Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is known as the Queen of Crime. She was an extremely prolific writer with an impressive publishing record (although Meg Cabot is catching her up!)
Christie wrote 80 detective novels, six romance novels (under the name Mary Westmacott), successful stage plays, and an autobiography.
She has been called best-selling writer of all time with sales into the billions and her play, The Mouse Trap, holds the record for the longest inital run in the world.
Christie created two of the most enduringly popular detectives ever - Miss Marple and Poirot - and many of her books have been adapted for film and television.
Her popularity continues unabated in the twenty-first century, with many new interpretations of her work. There are even comic book versions of some of her classics like Murder on the Orient Express.
Agatha didn't go to school. Her mother taught her at home until she was 16. Then she studied music in Paris.
Aged 24, Agatha married Archie Christie, a World War 1 fighter pilot. They had one daughter - Rosalind.
During the war, Agatha worked as a nurse and in a pharmacy. Her training in poisons came in very handy later for her books.
Archie asked for a divorce (because he had fallen in love with another woman), but Agatha found happiness in her second marriage. She met and fell in love with Max Mallowan, a young archaeologist she met during her many travels. They married in 1930.
Want to know more? Try her (rather swish) official website or autobiography.
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