No mystery to Christie’s longevity
We cannot allow the year 2020 to end without celebrating the publication of Agatha Christie’s first novel 100 years ago, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” published in 1920 when she first introduced the legendary Hercule Poirot.
It was the start of a long life (she died at 85 in1976) writing detective fiction that brought her numerous awards. She sold more than 1 billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign languages. Is there an author who can come close? She was outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. The Queen of Crime has been a goddess to those of us who are avid fans of detective fiction.
Arthur Conan Doyle preceded her with his first Sherlock Holmes book, “A Study in Scarlet” in 1887 placing Sherlock firmly in top place as a detective. It is easier for someone who has been looking for his glasses for an hour to say “Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him” than to say Hercule Poirot, somewhat difficult to pronounce. But Poirot is such an original that it is impossible to forget him. His small stature, egg-shaped head, small steps, curled up mustache, impeccable oldfashioned clothes and grooming to such an extent that a small speck of dust on his shoulder is treated as if it were a mortal sin (he is a devout Catholic) all make an instant impression. His “little grey cells” as he calls his brain is razor sharp and picks up the smallest clue that evades even Scotland Yard which reluctantly admires him if with a touch of jealousy. Alas, he is too well aware of his reputation, humility is not one of his virtues. When he proclaims he is the world’s greatest detective he means it.
While Sherlock was also smart he was a cold person, leaving the human element to his sidekick Dr. John Watson. Poirot on the other hand is polite, gracious and compassionate to the poor souls who come to him for help. He does not need his sidekick, Capt. Hastings, to remind him we are all human. As a refugee from German-invaded Belgium where he was a police detective, he fled to Britain where he now lives and solves crimes. Like Holmes, he never married although both Dr. Watson and Capt. Hastings eventually married. Evidently Doyle and Christie understood that marriage and the total absorption needed to solve crime are not congenial.
Christie used her personal experience in her books. During the war, she volunteered as a nurse in a hospital where she became acquainted with poisons and she joined her second husband, an archaeologist, in digs in the Middle East which she put to good use in “Death on the Nile.” Several men have portrayed Poirot on the screen, including Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Kenneth Branagh but it is David Suchet who is the incarnation of Poirot down to his Belgianaccented English.
Christie eventually became bored with Poirot so she created another character, Miss Marple. Jane Marple is a spinster in her early 70s living a quiet life in a small village in England named St. Mary Mead where little ever happens. It is precisely because everybody knows everybody that Miss Marple closely observed the human condition, acquired a sharp mind into how crime functions.
The town’s chief inspector eventually realizes that listening to her suggestions solves the case for him. She does so in a soft voice with due deference to his position. A number of actresses have played the role: Joan Hickson (said to be Christie’s favorite), Margaret Rutherford (my favorite), Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie.
Happy anniversary to Agatha Christie and let us hope that Poirot and Miss Marple continue for another century to intrigue new generations of detective addicts.