What's your favourite crime novel? Well—you can't beat the oldies. I know there are some excellent new stories, but the most loved come from the past and are set in England.
Dame Agatha Mary Christie lived from 1890 to 1976 In her life she wrote English crime, short stories, and plays. She is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, most of which revolve around the fact-finding work of such characters as Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap.
Born in Torquay, Devon, she was initially unsuccessful at getting her work published, but in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the character of Hercule Poirot. This launched her literary career.
That's my favourite series—each novel produced for television starring David Suchet.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies—her works third ranking of the world's most-widely published books, behind only Shakespeare's works and the Bible.
But now: the news. For the first time, the BBC is adapting her most popular work for television.
Agatha Christie’s most complex and controversial novel, And Then There Were None, has been voted the nation’s favourite, taking 3,211 of the 15,000 votes cast to mark the writer’s 125th birthday. It is already the best-selling crime novel of all time, with more than 100 million copies bought worldwide.
Known to its original readers under the name of Ten Little N-----, it tells the story of ten strangers invited to an island, who get bumped off one by one before realising the serial killer is among them.
Agatha Christie’s grandson and chairman of her foundation announced the result of the poll at a special anniversary exhibition of her private portraits in London last night.
Second place went to Murder on the Orient Express, and third to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
The programme is due to be broadcast over Christmas. Source: The Telegraph.
Dame Agatha Mary Christie lived from 1890 to 1976 In her life she wrote English crime, short stories, and plays. She is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, most of which revolve around the fact-finding work of such characters as Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, The Mousetrap.
Born in Torquay, Devon, she was initially unsuccessful at getting her work published, but in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the character of Hercule Poirot. This launched her literary career.
That's my favourite series—each novel produced for television starring David Suchet.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies—her works third ranking of the world's most-widely published books, behind only Shakespeare's works and the Bible.
But now: the news. For the first time, the BBC is adapting her most popular work for television.
Agatha Christie’s most complex and controversial novel, And Then There Were None, has been voted the nation’s favourite, taking 3,211 of the 15,000 votes cast to mark the writer’s 125th birthday. It is already the best-selling crime novel of all time, with more than 100 million copies bought worldwide.
Known to its original readers under the name of Ten Little N-----, it tells the story of ten strangers invited to an island, who get bumped off one by one before realising the serial killer is among them.
Agatha Christie’s grandson and chairman of her foundation announced the result of the poll at a special anniversary exhibition of her private portraits in London last night.
Second place went to Murder on the Orient Express, and third to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
The programme is due to be broadcast over Christmas. Source: The Telegraph.
The poem. Commons.Wikimedia.org
As already stated, my favourite of her series features Hercule Poirot. And yet, when I read her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, I didn't like it. Of course, the Dame wrote it in the language of the day, which seems over-stiff and dull. However, the basic plot lies underneath the formal language. Tension and action are low-key. No fast car chases, no explosions, no long boring scenes where men shoot at each other from behind cover and die by throwing their legs in the air before falling backward, and no terrorists with hidden bombs give an extra thrill in these classics.
What is your favourite investigative novel? Do you prefer recent works or old? Which Agatha Christie novel would you have voted for?
What is your favourite investigative novel? Do you prefer recent works or old? Which Agatha Christie novel would you have voted for?
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