Agatha Christie is often referred as the “Queen of Crime”, due to the crime novels and short stories featuring the famous detectives Hercule Poirot and and Miss Jane Marple. Lots of her works have been adapted into films, television and radio; according to the Guinness Book of World Records, she is as bestselling writer as William Shakespeare. Now, Amazon has a wide selection of Agatha Christie’s works in Kindle edition.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (published in 1920) was the author’s first published novel. A typical sample of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, it investigates a murder in an isolated manor, with suspects concealing facts about themselves and unexpected plot twists. Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, was first introduced in this novel; he proved to be a very long-lived character, appearing in 32 other novels and 51 short stories following his debut. “The key to the success of this style of detective novel,” writes Elizabeth George in her Introduction, “lies in how the author deals with both the clues and the red herrings, and it has to be said that no one bettered Agatha Christie at this game.”
The Thirteen Problems is a short stories collection first published in UK in 1932. The first chapter, The Tuesday Night Club, was actually published in 1927 and introduced then another famous character, an elderly Miss Marple; though an amateur detective, she solves the mysteries and reveals the crimes that have nonplussed the police. “it is always Miss Marple’s quiet genius that names the criminal or the means of the misdeed. As indeed is true in subsequent gatherings at the country home of Colonel and Mrs Bantry, where another set of terrible wrongs is related by the assembled guests–and righted, by Miss Marple.”
Agatha Christie by Mark Campbell is a good book to read if you want to learn more about this prominent woman, her works and film adaptations.
