Fogelson Library: So, When Is the Best Time to Plan a Book?

September 15 marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of British author, Agatha Christie. WOW: Christie is the best selling novelist of all time! Her books are outsold only by the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. Her work has been translated into more than one hundred languages. During her career, she wrote more than eighty novels and short story collections, more than a dozen plays, and also found time to write romance novels under the pen name of Mary Westmacott.

Agatha Christie, about 1915

Photo courtesy of fanpix.net. Agatha Christie Picture (#569533)

Agatha Christie's play "The Mousetrap" is the longest-running play ever, and is still in its initial West End run that began more than 23,000 performances ago in 1952. Christie married renowned archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930 and worked closely with him in the field, traveling around Egypt and the Middle East, where she found inspiration for many of her stories.

Agatha Christie and Max Mallowan, about 1930

Photo courtesy of fanpix.net. Agatha Christie Picture (#569539)

Her most famous sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, have become beloved literary heroes and have appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, including David Suchet's pitch-perfect portrayal of Poirot, which has been airing on BBC and PBS since 1989.