The World of Agatha Christie: The Facts and Fiction Behind the World's Greatest Crime Writer is a illustrated coffee table sized general biography and guide to Agatha Christie's works written by Martin Fido and published by Carlton Books in 1999. The book has also been marketed (with the same cover and ISBN) as The World of Agatha Christie: The Life, Times and Works of the World's Bestselling Crime Writer and also by other publishers such as Adams Media (same ISBN) and others with different ISBN and occasionally a slightly different page count.
Martin Fido (1939-2019) was a academic and university lecturer in English, a broadcaster and writer of non-fiction biographies and books relating to true crime. His works include guides to Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes and Rudyard Kipling. His books on crime include The chronicle of crime : the most infamous criminals of modern times and their heinous crimes / Martin Fido. and Murder Guide to London. He used to conduct guided "Agatha Christie" and "Jack the Ripper" themed tours in the UK.
Blurb from inside front cover[]
"To many, the terribly English world created by Agatha Christie is part of the myth of a more civilized era-a land of quiet reserve, stiff upper lips, cricket on the village green, gossipy old ladies and tea at the vicarage but with the added ingredient of murder most foul. Christie built up a repertoire that has been unsurpassed by any crime novelist. Her most famous and baffling mysteries included such gems as Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and her ingenious construction of whodunits carried forward the genre of erime fiction, laying the foundation for the Golden Age of the detective novel.
Christie herself was a discreet, private, and ladylike person, avoiding publicity and disliking celebrity. Yet her own life was far from dull: she travelled widely and in 1926 she hit the headlines when she disappeared, creating a mystery around her life as intriguing as any plot she had ever written. The World of Agatha Christie looks at this and other factors that shaped her life, providing a colorful and informative look at the world's most popular author."
Blurb from back cover[]
"The life, times and works ofthe world's greatest crime writer. 1921 a publishing phenomenon began with the publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a sophisticated murder mystery with a protagonist by the name of Hercule Poirot. It was the first of more than 60 crime novels by Agatha Christie, and heralded the career of an author who went on to outsell even Shakespeare. Agatha Christie's works remain a literary phenomenon and many of her mysteries have been immortalized through sumptuous television and movie adaptations, while The Mousetrap is the world's longest running play, still playing to packed houses in London.
Highly illustrated, with informative and illuminating text, The World of Agatha Christie is the perfect companion to the work and world of this most popular of mystery writers."
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