What kind of person is Agatha? A great chemist in the world of detective fiction.

If you like mystery novels, then there is a 50% chance that you are an "Agatha fan".

We are all too familiar with wonderful works such as "Murder on the Orient Express", "Tragedy on the Nile", "No Survivors" and "Crime in the Sun".

Agatha and some of her works

She is universally recognized as the "Queen of Detective Novels" and has countless fans around the world.

In China, Agatha is also affectionately called "Grandma" by the majority of netizens.

Agatha was a prolific writer. In her 85 years of life, she actually wrote 80 mystery novels.

Even Agatha joked that her prolific creative career was like "an incredible sausage machine."

Agatha

Although "sausage machine" refers to quantitative output, the quality of her works is also obvious to everyone, and the sales volume proves everything.

According to Guinness World Records, Agatha remains "the best-selling author in human history" since her death.

The total sales of her works have exceeded 2 billion copies, only the Bible and Shakespeare's works can rival her.

According to data from the IMDB website, there are no less than 47 feature-length films adapted from Agatha novels, more than 215 episodes of TV series, and even 7 video games.

Not to mention the sales of her novels, Agatha herself is a legend.

Although her characters Poirot and Marple are far less famous than Sherlock Holmes.

But in the UK, her literary status far exceeds that of Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

Grandma was one of the first people to learn to stand up surfing.

In the UK, she was the first woman to do stand up surfing.

Faced with her cheating husband, the sinister Agatha actually created a disappearance case and staged a real-life version of "Gone Girl".

What is even more surprising is that, despite being very popular in the literary world, she is also a big shot in chemistry.

With her professional knowledge of poisons, she "killed" countless people in the novel.

Due to the obsessive-compulsive disorder of Virgo, the methods of poisoning in her novels are not only endless, but also very precise, and are even called "poisoning guides" by many readers.

Agatha as a child

"One of the greatest blessings in life is to have a happy childhood."

Agatha described in her autobiography, "And I had a very happy childhood."

In 1890, Agatha Christie was born into a middle-class family in England.

Although both her sister and brother were sent to top boarding schools, her mother, who was quick-thinking, kept Agatha by her side because she wanted to protect her eyesight and brain.

Agatha and her mother Clara

Away from the shackles of school, Agatha learned to read at the age of 5, and then fell in love with literature uncontrollably.

The works of major literary giants such as Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, Thackeray, etc. also inspired her to create, and she began to try to write poetry, short stories, or scripts.

Agatha

Unfortunately, Agatha had a mother who was very fond of tossing. When she was 15 years old, she suddenly changed her mind and allowed Agatha to receive formal education.

Her mother's whim led her to transfer schools many times, but she eventually died because she could not adapt to school discipline.

In fact, Agatha's voice has always been considered to be natural, and she majored in piano and vocal music for the longest time in school.

But she could not change the problem of weak legs as soon as she went on stage, so the career of a musician was not available to her.

The 20-year-old Agatha returned to her mother, accompanying her mother and engaging in various social activities to finalize life-long events.

During this period, her first novel "Snow on the Desert" was also born.

Although her work was encouraged by a neighbor novelist, it was only encouragement.

The novel was eventually rejected and never published.

Achille

Although there is no progress in her career, Agatha falls in love because of the "strange novelty".

Agatha and Lieutenant Achill, despite having opposite personalities, were deeply attracted to each other and fell in love at first sight.

Agatha was engaged at that time, but she still ignored everyone's objections and got married in a flash marriage with Archie.

However, the reason for her mother's objection was not because of Agatha's engagement, but because Achill was too handsome and easy to attract bees and butterflies.

Agatha and Achill

Not long after the sweet life of the two after their marriage, a war broke out.

Achille was sent to the French battlefield, and Agatha also joined the volunteer medical team.

While participating in voluntary work, she first participated in training as a pharmacist assistant and gained a lot of theoretical and applied chemistry knowledge.

After obtaining the pharmacist qualification certificate, her career as a pharmacist began.

That era was the golden age of mystery novels, and Agatha was also an out-and-out Sherlock Holmes fan.

And because she dealt with drugs every day and saw too many accidents caused by errors in drug dosage calculations, the "criminal idea" in Agatha's mind became increasingly mature.

It was precisely because of her job as a pharmacist that Agatha took the first step in writing detective novels.

Her proficiency in chemistry and pharmaceuticals also provided her with professional and meticulous material for future mystery novels.

The detective Poirot played by David Suchet

Just like Agatha's debut novel "The Mysterious Case at Styles Manor", his detective Poirot's The first case of investigation.

The "poisoning" incident of the three compounds (strychnine, bromide powder and morphine) used by the prisoner has reached the level of "supernatural".

Nux vomica of traditional Chinese medicine

The alkaloids extracted from Nux vomica have the effect of inhibiting neurotransmitter activity and interfering with human nerve function.

Many supplements of that era contained low doses of strychnine.

This low dose of strychnine is not fatal at all, but the murderer added bromide powder to the tonic.

When the victim takes this spiked tonic, water-insoluble strychnine bromide precipitates will form in the body.

By taking this tonic for a long time, the victim is equivalent to taking a high dose of strychnine.

The typical death symptoms of strychnine poisoning are similar to those of tetanus (click to review the article). The muscles are also extremely contracted, the head is raised, and the back is stretched like a bow, also known as "horns" Opisthotonus"

And the final morphine can slow down the speed of intestinal propulsion, making the stomach an environment where strychnine cannot be absorbed.

Morphine mixed into the victim's drink can delay the onset of strychnine, trying to allow investigators to rule out the possibility of "tonic" poisoning.

This kind of poison plot that does not focus on a certain poison, but uses several compounds one after another, is really addictive.

Morphine

In fact, more than half of the murders in her mystery novels are carried out through poisoning.

Almost all of these poisons are real, readily available substances in daily life, and their usage and dosage are as rigorous and sophisticated as textbooks.

"Agatha's Poison" is a popular science book dedicated to introducing poisons in Agatha's mystery novels

However, Agatha's detailed description of the use of poisons sometimes makes It has also become a textbook for "poison killing" for real-life murderers and has been criticized.

In 1977, a man named Roland Russell poisoned his aunt with eye drops containing atropine.

The police also found the "Tuesday Club Murders" at the murderer's home, in which the passage about atropine was underlined by the murderer.

However, Agatha's "Poison Killing" textbook also saved lives.

For example, in 1975, a woman in South Africa realized that her best friend had been poisoned by her wife after watching Agatha's "The White Horse Hotel".

If she had not read this book, her friend would have probably died of thallium poisoning.

The thallium poisoning incident, the most famous Zhu Ling case in China

Let’s talk about Agatha’s debut novel “The Mysterious Case of Styles Manor”.

Although the use of poison and the setting up of the murderer in this work are very skillful, Agatha, who was not famous in her early years, still found herself on the bench.

Agatha went through six publishing houses, but all of them were ruthlessly rejected and refused to be published.

It was not until 1920, after the end of World War I, that the manuscript, which had been shelved for two years, was officially signed, and the reward was only 25 pounds.

Agatha and her daughter

Although she gained little, Agatha still did not give up the path of detective novels.

It was not until the publication of "Roger's Mystery" in 1926 that Agatha became famous and became the most popular writer of that era.

However, this year was also the most painful year for Agatha in her life.

First of all, her mother died suddenly of illness, causing her to fall into depression for a long time.

On the other hand, her husband Aqil failed to give her comfort and consideration.

On the contrary, he was really like what Agatha's mother described as "too handsome and easy to attract bees and butterflies". He left Agatha ruthlessly with a woman named Nancy Neal.

Agatha and Achill

It was also in this year that, facing her unfaithful husband, Agatha personally staged a suspense drama that has yet to be solved. .

On December 3, she drove out, but the next day there was only an empty car parked on the edge of the cliff, and Agatha disappeared out of thin air.

At that time, Agatha had already become famous with "Roger Mystery". Her disappearance naturally made the headlines of major news, and the whole society had a huge reaction.

After all, a writer of detective novels has now become a victim in the novel.

Both the police and ordinary mystery fans are very excited about this true mystery story and have intervened in the investigation.

It is said that more than 15,000 volunteers participated in the search work at that time, and even the police dispatched helicopters to conduct an all-round search.

However, 10 days have passed and no one has been able to find Agatha or Agatha's body.

...

If the wife is murdered, the first person to be suspected must be the husband, and now Aqil is the biggest suspect.

In order to prove his innocence, Archiel also had to reveal all his alibi: he was with his mistress Nancy.

Now, the story of Aqil’s derailment has naturally been exposed by the media.

On December 14, after 11 days of searching, Agatha was found in a hotel. The person who checked in was the surname of Achill's mistress "Neil".

Some people speculated that Agatha's move was to take revenge on her unfaithful husband, and she pretended to be dead to get Achill convicted. Even if it didn't work, his scandal would be made public to the world.

However, Agatha never gave a detailed explanation of the matter in her life. Faced with the media bombardment, she said, "I don't remember anything."

Many people speculate that "Gone Girl", which is now popular all over the world, was born under the influence of Agatha's disappearance.

Agatha and her second husband Max

After this farce ended, Agatha also divorced Achille, took the Orient Express, and began to talk about leaving. Just take the journey.

During this journey, Agatha also met the second love of her life, the archaeologist Marx, who was 14 years younger than herself.

In 1930, Agatha married again, and the archaeologist stayed with Agatha until her death.

Agatha often travels around with her archaeologist husband and writes

When she meets the right person, Agatha also begins to enter a golden period of creation. Her works in the 1930s are As many as 23.

When World War II broke out, Agatha feared she would not survive the war.

She made a will for this purpose, arranged the endings for her detectives Mr. Poirot and Miss Marple in advance, and locked the two manuscripts of "The Curtain" and "The Mysterious Villa" in a safe. Waiting for future generations to open it.

However, as if the world has not read enough of Agatha's books, she survived World War II safely, and her husband Marx returned safely in 1945.

In the following decades, Agatha continued to publish one work every year, and the works continued to sell well.

Agatha's works

Compared to those who experienced both World War I and World War II, Agatha was much happier.

In fact, she herself doesn’t care much about the title “Queen of Mystery Novels”. She said that only the happiness in front of her is enough.

In 1975, "Curtain" was published, and Poirot finally completed his last case in front of the world.

At that time, many Western newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, rushed to publish Poirot's obituary.

The fictional characters written by Agatha also enjoy a real and warm farewell ceremony.

In 1976, Agatha passed away peacefully at the age of 85.

But her works will always accompany us in another form.

Because almost every year Agatha's works are remade into film and television dramas and put on the screen.