Agatha Christie is the world’s
best – known mystery writer and all - time best -
selling author of any genre
other than William Shakespeare. Her books have sold over a billion copies in
the English language and another billion in over 45 foreign languages. As an
example of her broad appeal, she is the all-time best-selling author in France,
with over 40 million copies sold in French versus 22 million for Emile Zola,
the nearest contender.
Christie published over eighty
novels and stage plays, mainly whodunnits and locked room mysteries, many of
these featuring one of her series characters, Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple.
She is a major figure in detective fiction for both her commercial success and
her innovations in the genre.
Although she delighted in
twisting the established form, she was scrupulous in “playing fair” with the
reader by making sure all necessary information for solving the puzzle was
given. One of her early books, “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”, is renowned for
its surprise denouement.
Most of her books and short
stories have been filmed, some many times over (“Murder on the Orient Express”,
“Death on the Nile”, “4.50 from Paddington”). The BBC has produced television
and radio versions of most of the Poirot and Marple stories. A later series of Poirot
dramatizations starring David Suchet was made by Granada Television. In 2004,
the Japanese broadcasting company Nippon Housou Kyoukai turned Poirot and
Marple into animated characters in the anime series.
contender – суперник; претендент
whodunnits – детективний роман, фільм (who + done + it)
denouement – розв’язка
