Agatha Miller was born in the fashionable seaside town of Torquay, England, on September 15, 1890. In 1914 she married Colonel Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. When World War One broke out she spent time working in a dispensary, and that experience was useful later on, as she gained a certain knowledge of poisons and drugs. Her first book, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", was published in 1920 by The Bodley Head. Torquay became the inspiration for Styles and she drew from her experiences working in nursing homes. The novel gave an illuminating picture of Britain recovering from the "Great War" of 1914-18 and proved to have an accurate eye for recording social history. There, readers first became acquainted with a Belgian detective, late of the Belgian Police Force, named Hercule Poirot. He also appeared six years later in her most famous detective novel, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". The critics were both amazed and enraged, and this novel paved the way for her later successes as a master manipulator of her readers.

On the 3^rd December 1926 Agatha made news herself when she disappeared for a few days after her husband told her that he wanted a divorce. The next day her empty car was found at Newlands Corner in Surrey, and this started a week-and-a-half-long search, which proved fruitless. It was then that the staff of a hotel in Harrogate realised that one of their guests, Theresa Neele, was in fact the missing writer. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the surname she used to check into the hotel with was the same as that of the woman whom her husband was leaving her for. Although she claimed that she had suffered 'the most complete loss of memory' during her disappearance, after all these years it still attracts speculation. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind, before they finally divorced in 1928.

After the divorce she married British archaeologist Max Mallowan. She accompanied him on digs and excavations in Syria, Iraq and many other places. These trips also became useful for later novels like "Murder in Mesopotamia", "Appointment with Death" and "Destination Unknown", as well as the play, "Akhnaton", written in 1937 and published in 1973, which, like her novel "Death Comes as the End", is set in ancient Egypt. She also used these experiences for her book "Come, Tell Me How You Live", published as Agatha Christie Mallowan, a book of her memoirs of archaeological expeditions in Syria.

Apart from her detective novels, she also wrote non-fiction romantic stories under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Of the six of these novels, including "The Rose and the Yew Tree", A Daughter's A Daughter" and "The Burden", her own personal favourite was "Absent in the Spring", of which she said 'the one book that has satisfied me completely' - not bad for a book that was written 'in three days flat.' The most interesting though, according to Max Mallowan, is "Unfinished Portrait", which he describes as 'a blend of real people and events … more nearly than anywhere else a portrait of Agatha.' She also wrote a book of poems, "The Road of Dreams" [1924], a collection of poems and children's stories, "Star Over Bethlehem" [1965] and her autobiography in 1977.

As if all that wasn't enough, she also turned her attention to the stage, writing numerous plays and radio programs. Her most famous, and probably the most famous mystery play is "The Mousetrap". It opened in London on the 25^th November 1952 and is still running, holding the record for the longest running play in history. Among her other original plays are "Black Coffee", "Spider's Web", "Rule of Three" and The Unexpected Guest". She also dramatized a number of her novels for stage production, and her favourite was "Witness for the Prosecution".

In her career she wrote nearly seventy novels and more than a hundred short stories. Although most of these featured her famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple [who appeared in twelve novels], some didn't feature a detective that the public had met before. These included "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?", a mystery solved by two young friends Lady Francis Derwent and Bobby Jones, and the brilliant "And Then There Were None", where all ten guests on a secluded island die, and it's up to the reader to try and discover how the murders could possibly have been committed. Other regular characters include Tommy [Lieutenant Thomas] and Tuppence [Prudence Cowley] Beresford, who appeared in five novels, Mr. Parker Pyne, Mr. Satterthwaite and Harley Quin and Ariadne Oliver.

From as early as the 1930s, Agatha Christie's work has also been transferred to the big [and small] screen. Austin Trevor was the first to play Hercule Poirot in three movies in the early thirties, Alibi, Black Coffee and Lord Edgware Dies. Tony Randall played Poirot in one film in 1965, The Alphabet Murders. Albert Finney played him in 1974 in the Oscar-winning "Murder on the Orient Express" and Peter Ustinov has also played Poirot in many movies, such as "Death on the Nile" and "Evil Under the Sun". Many fans of Poirot agree though that David Suchet [from the Poirot TV series] is the actor who has succeeded best in portraying the famous detective.

Agatha Christie wrote many screenplays specifically for Margaret Rutherford, who played Miss Marple in a few movies in the sixties, but Joan Hickson is the most famous Miss Marple. She has also been played by Angela Lansbury, perhaps the most famous of the actresses to portray her today, but also the most disappointing. Her film adaptations attracted the biggest stars, including Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins and Lauren Bacall in "Murder on the Orient Express", Bette Davis and Angela Lansbury in "Death on the Nile", Dame Maggie Smith in "Evil Under the Sun" and Tony Curtis and Elizabeth Taylor in "The Mirror Crack'd".

In 1971, she achieved her country's highest honour when she was made a Dame. Lady Mallowan died on January 12, 1976, and is buried in St. Mary's Churchyard, Cholsey, Berkshire, forty seven miles west of London.