Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie (1890-1976). Known as the Queen of Crime, she was born in Torquay, Devon, England, as Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. Her father, Frederick Alvah Miller, was a successful American stockbroker, and her mother, Clarissa Margaret Boehmer, was the daughter of a British Army officer. In 1914, she married Colonel Archibald Christie of the British Royal Air Force, with whom she had a daughter, but their marriage was unhappy, and they eventually divorced in 1928. During this period, Agatha experienced a severe bout of depression upon discovering her husband's infidelity, but she also published her first novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," in 1920. "One of the most fortunate things that can happen to you in life is to have a happy childhood," she remarked, beginning her memoirs, which she started writing in 1950 and completed fifteen years later. She wrote numerous detective novels and short stories that have been translated into almost every language in the world, with an estimated two billion copies sold. At the end of World War I, she created Hercule Poirot, the diminutive, brilliant detective. Poirot, Miss Marple, and her other characters have appeared in films, radio shows, TV movies, and plays based on her books. Agatha Christie also participated in many archaeological expeditions organized by her second husband, Sir Max Mallowan, a prominent archaeologist fourteen years her junior, in the Middle East. In 1971, she was honored with the title of Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE).