Influences on Agatha Christie's Writing
Incidents and Experiences that Shaped Christie's Novels
Sep 21, 2009
Agatha Christie detective novels are as popular today as ever, especially those featuring her most famous sleuths: Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
Agatha Christie’s Early Life and Influences
Life began for Agatha in September 1890, as third child to Frederick and Clarissa Miller at Ashfield in Torquay. Many of her neighbours were writers, such as Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling and Henry James. Eden Philpotts was a friend and her mother suggested that Agatha should seek his advice on her writing ideas.
Young Agatha Miller confided to her sister, Madge, that one day she would like to try and write a detective story. Back came the reply, "I don't think you could do it, they are very difficult to do."
When Agatha’s father died in 1901, there was little remaining of his trust fund, which apparently was badly administered in America. This was to provide a theme for one of Agatha's later books.
The Inspiration for Hercule Poirot
Another event provided the inspiration for some of the characters in the earlier novels. The first tram ran in Torquay in April 1907. While travelling on one during the war years, Agatha watched tram loads of Belgian refugees arriving in Torquay. And thus she conceived the idea for her greatest character, Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian detective.
Marriage and the War Years
As Agatha grew up, she loved the theatre and was a frequent guest at dances. At an event given by Lord and Lady Clifford at Chudleigh in 1912, she met her future husband, the dashing young officer Archie Christie. In less than three months they were engaged. Parted when war broke out, they were reunited and married on Christmas Eve 1914.
From 1914 to 1918, Agatha entered a stage of her life that was to have the greatest influence on her writing. Serving with the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the Red Cross, she worked as a nursing assistant at the Town Hall Hospital, Torquay. Later, she began helping in the new dispensary.
Poisons and Agatha Christie’s First Novel
Agatha became so interested in poisons that she started training as a pharmacist and was awarded a certificate by the Society of Apothecaries of London in 1917. Poisoning soon became Agatha Christie's favourite method of murder in her novels. Agatha’s dream of being a writer was finally realised in 1920, when The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in America, followed by British publication the year after.
The ingenious plot in this first book became a topic for academic discussion. She had the necessary knowledge and her fascination for poisons was obvious when she wrote: "Here is menace and murder and sudden death, in these phials of green and blue."
Agatha Christie’s Real Life Mystery
Although her success continued after her daughter Rosalind was born, by 1926 Agatha's private life was less happy. Her mother died and her marriage began to break down. In December of that year, Agatha Christie became involved in her own real life mystery.
Leaving her daughter in the house one day, Agatha went out and disappeared without trace. Her crashed car was found abandoned in Surrey. A huge search ended without success. After eleven days, she was discovered staying at a hotel in Harrogate under another name.
Did she lose her memory, or have a nervous breakdown? Agatha shed little light on the missing days and it remained a mystery. The event was eventually made into the film, Agatha, starring Vanessa Redgrave as Agatha Christie. It suggested Agatha had used the name of her husband’s mistress at the hotel. Agatha was finally divorced from Archie Christie in 1928.
Influence of Locations and Max Mallowan
Although many of her books were set in her beloved Devon, other locations became more exotic. In 1928, someone told her about a wonderful train journey and she bought a ticket the next day. Murder on the Orient Express was the outcome and it remains one of her most famous stories.
The next most important event was when Agatha met the archaeologist, Max Mallowan, and eventually married him in 1930. Agatha often travelled with him to the Middle East, the setting for books such as They Came to Baghdad and Murder in Mesopotamia. This marriage was a success and, in 1938, they bought Greenway House on the banks of the River Dart. This became the setting for Five Little Pigs and Dead Man’s Folly.
The Mousetrap and Mary Westmacott
Most famous for her sixty six full length novels, Agatha Christie also wrote three one-act plays, many short stories and twelve full length plays, including The Mousetrap, the world's longest running play which had its first performance in 1952.
Agatha also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott, a secret that was kept until 1949. For fifty six years, Agatha Christie was the most prolific writers of detective fiction in the world. In 1957, she was awarded the CBE, becoming Dame Agatha in the New Years Honours List.
Agatha Christie died on 14th January 1976 at the age of eighty five. Through the various influences on her life, her work lives on in book, stage and film.
Sources include the Agatha Christie Exhibition and Commemorative Newspaper of 1990, Torquay Musuem
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