Durrring the First World War Agatha worked at a hospital, and that experience was useful later on when she started writing detective stories. Her first book waspublished in 1920. It was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and was met by the reading public withinterest. But Agatha's really great pbpularity came 1926, when she published her masterpiece, The Murder of Roger Achroydz.lrr the same year, 1926, Agatha surprised the public by suddenly disappearing for a few days after her husband wanted a divorce. She was soon found to be staying in a hotel under an assumed name. Her disapearance is still a mystery!After the divorce she married a British archaeologist, Max Mallowana. This marriage proved to be a happy one. Agatha wanted to stop using her former husband's name. But her publishers said that it would not be wise because the name of Agatha Christie had already become well known to the public. So she remained Agatha Christie to her readers for the rest of her life. Agatha Christie wrote nearly seventy novels in her career, and more than a hundred short stories.Her most famous characters are Hercule Poirots and Miss Marple. Hercule Poirot first appeared in 1920. Poirot has become a legend all over the world: the huge moustache, the egg-shaped head, his high opinion of himself, and his great ability to solve complicated mysteries thanks to his knowledge of human psycology Miss Marple is an English spinster and lives in the English village of St. Mary Mead. She does not look like a detective at all, but always succeeds where the police have failed. Instead of using a magnifying glass looking for clues, she uses her instinct and knowedge of human nature. As Miss Marple herself once said, "Human Nature is the same everywhere",In March 1962 a UNESCO report stated that Agatha Christie was now the most widely read British author in the world, with Shakespeare coming second.
