marina Gregg, who has taken up residence in preparation for her comeback. But when a local fan is poisoned, Marina finds herself starring in a real-life mystery—supported with scene-stealing aplomb by Jane Marple, who suspects that the lethal cocktail was intended for someone else. But who? If it was meant for Marina, then why? And before the final fade-out, who else from St Mary Mead’s cast of seemingly innocent characters is going to be eliminated?
Destination Unknown
Hilary Craven has lost the will to live, Mrs Betterton is already dead. Then Hilary is asked to impersonate the dead woman and to trace her husband - a missing nuclear scientist - and her will to live returns. A faked air disaster, a string of radio-active pearls, a leper colony floundering in the dry heat of the Moroccan desert. Hilary is lead towards a terrifying discovery and her new found enthusiasm for life turns into ice-cold fear...Christie based this book partly on the activities of two famous physicists of the early 1950s: Bruno Ponecorvo, who defected to Russia, and Emil Fuchs, who spied for the Russians. It is another of Christie's light-hearted thriller novels featuring a daring and fearless heroine.
Discoveries
Murder at the Races
The protection racket / Dick Francis -- Nobbling the favourite / Nat Gould -- A racing swindle / Thomas Gaspey -- [Silver Blaze]( / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -- Won by a neck / Leslie Charteris -- The american invasion / Frank Johnson -- A derby horse / Michael Innes -- The horse that died for shame / Peter Tremayne -- Murder on the race course / Julian Symons -- The body in the horsebox / John Francome -- Calling the tune / Steve Donoghue -- To win a race / Alfred Watson -- Dead Cert / Leon Breaker -- Nat Wedgewood trapped / Jack Fairfax-Blakeborough -- The phantom jockey / Bat Masters -- Thoroughbred / Max Brand -- My old man / Ernest Hemingway -- Saratoga in August / Hugh Pentecost -- The photographer and the jockey / James Holding -- Ellen Keegan's revenge / Mary Ryan -- Straight from the horse's mouth / Edgar Wallace -- A story goes with it / Damon Runyon -- Had a horse / John Galsworthy -- Morning in the high street / Barre Lyndon. The crackler / Agatha Christie -- Something short of murder! / Henry Slesar -- Born gambler / Thomas Walsh -- The later edition / Victor Bridges -- Two and a half per cent / Mark Daniel -- En Famille / Ed Gorman.
The Collected Short Stories
Jean Rhys was one of the twentieth century's foremost writers, a literary artist who made exquisite use of the raw material of her own often turbulent life to create fiction of memorable resonance and poignancy. Here for the first time in one volume are her complete stories.
Problem at Pollensa Bay
This collection of eight stories feature characters such as Christie's most famous detective, Hercule Poirot, Mr Parker Pyne and the mysterious Harley Quin.
Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories [8 stories]
A collection of Miss Marple mysteries, plus some bonus short stories...First, the mystery man in the church with a bullet-wound...then, the riddle of a dead man's buried treasure...the curious conduct of a caretaker after a fatal riding accident...the corpse and a tape-measure...the girl framed for theft...and the suspect accused of stabbing his wife with a dagger. Six gripping cases with one thing in common - the astonishing deductive powers of Miss Marple. Also includes two non-Marple mysteries, 'The Dressmaker's Doll' and 'In a Glass Darkly'.
Great Tales of Crime and Detection
Out the window / Lawrence Block Major crimes / Loren D. Estleman Silent warning / William J. Carroll, Jr. The third man / Graham Greene The cross of Lorraine / Isaac Asimov Nameless enemy / Miriam Allen DeFord Tragedy of a handkerchief / Michael Innes Unc foils show foe / John Jakes Dangerous widows / Mignon G. Eberhart Ride the lightning / John Lutz Till Tuesday / Jeremiah Healy The day of the losers / Dick Francis The case of the Pietro Andromache / Sara Paretsky Susu and the 8:30 ghost / Lillian Jackson Braun The investigation of things / Charles Ardai The trailor murder mystery / Abraham Lincoln The importance of trifles / Avram Davidson The double-barrelled detective story / Mark Twain The adventure of the oval window / John H. Dirckx Your appointment is cancelled / Antonia Fraser Le Chateau de L'Arsenic / Georges Simenon The nine mile walk / Harry Kemelman Crime in rhyme / Robert Bloch [The Purloined Letter]( / Edgar Allan Poe [The man with the twisted lip]( / Arthur Conan Doyle
Crime Classics
With its high stakes and uncertain outcome, the mystery tale is the most popular form of fiction in the United States. Crime Classics presents spellbinding works by such masters as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy Sayers, and Agatha Christie, as well as delightful gems from less familiar writers like Cornell Woolrich and intriguing tales by authors not usually associated with mystery writing- Flannery O'Connor, Jorge Louis Borges, and William Faulkner. Burns and Sullivan introduce the anthology by tracing the history of the genre and providing a biography of each author. Mystery stories demand superb craftsmanship and attention to detail; these enticing pieces combine fine writing, inventive plots, and challenges that readers will find irresistible. Contents: The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) by Edgar Allan Poe [Purloined Letter]( (1845) by Edgar Allan Poe [A Scandal in Bohemia]( (1891) by Arthur Conan Doyle [The Adventure of the Speckled Band]( (1892) by Arthur Conan Doyle The Problem of Cell 13 (1905) by Jacques Futrelle The Invisible Man (1911) by G.K. Chesterton A Jury of Her Peers (1917) by Susan Glaspell The House in Turk Street (1924) by Dashiell Hammett The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba (1928) by Dorothy L. Sayers The Blue Geranium (1929) by Agatha Christie Murder at the Automat (1937) by Cornell Woolrich Hand Upon the Waters (1939) by William Faulkner Death and the Compass (1945) by Jorge Luís Borges; trans. by Anthony Kerrigan The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln’s Clue (1965) by Ellery Queen The Comforts of Home (1960) by Flannery O’Connor The Sleeping Dog (1965) by Ross Macdonald Sadie When She Died (1973) by Ed McBain
Murder for Christmas
The murder for Christmas guide to gift giving / A.A. Milne -- Back for Christmas / John Collier -- Mr. Big / Woody Allen -- [Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle]( / Arthur Conan Doyle -- The adventure of the Christmas pudding / Agatha Christie -- Dancing Dan's Christmas / Damon Runyon -- Cambric Tea / Marjorie Bowen -- Death on Christmas Eve / Stanley Ellin -- A Christmas tragedy / Baroness Orczy -- Silent Night / Baynard Kendrick -- The stolen Christmas box / Lillian de la Torre -- A chaparral Christmas gift / O. Henry -- Death on the air / Ngaio Marsh -- Inspector Ghote and the miracle baby / H.R.F. Keating -- Maigret's Christmas / Georges Simenon -- To be taken with a grain of salt / Charles Dickens -- The adventure of the Dauphin's daughter / Ellery Queen -- Markheim / Robert Louis Stevenson -- The necklace of pearls / Dorothy L. Sayers -- Blind man's hood / Carter Dickson -- Christmas is for the cops / Edward D. Hoch -- The thieves who couldn't help sneezing / Thomas Hardy -- The case is altered / Margery Allingham -- Christmas party / Rex Stout -- The flying stars / G.K. Chesterton -- Boxing Day bonus : Ring out, wild bells / D.B. Wyndham Lewis.
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
On the night before Christmas, cruel, tyrannical, filthy rich Simeon Lee is found in his locked bedroom with his throat cut. Now Hercule Poirot must put his deductive powers to the test to solve one of his most chilling cases - and to prevent a clever killer from spilling more blood. Also published as Hercule Poirot's Christmas and Murder for Christmas