Agatha Christie: From Miss Marple to Hercules Poirot
With stellar sleuths like Miss Marple and Hercules Poirot, Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries have made her the best-selling novelist of all time. Only the Bible and Shakespeare have outsold her two billion-plus books worldwide.
Remarkably consistent, Christie published a new novel almost every year from 1920 to 1976, when she passed away. Her best-known books include And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Death on the Nile.
Agatha Christie Travel Tips
If your pockets are deep enough, you can ride the train that inspired Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. Belmond, an international luxury hotel collection, currently operates the Venice Simplon-Orient Express on multiple routes that include London, Paris, Verona, Venice, and Istanbul.
Attend a performance of The Mouse Trap in London. This classic whodunit play by Agatha Christie has run in the West End since 1952 – the longest such run in history, with more than 26,000 performances.
Head to the seaside resort town of Torquay, where Agatha Christie was born and raised. Check out the Torquay Museum’s Christie gallery. It features a reconstruction of detective Hercule Poirot’s study, first editions of Christie’s novels, and props from the ITV adaptations of her works. Torquay also hosts the annual International Agatha Christie Festival each September.
Travel down Egypt’s Nile River on the Steam Ship Sudan. Christie, who married archeologist Max Mallowan, rode this romantic ship with him in 1933 and used it as her inspiration for Death on the Nile. Today, it includes suites named after her and Hercules Poirot.
In Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, stay at the historic Pera Palace Hotel. Agatha Christie checked into room 411 en route to archeological excavations in Iraq in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Other famous guests have include Greta Garbo and Ernest Hemingway, who, like Christie, have themed suites here in their honor.