Some things never go out of style – and Agatha Christie is one of them, even 35 years after her death. The creator of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot tells her own story in Agatha Christie: An Autobiography (HarperCollins, $29.99), reissued this week in a new edition. Flip through photos from the famed mystery writer’s life plus shots from film and TV adaptations of her works.
“Myself as a child, painted by Connah.” Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on Sept. 15, 1890 in Torquay, England.
“With my father and my dog Toby.” Agatha Christie’s father was an outgoing American who died when she was 11. Agatha inherited her shyness from her mother, Clara. She had two older siblings, Madge and Monty.
“Dancing class, Torquay; myself in the centre.” While Agatha Christie did not receive a formal education, she taught herself how to read at age 5, and was taught by a mix of tutors and attended French finishing school.
“With my husband, Archie, after his investiture in 1919.” Agatha met Archie Christie, a pilot, in 1912, and they were married on Dec. 24, 1914. He left her in 1926 for another woman.
“My sister Madge.” Agatha Christie’s career as a novelist began with a challenge from Madge to write a book. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was published to positive reviews in 1920.
“Archie and myself with our surfboards in Honolulu.” Agatha Christie loved to travel the world and visited places such as Hawaii, Athens, Egypt and Baghdad. In Baghdad, she met Max Mallowan, whom she went on to marry in 1930. They would travel together for almost 30 years.
“With Rosalind.” Agatha Christie’s only child, daughter Rosalind, was born on Aug. 5, 1919.
Albert Finney starred as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in the 1974 motion picture version of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, a whodunit about the death of an American businessman aboard the Orient Express en route from Istanbul to Paris.
Alfred Molina starred as Poirot in a 2001 CBS remake of Murder on the Orient Express.
PBS’s Masterpiece continues to air Agatha Christie mysteries. Julia McKenzie plays beloved spinster sleuth Miss Marple.
In this Masterpiece version of Murder on the Orient Express, Poirot (played by David Suchet) is called back to London for a case, and finds transport via the opulent Orient Express.