In the world of crime novels, where male authors have dominated the market, there is a female novelist whose novels are still present in every book shop even after 50 years of her death.
Agatha Christie is a popular name in the field of crime fiction novels. It is important to know that most of the crime novels are known as pulp fiction because of their over the top storyline and flashy covers. The world of crime pulp fiction is very large and it is quite difficult to carve your name as an author. In that world, Agatha Christie is a goddess who has inspired many writers, filmmakers and novelists. She is loved by her fans across the globe and her novels are still present at every corner.
Writing Style
Agatha Christie is known by many names among her fans. She is called ‘Queen of crime’ and ‘Duchess of death’ because of the surprising deaths and turns of events in her novels. She heavily relied on the element of fear and surprise. Her writing style was simple and she was easy to understand. Agatha Christie never became too ambitious in providing ‘shock’ to her readers. Instead, she wrote logical plots with complex storylines where details were hidden in plain sight.
Characters
Agatha was a famous novelist in the age of detective fiction where it was a trend to have a prominent and recurring detective character in the novel. It was a time when the world has already witnessed Sherlock and they wanted something similar but different. Agatha came up with Hercule Poirot, a detective who appeared in 33 of her novels. He is known to have exceptional observation and deduction skills. Later in her career, Agatha got a little tired of Poirot and introduced Miss Jane Marple who was loved by many.
Her influence
The novels of Agatha Christie are still popular and that is the reason several movies are made based on them. Her popular works including Death On The Nile and Murder On The Orient Express have made into movies many times by different filmmakers. Her novels are available in many languages across the world and there are writers to look up to her and copy her writing style.
Other works
Apart from being a full time novelist, Agatha Christie also wrote some memorable plays. She is well known for writing, The Mousetrap, the longest play in the world which is performed in various venues. Guinness book of world records acknowledges her as the best selling writer of all time and for her contribution to literature, she has received many accolades and awards.
