AGATHA CHRISTIE

The queen of suspense gets the royal treatment.

British historian Worsley comes up with another winner in this sprightly, endearing biography. Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was elusive, Worsley argues, because she “deliberately played upon the fact that she seemed so ordinary.” In 1914, she married Archibald Christie and wrote while raising her daughter. Her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, starred a Belgian refugee, the “egg-headed Hercule Poirot with his ridiculous moustache.” Worsley also shows how Christie took care to create narratives that put “the lives of women centre stage” as well as how her personal experiences informed her work: “Everything Agatha experienced became copy.” For example, she worked at a hospital pharmacy and learned about poisons, which she used to great effect in her books. A smart and savvy author, she wrote in various genres to learn which sold best. One of Christie’s gifts, writes Worsley, was to “democratise the Gothic, making it appealing to the mass market.” While building a devoted audience, she was also breaking new ground. The revolutionary Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Worsley writes, is “one of the greatest detective novels of all time.” After 1926, when she disappeared for days following her discovery of her husband’s infidelity, her novels “would firmly address dark, uncomfortable feelings.” Vacationing in Iraq after her divorce, she met young archaeologist Max Mallowan and married him. Worsley argues convincingly that the 1930s were Christie’s most productive years. During that time, she introduced new characters, including Miss Marple, and wrote plays. In 1946, she contributed a new play, Three Blind Mice (later reworked as The Mousetrap), for Queen Mary’s 80th birthday. Despite her massive popularity, she remained an “unusually publicity-shy celebrity” even as her stories, which often became films, began to reach new audiences. Throughout, Worsley takes us behind the scenes to reveal classic “Christie tricks” from her books.

With great affection, Worsley masterfully maneuvers her way through Christie’s life and prolific oeuvre.