Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days
Page 32
By not mentioning the disappearance in her autobiography Agatha’s intention was not to mislead or confuse her fans. She simply wanted to forget the episode, something she had unsuccessfully tried to do all her life. If Max had not been unfaithful to her she would have been less afraid of her future. Agatha loved Archie far more than she ever did Max, and so Max was never able to hurt her as deeply as Archie. One of the most painful lessons Agatha learned from the breakdown of her marriage to him was to love others as much for their faults as for their virtues. The reason her autobiography omitted the unpleasant episodes in her life was because she intended it as a hymn to God for all the good things that had befallen her.
Agatha spent much of her life hiding from her public. This makes it all the more important to know what happened during the disappearance, because only then can one appreciate how she exorcized her pain over the episode and her subsequent divorce in her writings. She used her poetry to reveal her anxieties about whether she was loved or would ever find love. The short stories ‘The Edge’, ‘Harlequin’s Lane’ and ‘The Man from the Sea’ reveal the chaotic aspects of her marriage to Archie. Her Mary Westmacott novels include some of her most eloquent expressions of Archie’s impact on her life. ‘The Dressmaker’s Doll’ and The Burden reveal her mixed feelings about Max’s mistress Barbara, while Verdict was a brave, if unsuccessful, attempt to reconcile herself to Max’s infidelity. When the love of both the men in her life failed her, Agatha was not without hope for most of the time because she found forgiveness and love in the eyes of God.
She cared passionately for the rights of the innocent. It is significant that she did not see evil as a social organism; rather, as a deviation springing from the heart of the individual. Such individuals were, in her view, like derelict ships that drift in the darkness and wreck the sound seaworthy craft. She came to identify closely with the Arab proverb which says that the fate of each man hangs around his neck, and that there is always an alternative route that could be taken, if only just.
Agatha was destined to be known as the disappearing novelist in more ways than one; much of the world she knew and wrote about has almost completely vanished; a world of chauffeured Daimlers and Bentleys, solvent aristocracy and stately homes. Many of her loyal readers hanker for this bygone age. Her detective stories are civilized and elaborately plotted versions of her ‘Gun Man’ dream; in them anyone can turn out to be the killer. The more chaotic her life became the more she made her fictitious world neat and orderly.
The reason she never admitted the full extent of her pain to her fans was because she did not want our pity. She wanted for herself what she had long wished on others: ‘The peace of God which passeth all understanding.’ Her detective stories endure because they nourish in her readers the hope that good will always triumph over evil, and the charm, good humour and humility with which she imparts her message makes her fans love her all the more.
Perhaps her greatest achievement is to represent to each successive generation a nostalgic link with a way of life that disappeared along with the British Empire.
One knows that a writer has been well loved if, when he or she dies, fans wish there was one more book left for them to read, and no one is more deserving of such an accolade than Agatha Christie.
Works of Agatha Christie
The novels listed here are British first editions. The comprehensive list of short stories published in the UK and US up until 1926 makes clear how well known Agatha Christie was at the time of her disappearance. Note that short stories designated ** were collected in Poirot Investigates, those marked + were collected in The Big Four, while those referenced # were collected in Partners in Crime.
1920
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Bodley Head)
1922
The Secret Adversary (Bodley Head)
1923
The Murder on the Links (Bodley Head)
‘The Affair at the Victory Ball’, March (The Sketch)
**‘The Curious Disappearance of the Opalsen Pearls’ a.k.a. ‘The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan’, March (The Sketch)
‘The Adventure of the King of Clubs’, March (The Sketch)
**‘The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim’, March (The Sketch)
‘The Mystery of the Plymouth Express’, a.k.a. ‘The Plymouth Express’, April (The Sketch)
**‘The Adventure of the Western Star’, April (The Sketch)
**‘The Tragedy at Marsden Manor’, April (The Sketch)
**‘The Kidnapped Prime Minister’, April (The Sketch)
**‘The Million Dollar Bond Robbery’, May (The Sketch)
**‘The Adventure of the Cheap Flat’, May (The Sketch)
**‘The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge’, May (The Sketch)
‘The Clue of the Chocolate Box’, a.k.a. ‘The Chocolate Box’, May (The Sketch)
‘A Trap for the Unwary’, a.k.a. ‘The Actress’, May (Novel Magazine)
**‘The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb’, September (The Sketch)
‘The Clue of the Veiled Lady’, a.k.a. ‘The Veiled Lady’, October, (The Sketch)
‘The Kidnapping of Johnnie Waverley’, a.k.a. ‘The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley’, October (The Sketch)
‘The Market Basing Mystery’, October (The Sketch)
**‘The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman’, October (The Sketch)
**‘The Case of the Missing Will’, October (The Sketch)
‘The Submarine Plans’, November (The Sketch)
‘The Adventure of the Clapham Cook’, November (The Sketch)
‘The Lost Mine’, November (The Sketch)
‘The Cornish Mystery’, November (The Sketch)
‘The Double Clue’, December (The Sketch)
‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’, December (The Sketch)
‘The Le Mesurier Inheritance’, December (The Sketch)
#‘The First Wish’, a.k.a. ‘The Clergyman’s Daughter’, a.k.a. ‘The Red House’, December (Grand Magazine)
1924
The Man in the Brown Suit (Bodley Head)
Poirot Investigates (Bodley Head)
The Road of Dreams (poetry) (Geoffrey Bles)
+‘The Unexpected Guest’, January (The Sketch)
+‘The Adventure of the Dartmoor Bungalow’, January (The Sketch)
+‘The Lady on the Stairs’, January (The Sketch)
+‘The Radium Thieves’, January (The Sketch)
+‘In the House of the Enemy’, January (The Sketch)
+‘The Yellow Jasmine Mystery’, February (The Sketch)
+‘The Chess Problem’, February (The Sketch)
+‘The Baited Trap’, February (The Sketch)
+‘The Adventure of the Peroxide Blonde’, February (The Sketch)
‘The Girl in the Train’, February (Grand Magazine)
+‘The Terrible Catastrophe’, March (The Sketch)
+‘The Dying Chinaman’, March (The Sketch)
+‘The Crag in the Dolomites’, March (The Sketch)
‘The Passing of Mr Quin’, a.k.a. ‘The Coming of Mr Quin’, March (Grand Magazine)
‘While the Light Lasts’, April (Novel Magazine)
‘The Red Signal’, June (Grand Magazine)
‘The Mystery of the Blue Jar’, July (Grand Magazine)
‘The Mystery of the Second Cucumber’, a.k.a. ‘Mr Eastwood’s Adventure’, August (Novel Magazine)
‘Jane in Search of a Job’, August (Grand Magazine)
#‘Publicity’, a.k.a. ‘A Pot of Tea’, a.k.a. ‘A Fairy in the Flat’, September (The Sketch)
#‘The Affair of the Pink Pearl’, October (The Sketch)
#‘Finessing the King’, a.k.a. ‘The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper’, October (The Sketch)
#‘The Case of the Missing Lady’, October (The Sketch)
#‘The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger’, October (The Sketch)
#‘The Sunninghall Mystery’, a.k.a. ‘The Sunningdale Mystery’, Octobe
r, (The Sketch)
‘The Shadow on the Glass’, October, (Grand Magazine)
#‘The House of Lurking Death’, November (The Sketch)
#‘The Matter of the Ambassador’s Boots’, a.k.a. ‘The Ambassador’s Boots’, November (The Sketch)
#‘The Affair of the Forged Notes’, a.k.a. ‘The Crackler’, November (The Sketch)
#‘Blind Man’s Buff’, November, (The Sketch)
‘Philomel Cottage’, November (Grand Magazine)
#‘The Man in the Mist’, December (The Sketch)
#‘The Man Who Was Number Sixteen’, December (The Sketch)
‘The Day of his Dreams’, a.k.a. ‘The Manhood of Edward Robinson’, December (Grand Magazine)
1925
The Secret of Chimneys (Bodley Head)
‘Traitor Hands’, a.k.a. ‘The Witness for the Prosecution’, January (Flynn’s Weekly)
‘A Sign in the Sky’, July (Grand Magazine)
‘Within a Wall’, October (Royal Magazine)
‘A Man of Magic’, a.k.a. ‘At the Bells and Motley’, November (Grand Magazine)
‘The Fourth Man’, December (Pearson’s Magazine)
‘The Benevolent Butler’, a.k.a. ‘The Listerdale Mystery’, December (Grand Magazine)
1926
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Collins)
‘The House of Dreams’, a.k.a. ‘The House Of Beauty’, January (Sovereign Magazine)
‘S.O.S.!’,Feburary (Grand Magazine)
‘Magnolia Blossom’, March (Royal Magazine)
‘The Rajah’s Emerald’, July (Red Magazine)
‘The Lonely God’, July (Royal Magazine)
‘Swan Song’, September (Grand Magazine)
‘At the Crossroads’, a.k.a. ‘The Love Detectives’, October (Flynn’s Weekly)
‘The Under Dog’, October (London Magazine)
‘The Soul of the Croupier’, November (Flynn’s Weekly)
‘World’s End’, November (Flynn’s Weekly)
‘The Last Séance’, November (Ghost Stories Magazine)
‘The Voice in the Dark’, December (Flynn’s Weekly)
‘Wireless’ (Sunday Chronicle Annual 1926)
After the disappearance Agatha Christie re-established her usual prolific output in a relatively short time.
1927
The Big Four (Collins)
1928
The Mystery of the Blue Train (Collins)
Alibi (play adapted by Michael Morton from The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) (Samuel French)
1929
The Seven Dials Mystery (Collins)
Partners in Crime (Collins)
The Sunningdale Mystery (Collins)
The Passing of Mr Quinn (book of the film adapted by G. Roy McRae from the short story) (London Book Company)
1930
The Mysterious Mr Quin (Collins)
The Murder at the Vicarage (Collins)
Giant’s Bread (Mary Westmacott) (Collins)
Chimneys (unpublished play based on The Secret of Chimneys)
1931
The Sittaford Mystery (Collins)
1932
Peril at End House (Collins)
The Thirteen Problems (Collins)
The Wasp’s Nest (unpublished play)
1933
Lord Edgware Dies (Collins)
The Hound of Death (Odhams)
1934
Black Coffee (play) (Alfred Ashley)
Murder on the Orient Express (Collins)
The Listerdale Mystery (Collins)
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (Collins)
Parker Pyne Investigates (Collins)
Unfinished Portrait (Mary Westmacott) (Collins)
1935
Three Act Tragedy (Collins)
Death in the Clouds (Collins)
1936
The ABC Murders (Collins)
Murder in Mesopotamia (Collins)
Cards on the Table (Collins)
Love from a Stranger (play adapted by Frank Vosper from the short story ‘Philomel Cottage’) (Collins)
1937
Dumb Witness (Collins)
Death on the Nile (Collins)
Murder in the Mews (Collins)
1938
Appointment with Death (Collins)
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (Collins)
1939
Murder is Easy (Collins)
Ten Little Niggers (later retitled And Then There Was None) (Collins)
1940
Sad Cypress (Collins)
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Collins)
Peril at End House (play adapted by Arnold Ridley) (Samuel French)
1941
Evil Under the Sun (Collins)
N or M? (Collins)
1942
The Body in the Library (Collins)
1943
Five Little Pigs (Collins)
The Moving Finger (Collins)
Ten Little Niggers (play later retitled And Then There Was None) (Samuel French)
1944
Towards Zero (Collins)
Absent in the Spring (Mary Westmacott) (Collins)
1945
Death Comes as the End (Collins)
Sparkling Cyanide (Collins)
Appointment with Death (play) (Samuel French)
Hidden Horizon (play a.k.a. Murder on the Nile based on Death on the Nile) (Collins)
1946
The Hollow (Collins)
Come, Tell Me How You Live (Agatha Christie Mallowan) (Collins)
1947
The Labours of Hercules (Collins)
1948
Taken at the Flood (Collins)
The Rose and the Yew Tree (Mary Westmacott) (Heinemann)
1949
Crooked House (Collins)
Murder at the Vicarage (play adapted by Moie Charles and Barbara Toy) (Samuel French)
1950
A Murder is Announced (Collins)
1951
They Came to Baghdad (Collins)
The Hollow (play) (Samuel French)
1952
Mrs McGinty’s Dead (Collins)
They Do it With Mirrors (Collins)
A Daughter’s a Daughter (Mary Westmacott) (Heinemann)
The Mousetrap (play) (Samuel French)
1953
After the Funeral (Collins)
A Pocket Full of Rye (Collins)
Witness for the Prosecution (play) (Samuel French)
1954
Destination Unknown (Collins)
Spider’s Web (play) (Samuel French)
1955
Hickory Dickory Dock (Collins)
1956
Dead Man’s Folly (Collins)
1957
4.50 from Paddington (Collins)
1958
Ordeal by Innocence (Collins)
Verdict (play) (Samuel French)
Towards Zero (play written in collaboration with Gerald Verner) (Samuel French)
The Unexpected Guest (play) (Samuel French)
1959
Cat Among the Pigeons (Collins)
1960
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Collins)
Go Back for Murder (play based on Five Little Pigs) (Samuel French)
1961
The Pale Horse (Collins)
1962
The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (Collins)
Rule of Three (three one-act plays: The Rats, The Patient and Afternoon at the Sea-Side) (Samuel French)
1963
The Clocks (Collins)
1964
A Caribbean Mystery (Collins)
1965
At Bertram’s Hotel (Collins)
Star Over Bethlehem (poems and children’s stories) (Agatha Christie Mallowan) (Collins)
1966
Third Girl (Collins)
1967
Endless Night (Collins)
1968
By the Pricking of My Thumbs (Collins)
1969
1970
Passenger to Frankfurt (Collins)
1971
Nemesis (Collins)
1972
Elephants Can Remember (Collins)
Fiddler’s Three (unpublished play a.k.a. This Mortal Coil a.k.a. Fiddler’s Five)
1973
Postern of Fate (Collins)
Akhnaton (play written in 1937) (Collins)
1974
Poirot’s Early Cases (Collins)
1975
Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (Collins)
1976
Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple’s Last Case (Collins)
1977
An Autobiography (Collins)
A Murder is Announced (play adapted by Leslie Darbon) (Samuel French)
1980
Miss Marple’s Final Cases (Collins)
1981
Cards on the Table (adapted by Leslie Darbon) (Samuel French)
1992
Problem at Pollensa Bay (HarperCollins)
1993
Murder is Easy (unpublished play adapted by Clive Exton) (Samuel French)
1997
While the Light Lasts (HarperCollins)
1998
Black Coffee (novel based on the 1930 play; adapted by Charles Osborne) (HarperCollins)
1999
The Unexpected Guest (novel based on the 1958 play; adapted by Charles Osborne) (HarperCollins)
2000
Spider’s Web (novel based on the 1954 play; adapted by Charles Osborne) (HarperCollins)
Select Bibliography
Adams, Tom, Agatha Christie Cover Story, Limpsfield, Surrey: Paper Tiger, 1981
Bargainnier, Earl, The Gentle Art of Murder: The Detective Fiction of Agatha Christie, Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1980