Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a moniker which is now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective, who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
Genre fiction, also known as formula fiction or popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie, introducing her fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United Kingdom by The Bodley Head on 21 January 1921.
Iris Johansen is an American writer of crime fiction, suspense fiction, and romance novels.
Destination Unknown is a work of spy fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1954 and in US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1955 under the title of So Many Steps to Death. The UK edition retailed at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $2.75.
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1939. The first edition retailed at $2.00.
Marisha Pessl is an American writer known for her novels Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Night Film, and Neverworld Wake.
And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, who described it as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as Ten Little Niggers, after an 1869 minstrel song that serves as a major plot element. The US edition was released in January 1940 with the title And Then There Were None, taken from the last five words of the song. Successive American reprints and adaptations use that title, though American Pocket Books paperbacks used the title Ten Little Indians between 1964 and 1986. UK editions continued to use the original title until 1985.
Libby Fischer Hellmann is an American crime fiction writer who currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. Most of her novels and stories are set in Chicago; the Chicago Sun-Times notes that she "grew up in Washington, D.C., but she has embraced her adopted home of Chicago with the passion of a convert."
Ramendra Kumar is an Indian author of children's books. He has written 35 books in English, translated into 15 Indian languages and 14 others. Kumar also writes satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction, and non-fiction.
Jane K. Cleland is a contemporary American author of mystery fiction. She is the author of the Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries, a traditional mystery series set in New Hampshire and featuring antiques appraiser Josie Prescott, as well as books and articles about the craft of writing. Cleland has been nominated for and has won numerous awards for her writing.
Art Taylor is an American short story writer, book critic and an English professor.
Rebecca Zanetti is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and romantic suspense.
Aduthathu (transl. Next) is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language thriller film directed by Thakkali Srinivasan. The film stars Nassar, Sriman, Vaiyapuri, Ilavarasu, Aarthi and Meenal. The film is based on Agatha Christie's mystery novel And Then There Were None.
Archana Sarat is an Indian author, a short story writer, a flash fiction author and poet. She is known for her 2016 novel, Birds of Prey, a psychological crime thriller. The novel has been adapted for the screen in Tamil on the OTT platform, Aha Tamil. It is titled Irai, and stars R. Sarathkumar. It is directed by Rajesh M. Selva and produced by Radaan Mediaworks.
Ruth Warburton, known by the alias Ruth Ware, is a British psychological thriller author. Her novels include In a Dark, Dark Wood (2015), The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016), The Lying Game (2017), The Death of Mrs Westaway (2018), The Turn of the Key (2019), One By One (2020), The It Girl (2022) and Zero Days (2023). Both In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 were on the UK's Sunday Times and The New York Times top ten bestseller lists. She is represented by Eve White of the Eve White Literary Agency. She switched to the pen name Ruth Ware to distinguish her crime novels from the young-adult fantasy novels published under her birth name.
Anupama Jain is a writer and teacher based out of Gurgaon, India. She is the founding member of Senior School Moms and a blogger. Anupama is the author of 4 well-received books and 12 anthologies across genres, one of which is a LIMCA record holder as India’s first Composite Novel. She is an acclaimed community builder, mentor, and multi-award-winning blogger who pens on the vagaries of the quirky world across various coveted forums.
Sutapa Basu is an Indian author, educationist, poet, translator and a writing coach. She is a best-selling, award-winning author most known for her works Dangle, Padmavati and Genghis Khan,The Curse of Nader Shah and The Birth Of My Nation. Sutapa has been the Director, Publishing at Encyclopedia Britannica Ltd, South Asia and Eupheus Learning Solutions.
