Agatha Christie Website Launches

Posted on February 4, 2000

AgathaChristie.com, the official home of the best-selling mystery author, has been launched by MysteryNet. The website features online adaptations of Agatha Christie short stories, information on her life and works, an online community, and an online store.

``The Agatha Christie site will be the definitive source for all things Agatha Christie,'' said Phil Clymer, Managing Director of Agatha Christie Ltd. ``We are delighted that the world's No. 1 writer of murder mysteries has teamed up with the No. 1 online mystery brand. This is a significant step toward building a global audience for Agatha Christie across all media for the 21st century. This interactive forum will reinforce the essential Agatha Christie values of thrilling entertainment and challenging plots.''

Agatha Christie is the world's best-known and best-selling mystery writer. Her books have sold over two billion copies, one billion in English, and another billion copies in over 45 languages. In a writing career that spanned more than half a century, Agatha Christie wrote 79 mystery novels and short story collections. She also wrote more than a dozen plays including The Mousetrap, which opened in London on November 25, 1952, and is now the longest continuously-running play in theatrical history.

Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), was the first to feature her eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. One of the most famous fictional creations of all time, Poirot's ``little grey cells'' triumphed over devious criminals in 33 novels and dozens of short stories. Her last published novel, Sleeping Murder (1976) featured her other world-famous sleuth, the shrewd and inquisitive Miss Jane Marple of St. Mary Mead. Miss Marple appeared in twelve novels, beginning with The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930.