Agatha Christie

English author and best-selling novelist of all time.

Agatha Christie was an English author who wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections, featuring detectives Hercule Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence, and Miss Marple.^[1] With over two billion copies of her books sold, Christie holds the record as the top-selling novelist ever, and UNESCO's Index Translationum lists her as the most-translated individual author.^[2][3]

Last updated 2026-10-02 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Pen name

Mary Westmacott

Birth name

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller

Born

15 September 1890

Birthplace

Torquay, Devon, England

Died

12 January 1976

Place of death

Winterbrook House, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England

Resting place

Church of St Mary, Cholsey, Oxfordshire, England

Occupation

Novelist
short story writer
playwright
poet
memoirist

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, the youngest of three children.^[4] Her father died in 1901, which she later said marked the end of her childhood.^[5] In 1926, Christie disappeared for 10 days after her husband asked for a divorce, an event that made international headlines.^[6][7][8] She divorced in 1928 and married archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930, accompanying him on expeditions that inspired several novels.^[9][10][11]

Christie died on 12 January 1976 at age 85 from natural causes at her home in Winterbrook House.^[12] From October 1914 to May 1915 and again from June 1916 to September 1918, Christie served as an unpaid Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at the Town Hall Red Cross Hospital in Torquay, and from 1917 she worked as a paid dispenser after qualifying as an apothecary's assistant.^[13]

What the cited sources add

The BBC reported that upon her death in 1976, two London theatres dimmed their lights in her honour.^[14] A 2012 Guardian article stated that Acorn Media bought a 64% stake in the Agatha Christie estate from Chorion, with the family retaining a 36% holding.^[15]

References

Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Agatha Christie: A realist writer who created true literary magic", The Irish Times; "The Genius of Agatha Christie: 99 Years on", 23 October 2019 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen"; "Best-selling author for fiction", guinnessworldrecords.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Most translated author", Guinness World Records, 7 March 2017 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Obituary. Dame Agatha Christie", The Times, 13 January 1976, p. 16; Morgan, "Agatha Christie: A Biography", HarperCollins, 1984; Marriage Register. St Peter's Church, Bayswater [Notting Hill], Middlesex, 1878, No. 399, p. 200.; Birth Certificate. General Register Office for England and Wales, 1890 September Quarter, Newton Abbot, volume 5b, p. 151. [Christie's forenames were not regist; Baptism Register. Parish of Tormohun, Devon, 1890, No. 267, [n.p.]. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thompson, "Agatha Christie: An English Mystery", Headline Review, 2008; Death Certificate. General Register Office for England and Wales, 1901 December Quarter, Brentford, volume 3A, p. 71. ("Cause of Death. Bright's disease, chroni; Morgan, "Agatha Christie: A Biography", HarperCollins, 1984 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thompson, "Agatha Christie: An English Mystery", Headline Review, 2008; "The Curious Disappearance of Agatha Christie", historic-uk.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "100 Police Scour Downs for Missing Woman Novelist", Yorkshire Evening Post, 6 December 1926, p. 1; "Christie's Life: 1925–1928 A Difficult Start", The Home of Agatha Christie; "Agatha Christie's real-life mystery at the Silent Pool", BBC News, 17 September 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jordan, "When the World's Most Famous Mystery Writer Vanished", The New York Times, 11 June 2019; "The original Gone Girl: Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance", The Independent; Thorpe, "Christie's most famous mystery solved at last", The Guardian, 15 October 2006; "Mrs Christie Found in a Yorkshire Spa", The New York Times, 15 December 1926, p. 1; "Agatha Christie's Harrogate mystery", BBC News, 3 December 2009; "What really happened when Agatha Christie went missing", The Times; "The Details of this Strange Case ...", Classic L en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mrs. Christie Leaves", Daily Herald, 24 January 1927, p. 1; Inwards Passenger Lists . The National Archives, Kew. Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors, BT26/837/112. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Col. Christie Married", Gloucestershire Echo, 6 November 1928, p. 5 [Includes divorce details]; Fitzgibbon, "The Agatha Christie Companion", The Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1980; "Mrs. Christie. Novelist Granted Decree Nisi", The Yorkshire Post, 21 April 1928, p. 17 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Morgan, "Agatha Christie: A Biography", HarperCollins, 1984; Christie, "Agatha Christie: An Autobiography", Dodd, Mead & Company, 1977; Thompson, "Agatha Christie: An English Mystery", Headline Review, 2008; "Interview with Max Mallowan", BBC; Thompson, "Agatha Christie: An English Mystery", Headline Review, 2008; Marriage Certificate. Scotland Statutory Register of Marriages, 685/04 0938, 11 September 1930, District of St Giles, Edinburgh.; Thompson, "Agatha Christie: An English Mystery", Headline Review, 2008; "Interview with Max Mall en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "1976: Crime writer Agatha Christie dies", BBC on this Day, 12 January 1976; "Deaths", The Times, 14 January 1976, p. 26; Osborne, "The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie: A Biographical Companion to the Works of Agatha Christie", St. Martin's Press, 2001 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Agatha Christie" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Morgan, "Agatha Christie: A Biography", HarperCollins, 1984; "Agatha Christie – British Red Cross", British Red Cross; Morgan, "Agatha Christie: A Biography", HarperCollins, 1984 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
"1976: Crime writer Agatha Christie dies", BBC on this Day, 12 January 1976. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
Acorn Media buys stake in Agatha Christie estate , The Guardian, 29 December 2012.. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Agatha Christie (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.