Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, South West England. Agatha loved to read poetry and began writing poems when she was a child.

In 1912 Agatha met Archie Christie, a qualified aviator who had applied to join the Royal Flying Corps, they soon married. It was war time and Agatha became a nurse at the Red Cross Hospital in Torquay. When the Hospital opened a dispensary, she accepted an offer to work there and completed the examination of the Society of Apothecaries. Thus began her life long interest in the use of poisons. From this came her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The method of death in this novel is poison and was so well described that Agatha received an unprecedented honour for a writer of fiction - a review in the Pharmaceutical Journal.

Following the war Agatha continued to write and to travel with Archie, though sadly they were later to divorce and Agatha would remarry, Max Mallowan, the world famous archaeologist - a marriage that would last forty-six years.

By 1930, having written several novels and short stories, Agatha had created a new character to act as sleuth. Miss Jane Marple was an amalgam of several old ladies Agatha used to meet in villages she visited as a kid. When she created Miss Marple, Agatha did not expect her to become Poirot's rival, but with The Murder at the Vicarage, Miss Marple’s first full-length outing, it appeared she had produced another popular and enduring character.

One of Agatha’s lifelong ambitions had been to travel on the Orient Express; her first journey took place in 1928. The atmosphere of the Middle East was not lost on Agatha, as can be recognised in books such as Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia, Appointment With Death and They Came to Baghdad as well as many short stories.

Agatha Christie is the most successful female playwright of all time, holding world records for being the only female playwright to have three of her plays running simultaneously in London’s West End, and for writing the longest running show of any kind in the world – The Mousetrap. In her lifetime, Christie wrote over 30 stage plays.

After a hugely successful career and a very happy life Agatha died peacefully on 12 January 1976.

Agatha Christie Limited (ACL) has been managing the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world since 1955, working with the best talents in film, television, publishing, stage and on digital platforms to ensure that Christie’s work continues to reach new audiences in innovative ways and to the highest standard. The company is managed by Christie’s great grandson James Prichard.

Visit the official home of the best-selling author of all time: www.agathachristie.com