Agatha Christie

Born in Torquay, Devon, to a wealthy upper-middle-class family, Agatha Christie was largely home-schooled. She served in hospital dispensaries during both world wars, where she acquired a detailed knowledge of poisons that she later incorporated into her crime fiction. Although she faced initial rejections, her writing career took off in 1920 with the publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced her famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

Often referred to as the "Queen of Crime," Christie became a central figure of the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction." Over her prolific career, she wrote 66 detective novels, 14 short-story collections, and six romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She created some of literature's most enduring sleuths, including Poirot, Miss Jane Marple, and the duo Tommy and Tuppence. Her 1939 masterpiece, And Then There Were None, remains one of the best-selling books of all time.

Beyond her novels, Christie was an accomplished playwright. Her murder mystery The Mousetrap is the world's longest-running play, having played continuously in London's West End since 1952. Her personal life also influenced her work; following her marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930, she spent months on excavations in the Middle East, using these settings for several novels. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1971 and remains the most-translated individual author in history.