Women Writers Win Over the World

Agatha Christie Takes the Gold

March is Women's History Month! I'll always take the opportunity to celebrate the wonderful women who've positively impacted my life whether it be through personal connection or the written word. I'd have to say my favorite female author, who instilled in me my love of mystery, suspense and crime novels is the great, Dame Agatha Christie.

She was so amazing that in 1971, Queen Elizabeth II gave her the honor of becoming a Dame (DBE) for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, with her novels having sold more than two billion copies and have been translated into more than 100 languages. She has definitely won over the world as a writer.

Agatha Christie's most famous novels include And Then There Were None (1939), Murder on the Orient Express (1933), and The ABC Murders (1936).

Many of Christie's works have been adapted for television and film. And her play "The Mousetrap" is the longest, continuously running play in history. I had the opportunity to see it in London's West End and it was fabulous! No wonder it's been running for 68 years. Sadly, that streak ended on March 16, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

St. Martin's Theater in London's West End, April 2016

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A Mother's Ineffable Influence

The queen of mystery writing was born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller in Torquay, Devon, England in September 1890.

Her father, Frederick Miller, was from New York, but died when Agatha was a young child, so she was brought up and educated solely by her mother. It was her mother who first suggested Agatha try her hand at writing when she was stuck indoors with a cold.

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Agatha's Long-Held Secret

Christie didn't just write about crime. She penned six romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, which she kept hidden successfully for twenty years. The name was derived from her middle name and Westmacott from distant relatives. Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks, has said these novels are somewhat autobiographical.

For more comprehensive information about the interesting and often underestimated women that Agatha Christie wrote about in her novels you can visit:

https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2020/christies-celebrated-women

What's your favorite Agatha Christie novel?