Agatha Christie: The Real-Life Agatha Christie Mystery

by Martin & Neil

Overview

The Real-life Agatha Christie Mystery

How did the world’s favourite crime writer become involved in a mystery of her very own?

Agatha Miller was born in 1890, the youngest child of a wealthy American businessman. But after her father contracted double pneumonia, he was unable to provide for his young family and sank into a depression, dying when Agatha was only eleven.

The poverty-stricken Millers almost lost their home as a result. The lesson was a harsh one for the young Agatha, and her continuing sense of financial insecurity was later to have disastrous consequences.

At a dance in Devon in 1912, Agatha, now an attractive tewnty-two-year-old, met a tall, dashing young army officer. Archibald Christie had trained at the Royal Woolwich Military Academy in London and had been posted to Exeter soon after he had been commissioned.

Over the next two years, they slowly fell in love. When war broke out in 1914, Archie was sent to France. During his first return on leave later that year, the couple quickly got married. While Archie served in Europe, Agatha became a voluntary nurse at the Red Cross Hospital in Torquay and spent her many free hours (not many casualties were sent to Torquay) reading hundreds of detective stories.

She was desperate to be a writer like her elder sister Madge, whom she idolized and whose stories were regularly published in Vanity Fair. In a moment of inspiration Madge challenged her to write a good detective story, Agatha’s favourite genre.

At the time, Torquay was full of Belgian refugees, and her first story featured a Belgian detective – one Hercule Poirot – who would become one of the most popular fictional detective characters in the world.

After the war ended, Archie started work at the Air Ministry in London, and the couple had a daughter in 1919. The Christies were struggling to make ends meet and so Agatha decided to approach a publisher with The Mysterious Affair at Styles, her first novel.

Read on......

Product Details

BN ID:	2940152458732
Publisher:	Albert Jack
Publication date:	11/06/2015
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	400,673
File size:	165 KB

About the Author

Albert Jack is an English writer and historian who became something of a publishing phenomenon in 2004 when his first book Red Herrings and White Elephants, which explored the origins of well-known phrases in the English language, became a huge international best-seller. The book was serialised by the Sunday Times for over a year and stayed in the top ten of the UK Sunday Times best-seller list for sixteen months. His follow up book Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep was also a best seller and has sold over 150,000 copies since publication in October 2005. It became Penguin Book's Christmas best-seller. His hilarious third book, a study of Urban Legends called Phantom Hitchhikers is also a best-seller and was released in paperback in September 2007. In the same month Red Herrings and White Elephants was re-released for the first time in paperback and Albert has provided 30% more content for a revised and expanded version that is sure to hit the best-seller list once again. Fascinated by discovering the truth behind the world's great stories, Albert has become an expert in explaining the unexplained, which is great news for conversations and storytellers everywhere. He is now a veteran of hundreds of live television shows and thousands of radio appearances world-wide. His books have become best-sellers in Great Britain & Europe, America, Canada, South Africa, Australia and translated into many different languages. In 2007, Albert Jack's Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs, a study of the world's great mysteries from the Bermuda Triangle to the disappearance of Glen Miller. Crop Circles, Loch Ness Monster, UFO's, Marilyn Monroe and the Mary Celeste have also come under investigation along with many more famous stories. Albert uncovers the sometimes surprising truth and his acerbic wit makes for an entertaining read. Loch Ness Monsters was be the third book Albert released in the autumn of 2007 and in March 2009 Random House published the same title in America. In 2008 Penguin UK released the best-selling Pop Goes the Weasel, Albert's book exploring the dark history and meaning of nursery rhymes that became an instant best-seller and offered the writer new contract to produce two brand new Albert Jack books for release in 2009 and 2010. The first of these, The Old Dog and Duck, Albert's fascinating historic study of the origins of pub and hotel names is due in the shops on September 3rd 2009, closely followed by Penguin USA issuing stateside versions of Pop Goes the Weasel on 6th October and Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheep in March 2010. In September 2010 What Caesar did for my Salad, Albert's humorous study of our favourite foods reveals who Caesar really was, why sausages are bangers, what the Tartars had to with raw steak why the Thousand Islands developed their seafood sauce and who Margarita was and why she inspired the world's most famous pizza. Finally, What Caesar Did for my Salad is due for release in America in September 2011, The Old Dog and Duck is released as a paperback in the UK during October 2011, Phantom Hitchhikers Part One and Two are due for release in China in November 2011 and Random House are publishing Albert's brand new UK title, It's a Wonderful Word, on November 3rd 2011. In 2012 Albert re-released Sounds from the Street and published two new books, Money for Old Rope Parts 1 & 2 The success of his books has a lot to do with Albert's invention of what he calls the 'ten minute read,' enabling readers to open his books at any point and be fully entertained for ten minutes at a time before 'going off to do something more productive with their time.' Currently hosting a series of Writer's Workshops in England & South Africa, Albert has plans for another ten hard backs that look set to continue his success for many years to come. Albert is also an accomplished lecturer and after dinner speaker.