Sprinkles are small pieces of confectionery used as an often colorful decoration or to add texture to desserts such as brownies , cupcakes , doughnuts or ice cream . The tiny candies are produced in a variety of colors and are generally used as a topping or a decorative element. The Dictionary of American Regional English defines them as "tiny balls or rod-shaped bits of candy used as a topping for ice-cream, cakes and other."
176-630: The Thirteen Problems is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie , first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club in June 1932 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1933 under the title The Tuesday Club Murders . The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $ 2.00. The thirteen stories feature the amateur detective Miss Marple , her nephew Raymond West , and her friend Sir Henry Clithering . They are
352-559: A Morris Cowley , was discovered at Newlands Corner in Surrey , parked above a chalk quarry with an expired driving licence and clothes inside. It was feared that she might have drowned herself in the Silent Pool , a nearby beauty spot. The disappearance quickly became a news story. The press sought to satisfy their readers' "hunger for sensation, disaster, and scandal". Home Secretary William Joynson-Hicks pressured police, and
528-772: A Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse (unpaid) then as a dispenser at £16 (approximately equivalent to £1,130 in 2023) a year from 1917 after qualifying as an apothecary's assistant. Her war service ended in September 1918 when Archie was reassigned to London, and they rented a flat in St. John's Wood . Christie had long been a fan of detective novels, having enjoyed Wilkie Collins 's The Woman in White and The Moonstone , and Arthur Conan Doyle 's early Sherlock Holmes stories. She wrote her first detective novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles , in 1916. It featured Hercule Poirot ,
704-681: A barrister in the Indian Civil Service , Archie was a Royal Artillery officer who was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1913. The couple quickly fell in love. Three months after their first meeting, Archie proposed marriage, and Agatha accepted. With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Archie was sent to France to fight. They married on Christmas Eve 1914 at Emmanuel Church, Clifton , Bristol, close to
880-606: A barrow on the moor, which was kept in Sir Richard's house. The police suspected Diana but had no proof or explanation as to how she could have committed the crime. The members of the Tuesday Club debate possible solutions between them but Miss Marple hits on the correct one: although she does not know what caused Sir Richard to stumble – possibly a trip over a tree root – it was his cousin Elliot who quickly stabbed him in
1056-516: A bank, while Mary stayed behind to care for Simon. The old man still pined for his granddaughter and found himself under the influence of an American spiritualist , Mrs Eurydice Spragg, and her husband, Absalom. Mrs Spragg conducted many séances , in which "Simon Clode" 'contacted' his granddaughter, and the Spraggs were virtually resident in the house. Alarmed by this, Mr Petherick visited his client and then suggested to Grace's husband, Philip, that
1232-418: A beach by boat in a local spot appropriately called "Smuggler's Cove" and then putting the cargo into a local cave. The men set upon him, bound him and drove him to the ditch in a lorry. Badgworth found evidence that the cave had been used to store something but, more importantly, tyre tracks on the route on which Newman was taken matched a tyre on a lorry owned by Mr Kelvin. A night nurse of a neighbour testified
1408-598: A cone, which benefited The Jimmy Fund. The fund however, was started in 1948, well after the first historical reference. In Connecticut and other places in the U.S., as indicated by including the sense in the official Merriam-Webster , shots is a specific term for sprinkles. Nonpareils date back at least to the late 18th century, if not earlier. They were used as decoration for pièces montées and desserts. Dutch hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles) were invented in 1913 by Erven H. de Jong from Wormerveer. Venz, another Dutch company, made hagelslag popular. Hagelslag
1584-410: A couple called Jack and Gladys Sanders together, she just knew that the husband meant to murder his wife. The motive was money; they were living off her income but could not touch the capital in her lifetime, but she could will the money away and had done so in favour of her husband. Miss Marple's feelings were confirmed when she shared a tram ride with the couple and witnessed Mr Sanders "tripping" on
1760-461: A dinner party, where the next set of six stories are told. The group of guests employ a similar guessing game, and once more Miss Marple triumphs. The thirteenth story, Death by Drowning , takes place some time after the dinner party when Miss Marple finds out that Clithering is staying in St Mary Mead and asks him to help in the investigation surrounding the death of a local village girl. At
1936-478: A faint smell of gas in the room and a geranium on the wallpaper turned blue. There was gossip following the death and an exhumation, but no clear result. Moreover, Zarida had disappeared and no one could properly trace how Mrs Pritchard had come to hear of her. Once again Miss Marple has the solution. Having once seen a gardener mixing potassium cyanide with water to kill wasps , she was struck by how closely
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#17327933145422112-551: A firm connection between the fictional character and Christie's step-grandmother Margaret Miller ("Auntie-Grannie") and her "Ealing cronies". Both Marple and Miller "always expected the worst of everyone and everything, and were, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right". Marple appeared in 12 novels and 20 stories. Sprinkles In the UK and other Anglophonic Commonwealth countries sprinkles are denoted by different signifiers. For example, hundreds and thousands
2288-677: A former Belgian police officer with "magnificent moustaches" and a head "exactly the shape of an egg", who had taken refuge in Britain after Germany invaded Belgium. Christie's inspiration for the character came from Belgian refugees living in Torquay, and the Belgian soldiers she helped to treat as a volunteer nurse during the First World War. Her original manuscript was rejected by Hodder & Stoughton and Methuen . After keeping
2464-453: A fresh haddock in the fishmonger's window with its characteristic black spots known as the "thumb mark of St. Peter ". She realised that the solution lay in the mysterious words uttered by Geoffrey as he lay dying. Questioning the servants further, they stated that the words were to do with a "heap" or "pile" of some fish whose name probably began with "c". Checking a list of poisons, Miss Marple found one called Pilocarpine and read that it
2640-446: A full moon. A month went by with Mrs Pritchard counting down the days to the next full moon. Sure enough, the same thing happened, with a hollyhock on the wallpaper changing colour, although the door was locked. Another month passed, with Nurse Copling and Pritchard growing increasingly nervous while Mrs Pritchard seems resigned. The morning after the next full moon, Mrs Pritchard was found dead in her bed, her smelling salts beside her,
2816-440: A guarded conversation they had had a month later. The house servants were told which pen to fetch for Simon Clode if it looked like he was going to be signing a legal form, and they complied. The three children gained their rightful inheritance. The final story to be told at the regular meeting of the Tuesday Club comes from Miss Marple herself. It concerns a niece of hers called Mabel who obstinately married Geoffrey Denman when she
2992-591: A hamlet near Wallingford . This was their main residence for the rest of their lives and the place where Christie did much of her writing. This house also bears a blue plaque. Christie led a quiet life despite being known in Wallingford; from 1951 to 1976 she served as president of the local amateur dramatic society . The couple acquired the Greenway Estate in Devon as a summer residence in 1938; it
3168-625: A legal background. A client of his, whom he calls "Simon Clode", was a wealthy man who had one son who was killed in the First World War and left an orphaned granddaughter who in turn died when she was a child, leaving the old man bereft and grief-stricken. A brother of his had also recently died and his three children, Grace, Mary and George – all grown-up by the time of the story – came to live with Simon. His will left his estate to these three in equal shares. Grace married but lived nearby with her husband, Philip. George found employment in
3344-429: A letter, whose decipherable phrases referred to his dependency on his wife's money, her death, and "hundreds and thousands". The maid read of the death in a paper and, knowing relatives in the same village where Mr and Mrs Jones lived, wrote to them. This started a chain of gossip which led to the exhumation of the body and the discovery that Mrs Jones was poisoned with arsenic . There was further gossip linking Mr Jones to
3520-428: A local gardener Dobbs; and Dr Rosen's secretary, Charles Templeton, whom Clithering reveals was one of his own men, put in the house to keep an eye on things (but possibly not totally above suspicion). The tragedy occurred when Dr Rosen was found at the bottom of the stairs, possibly having fallen down, possibly having been pushed. The four people in the locked house were out at the time, but none can produce an alibi for
3696-427: A local girl called Rose Emmott has been found drowned in the river near to the mill . Local gossip was that she was pregnant by a young man called Rex Sandford, who is an architect from London, and the local feeling now is that she killed herself, unable to face her father with the truth. Later in the morning, Sir Henry receives a visit from an upset Miss Marple who tells him that Rose was murdered, and she doesn't want
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#17327933145423872-472: A meagre income. Two weeks after Boehmer's death, Mary's sister, Margaret West, married widowed dry goods merchant Nathaniel Frary Miller, a US citizen. To assist Mary financially, Margaret and Nathaniel agreed to foster nine-year-old Clara; the family settled in Timperley , Cheshire. The couple had no children together, but Nathaniel had a 17-year-old son, Frederick "Fred", from his previous marriage. Fred
4048-493: A miserable end; Miss Marple also recommends to Sir Henry that he write a letter to Gertrud explaining she has been cleared of suspicion of murder. The ladies are prevailed upon to tell a story, and Miss Marple relates a tale from a time when she was staying at Keston Spa Hydro just before Christmas. Feeling that older and more experienced people's feelings and intuitions are too often easily dismissed when such feelings are based on facts and experience, she relates how, when she saw
4224-416: A newspaper offered a £100 reward (equivalent to £7,500 in 2023). More than 1,000 police officers, 15,000 volunteers, and several aeroplanes searched the rural landscape. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave a spirit medium one of Christie's gloves to find her. Christie's disappearance made international headlines, including featuring on the front page of The New York Times . Despite the extensive manhunt, she
4400-436: A noted professor on the subject of spiritualism be invited to the house to witness the séances. This happened, with the result that the professor stated that the Spraggs were frauds. At hearing this, "Simon Clode" threw Philip out of the house in a fit of anger. The old man then fell ill and was near death. He instructed Petherick to attend him to draw up a new will leaving five thousand pounds to each of his nieces and nephews and
4576-497: A nursemaid for her mentally-ill father-in-law – Miss Marple learned that the widow was the subject of gossip to the effect that she had murdered her husband, and no one in the area would now talk to her. Geoffrey had been taken ill in the night and died soon after the doctor arrived, but the old locum had not raised the alarm about the manner of death. It was thought that he had died after eating poisoned mushrooms. The two servants told Miss Marple that Denman had been unable to swallow and
4752-400: A perusal of the hotel register were called Miss Mary Barton and Miss Amy Durrant, and who were tourists from England. The very next day, Dr Lloyd travelled to the other side of the island with friends for a picnic and, reaching the bay of Las Nieves, the group came upon the end of a tragedy: Miss Durrant had been swimming and got into trouble, and Miss Barton swam out to help her but to no avail;
4928-421: A promise of marriage after his wife's death to persuade the girl to commit murder. He then married someone else. The baby died shortly after its birth and Gladys confessed while dying. The group meets the following week and it is the turn of Dr Pender to tell his story. His tale is one in which a man was struck down by "no human agency". It took place at a house on the edge of Dartmoor called "Silent Grove" which
5104-421: A random gathering of people at the house of Miss Marple. Each week the group tell tales of mystery, always solved by the female amateur detective from the comfort of her armchair. One of the guests is Sir Henry Clithering , an ex- Commissioner of Scotland Yard , and this allows Christie to resolve the story, with him usually pointing out that the criminals were caught. Sir Henry Clithering invites Miss Marple to
5280-408: A result, her parents and sister supervised her studies in reading, writing and basic arithmetic, a subject she particularly enjoyed. They also taught her music, and she learned to play the piano and the mandolin. Christie was a voracious reader from an early age. Some of her earliest memories were of reading children's books by Mrs Molesworth and Edith Nesbit . When a little older, she moved on to
5456-420: A rich city gent, and in it he had installed his mistress . She was an actress called Mary Kerr, the wife of another actor, called Claude Leeson (although Jane admits these are not the people's real names). Someone calling herself Miss Kerr had rung up the police, told them the bungalow had been burgled, and described Leslie Faulkener as having visited there earlier that day, but having been refused admittance. He
The Thirteen Problems - Misplaced Pages Continue
5632-478: A series of short stories that began publication in December 1927 and were subsequently collected under the title The Thirteen Problems . Marple was a genteel, elderly spinster who solved crimes using analogies to English village life. Christie said, "Miss Marple was not in any way a picture of my grandmother; she was far more fussy and spinsterish than my grandmother ever was", but her autobiography establishes
5808-612: A shipwreck from the Armada which sank off the coast and eluded many attempts at recovery over the years. Travelling by train to Newman's house in the village of Polperran, Raymond shared a carriage with Police Inspector Badgworth who knew of the Spanish treasure trove but was specifically interested in the more recent wreck of a ship called the RMS Otranto . The latter sank six months earlier and its bullion had either been removed from
5984-491: A sixth person for dinner, he names Miss Marple and tells an incredulous Dolly of her success at solving last year's mysteries. Dolly wonders if the old lady could solve a ghost mystery of Arthur's. Miss Marple duly arrives at the Bantry home along with Sir Henry, an actress called Jane Helier, and Dr Lloyd. Arthur Bantry tells of a friend, George Pritchard, whose late wife was a difficult and cantankerous semi-invalid looked after by
6160-400: A solicitor. The conversation turns to unsolved mysteries; Raymond, Joyce, Pender, and Petherick all claim that their professions are ideal for solving crimes. Joyce suggests that they form a club; every Tuesday night, a member of the group must tell of a real mystery, and the others will attempt to solve it. Sir Henry agrees to participate, and Miss Marple brightly volunteers herself to round out
6336-402: A storm brewing over the area, and this coincided with Raymond having a feeling of foreboding. This feeling was justified when Newman went out for a walk that night and failed to return, although his disappearance was not noticed until the following day. A search was set up and the missing man was found bound and gagged in a local ditch. His story was that he spotted some men bringing something onto
6512-476: A succession of nurses. They changed regularly, unable to cope with their patient, with one exception called Nurse Copling who somehow managed the tantrums and complaints better than others of her calling. Mrs Pritchard had a predilection for fortunetellers, and one day one who called herself Zarida came to the house when both George and Nurse Copling were out of the house on their separate business. Arriving back home, Mrs Pritchard told George that Zarida had declared
6688-599: A surface, as opposed to decorations that are placed in specific spots. Nonpareils , confetti , silver, gold, and pearl dragées – not to be confused with pearl sugar (which is also sprinkled on baked goods ) – and hundreds-and-thousands are all used this way, along with a newer product called "sugar shapes" or "sequins". These latter come in a variety of shapes, often flavored, for holidays or themes, such as Halloween witches and pumpkins , or flowers and dinosaurs . Candy cane shapes may taste like peppermint, and gingerbread men like gingerbread cookies. Sanding sugar
6864-575: A tour of his expedition site in Iraq. Christie and Mallowan married in Edinburgh in September 1930. Their marriage lasted until Christie's death in 1976. She accompanied Mallowan on his archaeological expeditions, and her travels with him contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Other novels (such as Peril at End House ) were set in and around Torquay, where she
7040-516: A variation of that candy's name—for example, mini- chocolate chips or praline . Sprinkles generally require frosting, ice cream, or some other sort of sticky material in order to stick to the desired food surface. They can be most commonly found on smaller confections such as cupcakes or frosted sugar cookies, as these generally have more frosting and smaller diameter than do cakes. In the Netherlands , chocoladehagelslag (chocolate sprinkles)
7216-423: Is a transparent crystal sugar of larger size than general-use refined white sugar . Crystal sugar tends to be clear and of much larger crystals than sanding sugar. Pearl sugar is relatively large, opaque white spheroids of sugar. Both crystal and pearl sugars are typically used for sprinkling on sweet breads, pastries, and cookies in many countries. Some American manufacturers deem the elongated opaque sprinkles
The Thirteen Problems - Misplaced Pages Continue
7392-416: Is also an antidote for atropine poisoning. Based on her own eyedrops, which contain atropine sulphate, she confronted the elderly Mr Denman and accused him of murdering his son. The insane man laughingly confessed the crime, committed because he overheard that his son was planning to put him in an asylum . He emptied his eye solution into his son's bedside glass of water knowing Geoffrey would drink it during
7568-460: Is also included in "Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories". The Times Literary Supplement (8 September 1932) stated, "It is easy to invent an improbable detective, like this elderly spinster who has spent all her life in one village, but by no means so easy to make her detections plausible. Sometimes Miss Marple comes dangerously near those detectives with a remarkable and almost superhuman intuition who solve every mystery as if they knew
7744-493: Is in a class by herself. She does not call herself a detective, but she could give almost any of the regular sleuths cards and spades and beat him at his own game." The Scotsman of 6 June 1932 declared, "The stories are worthy alike of Mrs Christie's powers of invention, and of the 'Crime Club' series in which they are issued." Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan , ( née Miller ; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976)
7920-442: Is investigating the case. By now the police know that the girl did not commit suicide, as bruises have been found on her upper arm where she was grabbed before being thrown in the river, and a small boy walking in the woods nearby on the evening before heard her cry and found her body. Sir Henry joins the two policemen as they continue their investigations. They meet Rose's father who runs the village pub . He definitely thinks Sandford
8096-468: Is overstated, and points out that "in later life she sought to protect him against misrepresentation as powerfully as if he were her own flesh and blood". Unlike Doyle, she resisted the temptation to kill her detective off while he was still popular. She married off Poirot's " Watson ", Captain Arthur Hastings , in an attempt to trim her cast commitments. Miss Jane Marple was introduced in
8272-431: Is the last to tell a story. Although she attempts to disguise the fact somewhat by using a false name, the others quickly realise that the story is about herself and, slipping up several times, she soon gives up the pretence and continues. She was on tour in a provincial town when she was summoned to a police station. There had been a burglary at a bungalow and a young man called Leslie Faulkener had been arrested. His story
8448-571: Is the most popular denotation used in United Kingdom , Australia , New Zealand and South Africa to refer to nonpareils , a type of sprinkles. Another UK variant of the term is vermicelli , especially when said of chocolate sprinkles. This name can be seen borrowed into spoken Egyptian Arabic as faːrmasil . Jimmies is the most popular term for chocolate sprinkles in the Boston , Philadelphia , and New England regions. The origin of
8624-411: Is the murderer. They call on the architect, who confesses that he is the father of the unborn child and that he wrote a note to Rose, suggesting a meeting at the river, when she insisted on speaking with him. He walked through the woods near the river but failed to keep the appointment. He is told that he is the prime suspect in the case, and not to leave his house. To wrap matters up, the three men visit
8800-518: Is used as a sandwich topping (similar to muisjes and vlokken ); this is also common in Belgium and the former colonies of the Netherlands, Suriname and Indonesia . These countries also use vruchtenhagel and anijshagel (made of sugar and fruit/anise-flavour respectively) on sandwiches (mainly at breakfast). In Indonesia, it is commonly known as meses or meises , presumably derived from
8976-462: Is used on bread and other things made of bread. Most of the time butter is spread out so the hagelslag does not fall off. After much research and venture, Gerard de Vries and Venz created the first machine to produce the tiny cylindrical treats. They were named hagelslag after their resemblance to a weather phenomenon prominent in the Netherlands: hail . (This reference is also transferred to
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#17327933145429152-462: The (Simplon) Orient Express to Istanbul and then to Baghdad . In Iraq, she became friends with archaeologist Leonard Woolley and his wife, who invited her to return to their dig in February 1930. On that second trip, she met archaeologist Max Mallowan , 13 years her junior. In a 1977 interview, Mallowan recounted his first meeting with Christie, when he took her and a group of tourists on
9328-745: The Ambassadors Theatre in the West End on 25 November 1952, and by 2018 there had been more than 27,500 performances. The play was temporarily closed in 2020 because of COVID-19 lockdowns in London before it reopened in 2021. In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America 's Grand Master Award . Later that year, Witness for the Prosecution received an Edgar Award for best play. In 2013, she
9504-682: The BBC had acquired exclusive TV rights to Christie's works in the UK (previously associated with ITV ) and made plans with Acorn's co-operation to air new productions for the 125th anniversary of Christie's birth in 2015. As part of that deal, the BBC broadcast Partners in Crime and And Then There Were None , both in 2015. Subsequent productions have included The Witness for the Prosecution but plans to televise Ordeal by Innocence at Christmas 2017 were delayed because of controversy surrounding one of
9680-588: The Schwartze Hand , started after the war, with methods and objectives similar to those of the Camorra . Dr Rosen, prominent in secret service work, penetrated the organisation and managed to bring about its downfall. Despite this success, he was a marked man and came to England, living in a cottage in Somerset , expecting he might be murdered. His household comprised his niece Greta; an old servant, Gertrud;
9856-540: The Stone Age and within the grounds of the house was a grove of trees which Sir Richard fancied was an authentic grove of Astarte , in the centre of which he had built a rough temple in the form of a stone summerhouse. Diana Ashley was enthused enough by the grove and the structure it contained to wildly suggest a moonlit orgy to the goddess of the Moon , a suggestion which, unsurprisingly, was vetoed by Dr Pender and some of
10032-416: The estate . During this period, Petherick left his overcoat where only Mrs Spragg could have gained access to the envelope with the will in it. Petherick took it to his office where he was soon visited by Mr Spragg, who was left alone with the will for a few moments. Two months later, Clode died. When the will was opened, the sheet was blank. Petherick's problem was that Mrs Spragg had the opportunity to change
10208-878: The leasehold of a villa in Torquay named Ashfield . It was here that their third and last child, Agatha, was born in 1890. She described her childhood as "very happy". The Millers lived mainly in Devon but often visited her step-grandmother/great-aunt Margaret Miller in Ealing and maternal grandmother Mary Boehmer in Bayswater . A year was spent abroad with her family, in the French Pyrenees , Paris, Dinard , and Guernsey . Because her siblings were so much older, and there were few children in their neighbourhood, Christie spent much of her time playing alone with her pets and imaginary companions. She eventually made friends with other girls in Torquay, noting that "one of
10384-416: 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. Christie
10560-800: The "chocolate" sprinkles called "jimmies" (which might never have contained any chocolate) in Brooklyn, New York . However, advertisements for chocolate sprinkles as a confection exist in the United States as far back as 1921, predating Just Born by two years. A related product, sanding sugar has been commercially available in a small range of colors for decades. Now it comes in a wide variety, including black and metallic-like "glitter". Popular terminology for this confection tends to overlap, while manufacturers are more precise with their labeling. What consumers often call "sprinkles" covers several types of candy decorations that are sprinkled randomly over
10736-583: The Air Force at the end of the war and began working in the City financial sector on a relatively low salary. They still employed a maid. Her second novel, The Secret Adversary (1922), featuring new detective couple Tommy and Tuppence , was also published by The Bodley Head. It earned her £50 (approximately equivalent to £3,400 in 2023). A third novel, Murder on the Links , again featured Poirot, as did
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#173279331454210912-485: The Desert but suggested a second novel. Meanwhile, Christie's social activities expanded, with country house parties, riding, hunting, dances, and roller skating. She had short-lived relationships with four men and an engagement to another. In October 1912, she was introduced to Archibald "Archie" Christie at a dance given by Lord and Lady Clifford at Ugbrooke , about 12 miles (19 km) from Torquay. The son of
11088-475: The Durrant family and realised the harm he would cause them by reporting their elder sister to the police for a crime for which he had little evidence. Six months later, Miss Durrant died. Sir Henry Clithering tells his story, still a puzzle to him. There are four suspects, three of whom are therefore as much victims as the real victim in that they are under constant suspicion. It concerns a German secret society,
11264-581: The Dutch muisjes , which are also similar. In Belgium it is often called muizenstrontjes (mouse droppings), due to the resemblance. Fairy bread is the name given to the children's treat of sprinkles or nonpareils on buttered white bread. Fairy bread is commonly served at children's parties in Australia and New Zealand . A dessert called confetti cake has sprinkles mixed with the batter, where they slowly dissolve and form little colored spots, giving
11440-471: The Finnish word for sprinkles, "Koristerakeet" which literally means "decorative hail"). Only hagelslag with a cacao percentage of more than 32% can bear the name chocoladehagelslag (chocolate sprinkles). If it is lower than 32%, it is to be referred to as cacaofantasie or cacaofantasie hagelslag (cacao fantasy sprinkles). The American candy company Just Born cites its founder, Sam Born, as inventing
11616-420: The Middle East and used her first-hand knowledge of this profession in her fiction. According to UNESCO 's Index Translationum , she remains the most-translated individual author . Her novel And Then There Were None is one of the top-selling books of all time, with approximately 100 million copies sold. Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the world record for the longest initial run. It opened at
11792-530: The Ulverscroft Large Print Book Publishers. Mallowan, who remarried in 1977, died in 1978 and was buried next to Christie. Christie was unhappy about becoming "an employed wage slave", and for tax reasons set up a private company in 1955, Agatha Christie Limited, to hold the rights to her works. In about 1959 she transferred her 278-acre home, Greenway Estate, to her daughter, Rosalind Hicks . In 1968, when Christie
11968-597: The answer beforehand, but this is not often and Mrs. Christie shows great skill in adapting her problems so that she can find analogies in Miss Marple's surroundings." The review concluded that "in general these are all problems to try the intellect rather than the nerves of the reader." Isaac Anderson in The New York Times Book Review (5 March 1933) wrote: "The stories are slight in structure, but they present some very pretty problems and introduce us to some truly interesting people. Miss Marple ...
12144-420: The body was never found. She left a suicide note which seemed to confess to some crime, and the inquest ruled that she was temporarily insane. Miss Marple, comparing the tale to that of a local fraudster called Mrs Trout, who claimed several dead people's old age pensions, states that "Miss Barton" was a clever criminal who drowned the other woman and then assumed her identity – hence the reason she looked fat – she
12320-422: The body, and insisted the door be locked and the police called. Miss Marple noticed the woman's hat was lying beside the body, although previously she had been wearing it. Prompted by the police, she also noticed that the dead woman was no longer wearing earrings, as she had been when the body was first discovered. Mrs Sanders's other jewellery was missing, and the police were certain the thief came back after killing
12496-417: The breakdown of her marriage and the death of her mother in 1926, she made international headlines by going missing for eleven days. During both World Wars, she served in hospital dispensaries, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the poisons that featured in many of her novels, short stories, and plays. Following her marriage to archaeologist Max Mallowan in 1930, she spent several months each year on digs in
12672-681: The cast members. The three-part adaptation aired in April 2018. A three-part adaptation of The A.B.C. Murders starring John Malkovich and Rupert Grint began filming in June 2018 and was first broadcast in December 2018. A two-part adaptation of The Pale Horse was broadcast on BBC1 in February 2020. Death Comes as the End will be the next BBC adaptation. Since 2020, reissues of Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot novels by HarperCollins have removed "passages containing descriptions, insults or references to ethnicity". Christie's first published book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles ,
12848-413: The chief pharmacist at UCH. In 1977, a thallium poisoning case was solved by British medical personnel who had read Christie's book and recognised the symptoms she described. The British intelligence agency MI5 investigated Christie after a character called Major Bletchley appeared in her 1941 thriller N or M? , which was about a hunt for a pair of deadly fifth columnists in wartime England. MI5
13024-512: The cinema, or for wireless and television." Further, Dame Agatha's private pleasures were gardening – she won local prizes for horticulture – and buying furniture for her various houses. She was a shy person: she disliked public appearances, but she was friendly and sharp-witted to meet. By inclination as well as breeding, she belonged to the English upper middle class. She wrote about, and for, people like herself. That
13200-542: The city, and Christie continued to work hard at her writing. After living in a series of apartments in London, they bought a house in Sunningdale , Berkshire, which they renamed Styles after the mansion in Christie's first detective novel. Christie's mother, Clarissa Miller, died in April 1926. They had been exceptionally close, and the loss sent Christie into a deep depression. In August 1926, reports appeared in
13376-523: The clergyman confirms he did. Although Dr Pender has disguised the names, Sir Henry has recognized the case and the persons involved in it. Raymond West takes his turn in telling a story. It took place two years earlier when Raymond spent Whitsun in Cornwall with a recent acquaintance called John Newman. He was something of an authority on the Spanish Armada and had bought the salvage rights to
13552-621: The company. In 2020, James Prichard was the company's chairman. Mathew Prichard also holds the copyright to some of his grandmother's later literary works including The Mousetrap . Christie's work continues to be developed in a range of adaptations. In 1998, Booker sold its shares in Agatha Christie Limited (at the time earning £2,100,000, approximately equivalent to £4,700,000 in 2023 annual revenue) for £10,000,000 (approximately equivalent to £22,200,000 in 2023) to Chorion , whose portfolio of authors' works included
13728-490: The cottage of a widow, Mrs Bartlett, who has a young lodger, Joe Ellis, staying with her. This young man was besotted with Rose, and he states that he would have married Rose and brought up the baby as his own. At the time of the murder, he was putting up some shelves in Mrs Bartlett's kitchen and she can provide his alibi. At Sir Henry's insistence, they interview the small boy who heard the cry from Rose before she entered
13904-440: The dead woman's head – it didn't fit. She realised that the body they saw and quickly locked in the room when they first discovered it was not that of Mrs Sanders, but that of the dead housemaid, which was awaiting collection by the undertakers. Sanders had put the body there when his wife was playing bridge, and then rushed into the grounds after the "discovery", supposedly overcome with grief. There he had met his wife returning from
14080-442: The disciplined atmosphere. In 1905, her mother sent her to Paris, where she was educated in a series of pensionnats (boarding schools), focusing on voice training and piano playing. Deciding she lacked the temperament and talent, she gave up her goal of performing professionally as a concert pianist or an opera singer. After completing her education, Christie returned to England to find her mother ailing. They decided to spend
14256-421: The doctor's daughter, but there was nothing substantive there. The Jones's maid, Gladys, tearfully confirmed that all three people had been served the same meal of tinned lobster, bread and cheese, and trifle. She had also prepared a bowl of cornflour for Mrs Jones to calm her stomach, but Miss Clark ate this, despite the diet she was on for her consistent weight problems. Jones also had a plausible explanation for
14432-490: The earliest stories Christie wrote about Miss Marple. The main setting for the frame story is the fictional village of St Mary Mead . As in her short story collection Partners in Crime , Christie employs an overarching narrative, making the book more like an episodic novel. There are three sets of narratives, though they themselves interrelate. The first set of six are stories told by the Tuesday Night Club ,
14608-630: The event to embarrass her husband but did not anticipate the resulting public melodrama. Christie's biographer Laura Thompson provides an alternative view that Christie disappeared during a nervous breakdown, conscious of her actions but not in emotional control of herself. Public reaction at the time was largely negative, supposing a publicity stunt or an attempt to frame her husband for murder. In January 1927, Christie, looking "very pale", sailed with her daughter and secretary to Las Palmas , Canary Islands, to "complete her convalescence", returning three months later. Christie petitioned for divorce and
14784-521: The fictional Chimneys, Stonygates, and other houses in her stories are mostly Abney Hall in various forms." During World War II, Christie moved to London and lived in a flat at the Isokon in Hampstead , whilst working in the pharmacy at University College Hospital (UCH), London, where she updated her knowledge of poisons. Her later novel The Pale Horse was based on a suggestion from Harold Davis,
14960-478: The first Britons to surf standing up, and extended their time there by three months to practise. She is remembered at the Museum of British Surfing as having said about surfing, "Oh it was heaven! Nothing like rushing through the water at what seems to you a speed of about two hundred miles an hour. It is one of the most perfect physical pleasures I have known." When they returned to England, Archie resumed work in
15136-441: The funeral, which took place on the island. Before she left Gran Canaria ten days later, Miss Barton asked Dr Lloyd several strange questions regarding the justification of taking the law into one's own hands. Miss Marple is interested to know if Miss Barton suddenly put on weight during this period and the doctor confirms that she had done so. Some time later, Dr Lloyd read in the papers that Miss Barton drowned in Cornwall, although
15312-412: The game, summoned by him on the telephone using an alias, somehow persuaded her up to their room by means of the fire escape, killed her, and then swapped the clothes, returning the dead housemaid to her room. The one thing he couldn't do was put the hat back on his wife's head, as her shingled hair meant it didn't fit. The cheap hat they found was the property of the housemaid, as Mrs Sanders's hat cupboard
15488-410: The grassy floor. They took the body into the house and the police were called. Not satisfied, Elliot went back alone to the grove to investigate further and later the others found him struck down in the same spot with a knife wound in his shoulder and the knife in his hand. His story was one of seeing an illusion of the goddess and then being struck down himself. The knife was identified as one dug up from
15664-574: The great interest in archaeology and Egyptology that developed in her later years. Returning to Britain, she continued her social activities, writing and performing in amateur theatrics. She also helped put on a play called The Blue Beard of Unhappiness with female friends. At 18, Christie wrote her first short story, "The House of Beauty", while recovering in bed from an illness. It consisted of about 6,000 words about "madness and dreams", subjects of fascination for her. Her biographer Janet Morgan has commented that, despite "infelicities of style",
15840-442: The greater part to the Spraggs. As the old man lay in his bed, Petherick tried to dissuade Clode against the terms of the new will but to no avail. Two servants were summoned and instructed to fetch a pen and witness the new will, which Clode wrote out himself and gave to Petherick for safekeeping. After this part of the business had been concluded, Petherick went downstairs for tea and to help George Clode with some matters to do with
16016-409: The group. Sir Henry tells the first story of three people who sat down to a supper after which all of them fell ill, supposedly of food poisoning, and one died as a result. The three people were a Mr and Mrs Jones and the wife's companion, Miss Clark, and it was Mrs Jones who died. Mr Jones was a commercial traveller; a maid in one of the hotels in which he stayed saw blotting paper he had used to write
16192-410: The grove. The others followed and found her in her true costume, magnificently adorned in the moonlight as a priestess of Astarte. She warned the others not to approach but Sir Richard did and promptly collapsed on the ground. When he was examined by his cousin, Elliot, and then Dr Symonds, they found he was dead, killed by a stab to the heart, but no one was seen to approach him and no weapon was found on
16368-514: The highlights of my existence" was her appearance with them in a youth production of Gilbert and Sullivan 's The Yeomen of the Guard , in which she played the hero, Colonel Fairfax. According to Christie, Clara believed she should not learn to read until she was eight; thanks to her curiosity, she was reading by the age of four. Her sister had been sent to a boarding school, but their mother insisted that Christie receive her education at home. As
16544-734: The home of his mother and stepfather, when Archie was on home leave. Rising through the ranks, he was posted back to Britain in September 1918 as a colonel in the Air Ministry . Christie involved herself in the war effort as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross . From October 1914 to May 1915, then from June 1916 to September 1918, she worked 3,400 hours in the Town Hall Red Cross Hospital , Torquay, first as
16720-657: The house to be "evil" and to avoid blue flowers. Two days later a letter arrived from the fortuneteller that said, "Beware of the Full Moon. The Blue Primrose means warning; the Blue Hollyhock means danger; the Blue Geranium means death." Four days later, one of the primroses in the pattern of the wallpaper in Mrs Pritchard's room changed colour to blue in the middle of the night, when there had been
16896-461: The house, including a gardening catalogue and a letter for Charles Templeton which appeared to have been sent from relatives in Germany. Templeton ripped it up and threw it away. Of the letters the police were able to examine, the strangest was one addressed to Dr Rosen himself which was from someone called "Georgine" and mentioned several people of whom Rosen had never heard. Sir Henry shows the group
17072-580: The integrity of her creations" and disapproved of " merchandising " activities. Upon her death on 28 October 2004, the Greenway Estate passed to her son Mathew Prichard. After his stepfather's death in 2005, Prichard donated Greenway and its contents to the National Trust . Christie's family and family trusts , including great-grandson James Prichard, continue to own the 36% stake in Agatha Christie Limited, and remain associated with
17248-539: The killer, in the hopes (which did not come to pass) of marrying the widower Pritchard. Sir Henry confirms that Nurse Copling was recently arrested for a similar murder. Dr Lloyd is called upon to tell his story, and it begins in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria . The doctor was living there for his health, and one night, in the principal hotel of the town, he caught sight of two middle-aged ladies, one slightly plump, one somewhat scraggy, whom he found out from
17424-409: The letter and Miss Marple wonders why the word "Honesty", which appears in the middle of a sentence, is written with a capital H. Three months after the death of her uncle, Greta Rosen went back to Germany, but not before seeing Sir Henry and asking him to confirm that Charles was above suspicion. Sir Henry was unable to do so. Miss Marple and Mrs Bantry point out that the three people in the letter and
17600-440: The letter which was blotted in the hotel room. The people in the room deliver their various theories as to who the murderer is, but neglect to ask Miss Marple, until Sir Henry politely points out the omission. Miss Marple witters on about a similar case involving a local family (to which Raymond cannot see any relevance) until she suddenly asks Sir Henry if Gladys confessed, and says that she hopes Mr Jones will hang for what he made
17776-512: The literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley . In February 2012, after a management buyout , Chorion began to sell off its literary assets. This included the sale of Chorion's 64% stake in Agatha Christie Limited to Acorn Media UK. In 2014, RLJ Entertainment Inc. (RLJE) acquired Acorn Media UK, renamed it Acorn Media Enterprises , and incorporated it as the RLJE UK development arm. In late February 2014, media reports stated that
17952-408: The lone woman as "Carol", an old friend, and introduced her to his somewhat plain wife, "Margery". As Joyce worked on her canvas she overheard the conversation of the three people, and Denis's suggestion of hiring a rowboat to take them round the coast to a local cave. Carol, disliking boats, agreed to walk to the spot and meet the couple there. That afternoon Joyce had returned to her canvas in front of
18128-485: The lorry was never taken out of its garage on the night in question. Kelvin evaded arrest and Raymond didn't know the solution to the mystery. Again it is Miss Marple who hits on the solution, when she admonishes her nephew on his choice of friends, and Sir Henry confirms that he knows something of the case and that the old lady is right. Newman is not the man's real name and he is now in Princetown Prison for
18304-461: The murderer to be one of the house party)? It was Sylvia herself who picked the foxglove leaves and Dr Lloyd wonders if the intended victim was Sir Ambrose, who was prescribed drugs for his heart condition. Miss Marple latches onto this clue and finds the solution – Sir Ambrose's drug was digitalin . He planted the foxglove seed among the sage a long time before, and mild poisoning ensued at the dinner party, but somehow he fed his ward further doses at
18480-497: The murderer. In The Tuesday Night Club , Raymond West's future spouse is named as Joyce Lemprière, but in later works involving Miss Marple, Joyce is rechristened Joan. Similarly, a guest at the Bantry's household, Doctor Lloyd, is a general practitioner in St Mary Mead as opposed to the later physician, Doctor Haydock. The change in names is unexplained. Jane Helier makes a return in the short story Strange Jest . This story
18656-700: The name jimmies is uncertain, but it was first documented in 1930, as a topping for cake. The Just Born Candy Company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , claims to have invented jimmies and named them after an employee. An unlikely claim on the name jimmies originates from Dr. Sidney Farber and Edward Brigham. Dr. Farber co-founded the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, as well as a charity, The Jimmy Fund , named after one of his child patients. Brigham opened an ice cream restaurant called Brigham's and charged an extra penny for chocolate sprinkles on
18832-436: The night. Mr Denman is committed to an asylum after all and the Tuesday Club congratulates Miss Marple on her success, although Raymond points out there is one thing she doesn't know. His aunt corrects him – she knows that he proposed to Joyce earlier in the evening! A year has passed and Sir Henry Clithering is once again in St Mary Mead staying as a guest of Colonel Arthur Bantry and his wife, Dolly. Asked for suggestions as to
19008-536: The official sprinkles. In British English , these are sugar strands or hundreds-and-thousands (the latter term alludes to their supposed uncountability). In the New England region of United States , as well as in Philadelphia, sprinkles are often referred to as jimmies. "Jimmies", in this sense, are usually considered to be used as an ice cream topping, while sprinkles are for decorating baked goods, but
19184-400: The one place name, together with the word "Honesty", are all species of dahlias and that, rearranged, they spell "Death". This was the instruction to kill Dr Rosen, and it was sent to the intended victim himself to divert suspicion from the assassin. Receiving a letter from someone he did not know, he would naturally give it to the other people at the breakfast table to read, one being Charles,
19360-485: The other woman drowned. As part of the ensuing investigation, Miss Barton revealed that Miss Durrant was her companion of some five months. Dr Lloyd was puzzled by the claim made by one of the witnesses who swore that she saw Miss Barton holding Miss Durant's head under the water, not helping her, but the claim was dismissed as none of the other witnesses backed up the story. Dr Lloyd helped Miss Barton attempt to trace next-of-kin, but without success, and he also helped arrange
19536-423: The others, part of their objection being a feeling of evil that the setting provoked in their imaginations. Toned down to a fancy dress party, Diana's suggestion was accepted by the others to take place that night, and preparations happily took place. Diana's shapeless dress, titled 'the unknown', disappointed the group for its lack of imagination, and during the party she disappeared, last being seen heading towards
19712-408: The paper that Margery had disappeared while bathing in the sea, and a week later her body was found washed up with a blow to the head, supposedly caused when she dived into the water on some rocks. The men in the Tuesday Club feel that there is very little in the story to go on, but Miss Marple points out that they do not appreciate the point about clothes as she and Joyce do. The bloodstains were on
19888-446: The pavement that were not there a short time before. Before she could take any action, Denis emerged from the pub and asked Joyce and the local man if they had seen Carol return. The three had met at the cave, as agreed, and Carol had supposedly walked back to Rathole but not arrived, although her car was still there. Denis and Margery drove off and Joyce inspected the pavement – only to find the bloodstains gone. Two days later, she read in
20064-477: The pavement, dripping from one of the bathing suits, which was scarlet in colour. The criminals didn't realise that when they hung them up to dry. Joyce confirms her point and finishes the story: a year later, at an east coast resort, she saw the same set up again with Denis, Carol and another woman, supposedly Denis's new wife. Although she didn't know exactly what was happening, Joyce went to the police station and reported suspicious activity. A Scotland Yard inspector
20240-411: The poor girl do. The letter in the hotel room was to Gladys. Hundreds and thousands refers to sweets sprinkled atop the dessert; Mr Jones had mixed arsenic with them and given them to Gladys to use for the trifle . Miss Clark had not eaten the dessert (due to her diet) and Mr Jones scraped off the poisoned sweets. Sir Henry confirms that Miss Marple is correct. Mr Jones had got Gladys pregnant and used
20416-546: The press that Christie had gone to a village near Biarritz to recuperate from a "breakdown" caused by "overwork". In August 1926, Archie asked Christie for a divorce. He had fallen in love with Nancy Neele, a friend of Major Belcher. On 3 December 1926, the pair quarrelled after Archie announced his plan to spend the weekend with friends, unaccompanied by his wife. Late that evening, Christie disappeared from their home in Sunningdale. The following morning, her car,
20592-509: The pretence of examining him. The knife was hidden as part of his fancy dress costume. Dr Pender confirms that five years later, Elliot wrote to him on the eve of an expedition to the South Pole admitting the crime and the torment he has suffered since. His motive was love for Diana Ashley, and by killing his cousin he both removed a rival and inherited his wealth. He hoped to atone for his crime and assuage his guilt by dying honourably, which
20768-434: The pub, spotted two bathing suits drying in the sun from the balcony of the pub, and assumed that the three people had returned. A local man engaged her in somewhat unwanted conversation and distracted her from her work. Before she realised what she had done, she seemed to have painted in bloodstains on the pavement in front of the pub, and was astonished to find that she had captured reality – there did seem to be bloodstains on
20944-413: The same time from his own drug, thereby killing her but making it look like an accident. The motive was jealousy – he was in love with his ward and determined that she wouldn't marry Lorimer. Mrs Bantry confirms that she received a letter from Sir Ambrose after he died, to be posted to her in the event of his death, in which he confessed to the crime. Jane Helier, the beautiful but somewhat vacuous actress,
21120-604: The same time, Christie began work on her first novel, Snow Upon the Desert . Writing under the pseudonym Monosyllaba, she set the book in Cairo and drew upon her recent experiences there. She was disappointed when the six publishers she contacted declined the work. Clara suggested that her daughter ask for advice from the successful novelist Eden Phillpotts , a family friend and neighbour, who responded to her enquiry, encouraged her writing, and sent her an introduction to his own literary agent, Hughes Massie, who also rejected Snow Upon
21296-431: The secretary and natural suspect, but the other being his niece, the assassin. Her visit to Sir Henry to try and clear Charles's name was intended to have the opposite effect. Miss Marple also remembers, from her childhood German governess , that "Georgine" is German for "Dahlia", and that dahlias are symbolic of "Treachery and Misrepresentation". Miss Marple predicts that Greta being associated with criminals will come to
21472-413: The set-up. Miss Marple's warning was for Jane not to put herself at the mercy of the understudy, who may prove untrustworthy in the future. Jane decides not to proceed with the plan – there might be other Miss Marples out there who would find her out. Some time has passed since the six people met at the Bantry home, and Sir Henry is once again a guest there when news reaches the house early one morning that
21648-483: The ship's strongroom after the hull had been torn open on the rocks of Serpent's Point, or stolen some time before. The Inspector was investigating the matter. Arriving in Cornwall, Raymond settled into Newman's house and the following day went with him to the local pub, The Three Anchors , where he immediately felt suspicious of the landlord, Mr Kelvin, who made meaningful comments about the police and other "foreigners" looking into local matters. The next day, Sunday, saw
21824-760: The short stories commissioned by Bruce Ingram , editor of The Sketch magazine, from 1923. She now had no difficulty selling her work. In 1922, the Christies joined an around-the-world promotional tour for the British Empire Exhibition , led by Major Ernest Belcher . Leaving their daughter with Agatha's mother and sister, in 10 months they travelled to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Canada. They learned to surf prone in South Africa; then, in Waikiki , they were among
22000-540: The solution but fail, and are annoyed when Jane claims she does not know the true solution herself. The group disperse for the night, their six stories told, and Miss Marple whispers something in Jane's ear that causes the actress to cry out in shock. Later she confesses to Mrs Bantry that the story she told never happened, but Jane was thinking of carrying out such a scheme against an actress who enticed one of her previous husbands away from her. Jane and her understudy concocted
22176-401: The solution resembled smelling salts. If such a solution had been substituted for the bottle Mrs Pritchard always kept by her, the cyanide would have killed her, but the gas would have covered the short-lived smell of almonds. The flowers on the wall were red litmus paper which the ammonia – as an alkaloid – in the true smelling salts turned blue. Nurse Copling, who was Zarida in disguise, was
22352-403: The stairs onto his wife who then fell down, but was fortunately saved by the conductor . The atmosphere of on-coming tragedy was heightened when the hall porter died from pneumonia , followed soon after by one of the hydro's housemaids who died of blood poisoning . Miss Marple dates the tragedy from when Mr Sanders overheard her and two other ladies talking about this latter death. His wife
22528-403: The start of the story Miss Marple secretly works out who the murderer is and her solution proves correct. A group of friends are meeting at the house of Miss Marple in St Mary Mead. As well as the old lady herself, there is her nephew – the writer Raymond West – the artist Joyce Lemprière, Sir Henry Clithering (a former Scotland Yard commissioner), a clergyman called Dr Pender, and Mr Petherick,
22704-505: The story was "compelling". (The story became an early version of her story "The House of Dreams" .) Other stories followed, most of them illustrating her interest in spiritualism and the paranormal . These included " The Call of Wings " and "The Little Lonely God". Magazines rejected all her early submissions, made under pseudonyms (including Mac Miller, Nathaniel Miller, and Sydney West); some submissions were later revised and published under her real name, often with new titles. Around
22880-461: The submission for several months, John Lane at The Bodley Head offered to accept it, provided that Christie change how the solution was revealed. She did so, and signed a contract committing her next five books to The Bodley Head, which she later felt was exploitative. It was published in 1920. Christie settled into married life, giving birth to her only child, Rosalind Margaret Clarissa (later Hicks), in August 1919 at Ashfield. Archie left
23056-523: The surreal verse of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll . As an adolescent, she enjoyed works by Anthony Hope , Walter Scott , Charles Dickens , and Alexandre Dumas . In April 1901, aged 10, she wrote her first poem, "The Cow Slip". By 1901, her father's health had deteriorated, because of what he believed were heart problems. Fred died in November 1901 from pneumonia and chronic kidney disease . Christie later said that her father's death when she
23232-554: The term can be used for both. The sprinkles, known as nonpareils in French are tiny opaque spheres that were traditionally white, but that now come in many colors. The sprinkle-type of dragée is like a large nonpareil with a metallic coating of silver , gold , copper , or bronze . The food-sprinkle dragée is now also made in a form resembling pearls . Toppings that are more similar in consistency to another type of candy, even if used similarly to sprinkles, are usually known by
23408-468: The theft of gold from a London strongroom. He used the wreck and smuggling story to cover his tracks and Kelvin was set up as a scapegoat. The landlord's lorry was never used, but a tyre was taken off it during the night and put on another lorry to provide the "evidence". Newman's accomplice was probably his gardener whom Raymond saw working on a bed of rose trees on the Monday morning when they realised Newman
23584-472: The time of her death in 1976, "she was the best-selling novelist in history." One estimate of her total earnings from more than a half-century of writing is $ 20 million (approximately $ 107.1 million in 2023). As a result of her tax planning, her will left only £106,683 (approximately equivalent to £970,000 in 2023) net, which went mostly to her husband and daughter along with some smaller bequests. Her remaining 36% share of Agatha Christie Limited
23760-400: The time of the death. In addition, no strangers were seen in the vicinity, where they would easily have stood out and been spotted, therefore one of the four must be guilty. One puzzle is how the killer received his or her instructions. The only people to come to the house that day were the butcher, the grocer's assistant, and the postman. The latter brought several letters for various members of
23936-496: The water. He saw Sandford in the woods and thinks he also heard Joe Ellis whistling. He definitely saw two men with what seemed to be a wheelbarrow in the gathering dusk. Sir Henry, defeated in his attempt to clear Sandford, visits Miss Marple, who tells him Mrs Bartlett couldn't have been home on a Friday – the night in question. She takes in washing as extra income and on Fridays she takes it round in an old pram . Sir Henry goes back to Mrs Bartlett's where Joe confesses to being in
24112-427: The will, but the will was already in her favour, so she had the opportunity but no motive. George had the motive but no opportunity, as when he had access to the will Mr Petherick was present. Miss Marple again guesses the solution – the pen used to write out the will contained a solution of starch in water with a few drops of iodine in it (i.e. disappearing ink ). Petherick confirms that Philip confessed as much in
24288-598: The winter of 1907–1908 in the warm climate of Egypt, which was then a regular tourist destination for wealthy Britons. They stayed for three months at the Gezirah Palace Hotel in Cairo . Christie attended many dances and other social functions; she particularly enjoyed watching amateur polo matches. While they visited some ancient Egyptian monuments such as the Great Pyramid of Giza , she did not exhibit
24464-406: The woman and gained entry by means of the fire escape . Mrs Sanders had been summoned back to the hydro from her bridge game by a mysterious telephone call, but her husband had a perfect alibi for the time in question, that is after she had left the bridge game but before the discovery of the body. It took Miss Marple two days to guess the truth; she then asked the police to try the discarded hat on
24640-441: The woods, but denies hurting Rose. He then confronts Mrs Bartlett to the effect that she too was in the woods near the river. The "wheelbarrow" that was seen was the pram with the washing, and it was Mrs Bartlett who threw Rose in the water, as she herself was in love with Joe. Not wanting to see the young man hanged, she confesses, but is puzzled as to how Sir Henry knew. He recalls the note Miss Marple gave him, naming Mrs Bartlett as
24816-487: The wrong man to be hanged for the crime. She tells him that while she believes she knows who the murderer is, she has no proof whatsoever. She asks him to investigate for her, just to see what he can make of it, and to attempt to discover if the person she suspects was involved or not. She writes the name of the suspect on a piece of paper and gives it to Sir Henry, who reads it and sets out to investigate. With some reluctance, Sir Henry meets Melchett and Inspector Drewitt, who
24992-462: Was Postern of Fate in 1973. Textual analysis suggested that Christie may have begun to develop Alzheimer's disease or other dementia at about this time. In 1946, Christie said of herself: "My chief dislikes are crowds, loud noises, gramophones and cinemas. I dislike the taste of alcohol and do not like smoking. I do like sun, sea, flowers, travelling, strange foods, sports, concerts, theatres, pianos, and doing embroidery." Christie
25168-482: Was "missing" – as Miss Marple states, real gardeners never work on Whit Monday ! Joyce Lemprière's story also takes place in Cornwall, in the picturesque village of Rathole. One morning, she was painting a picture of the Polharwith Arms when two cars drew up within a couple of minutes of each other. The first contained a couple and the second a scarlet-dressed woman. The man in the couple, "Denis", recognised
25344-399: Was 11 marked the end of her childhood. The family's financial situation had, by this time, worsened. Madge married the year after their father's death and moved to Cheadle , Cheshire; Monty was overseas, serving in a British regiment. Christie now lived alone at Ashfield with her mother. In 1902, she began attending Miss Guyer's Girls' School in Torquay but found it difficult to adjust to
25520-491: Was Maud Wye, supposedly a friend of Jerry, but Mrs Bantry had seen Jerry kissing her one evening. Six months after Sylvia's death, the two were married. Dr Lloyd is puzzled as a fatal poisoning by the use of foxglove leaves – if it was an accident – is difficult to achieve; the alkaloid has to be extracted with great care and Sir Henry latches onto the main problem of the case, namely: how do you ensure that only your victim dies if you poison everyone, including yourself (assuming
25696-470: Was a British author 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
25872-639: Was a lifelong, "quietly devout" member of the Church of England , attended church regularly, and kept her mother's copy of The Imitation of Christ by her bedside. After her divorce, she stopped taking the sacrament of communion . The Agatha Christie Trust For Children was established in 1969, and shortly after Christie's death a charitable memorial fund was set up to "help two causes that she favoured: old people and young children". Christie's obituary in The Times notes that "she never cared much for
26048-552: Was almost 80, she sold a 51% stake in Agatha Christie Limited (and the works it owned) to Booker Books (better known as Booker Author's Division ), which by 1977 had increased its stake to 64%. Agatha Christie Limited still owns the worldwide rights for more than 80 of Christie's novels and short stories, 19 plays, and nearly 40 TV films. In the late 1950s, Christie had reputedly been earning around £100,000 (approximately equivalent to £3,000,000 in 2023) per year. Christie sold an estimated 300 million books during her lifetime. At
26224-517: Was already there investigating Denis who, under several names, had married women, insured their lives for large sums, and then killed them in a conspiracy with Carol – his real wife. The woman Joyce saw in Rathole at the time that the bloodstains were on the pavement wasn't Margery but Carol in disguise. When they killed the real Margery during the trip to the cave, blood must have got onto the scarlet bathing suit. Mr Petherick tells his story, which has
26400-513: Was an essential part of her charm. Christie died peacefully on 12 January 1976 at age 85 from natural causes at her home at Winterbrook House. Upon her death, two West End theatres – the St. Martin's , where The Mousetrap was playing, and the Savoy , which was home to a revival of Murder at the Vicarage – dimmed their outside lights in her honour. She
26576-938: Was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1956 New Year Honours . She was co-president of the Detection Club from 1958 to her death in 1976. In 1961, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature degree by the University of Exeter . In the 1971 New Year Honours , she was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), three years after her husband had been knighted for his archaeological work. After her husband's knighthood, Christie could also be styled Lady Mallowan. From 1971 to 1974, Christie's health began to fail, but she continued to write. Her last novel
26752-628: Was born in New York City and travelled extensively after leaving his Swiss boarding school. He and Clara were married in London in 1878. Their first child, Margaret "Madge" Frary, was born in Torquay in 1879. The second, Louis Montant "Monty", was born in Morristown , New Jersey , in 1880, while the family was on an extended visit to the United States. When Fred's father died in 1869, he left Clara £2,000 (approximately equivalent to £230,000 in 2023); in 1881 they used this to buy
26928-466: Was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay , Devon, and was largely home-schooled. She was initially an unsuccessful writer with six consecutive rejections, but this changed in 1920 when The Mysterious Affair at Styles , featuring detective Hercule Poirot, was published. Her first husband was Archibald Christie ; they married in 1914 and had one child before divorcing in 1928. Following
27104-589: Was born on 15 September 1890, into a wealthy upper middle class family in Torquay , Devon. She was the youngest of three children born to Frederick Alvah Miller, "a gentleman of substance", and his wife Clarissa "Clara" Margaret ( née Boehmer). Christie's mother Clara was born in Dublin in 1854 to British Army officer Frederick Boehmer and his wife Mary Ann (née West). Boehmer died in Jersey in 1863, leaving his widow to raise Clara and her brothers on
27280-472: Was brought face to face with Faulkener at the police station, he stated that this was not the woman he met at the bungalow, and the note was proven not to be in Jane's handwriting. Faulkener was released through lack of evidence. Sir Herman tried to hush the matter up but failed, and his wife started divorce proceedings when she found out about the affair with the actress. The guests of the Bantrys try to guess
27456-433: Was buried in the nearby churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey, in a plot she had chosen with her husband 10 years previously. The simple funeral service was attended by about 20 newspaper and TV reporters, some having travelled from as far away as South America. Thirty wreaths adorned Christie's grave, including one from the cast of her long-running play The Mousetrap and one sent "on behalf of the multitude of grateful readers" by
27632-521: Was concerned that Christie had a spy in Britain's top-secret codebreaking centre, Bletchley Park . The agency's fears were allayed when Christie told her friend, the codebreaker Dilly Knox , "I was stuck there on my way by train from Oxford to London and took revenge by giving the name to one of my least lovable characters." Christie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1950. In honour of her many literary works, Christie
27808-651: Was first published in This Week Magazine in the US in November 1941, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in July 1944 under the title of The Case of the Buried Treasure . The story was published posthumously as Strange Jest in a short story collection titled Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories . Mr Petherick returns in the short story "Miss Marple Tells a Story", which
27984-641: Was given to the National Trust in 2000. Christie frequently stayed at Abney Hall , Cheshire , which was owned by her brother-in-law, James Watts, and based at least two stories there: a short story, " The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding ", in the story collection of the same name and the novel After the Funeral . One Christie compendium notes that "Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all its servants and grandeur being woven into her plots. The descriptions of
28160-503: Was granted a decree nisi against her husband in April 1928, which was made absolute in October 1928. Archie married Nancy Neele a week later. Christie retained custody of their daughter, Rosalind, and kept the Christie surname for her writing. Reflecting on the period in her autobiography, Christie wrote, "So, after illness, came sorrow, despair and heartbreak. There is no need to dwell on it." In 1928, Christie left England and took
28336-446: Was growing among the sage, and it was also included in the stuffing for the meal of duck . All of the people at dinner were ill but one of them – Sir Ambrose's ward, Sylvia Keene – died. The inquest heard that death was due to poisoning by digitalis . Among the party was a young man called Jerry Lorimer who was engaged to Sylvia, to the opposition of Sir Ambrose; but, after a year of the engagement , Sir Ambrose had given in. Also there
28512-508: Was inherited by Hicks, who passionately preserved her mother's works, image, and legacy until her own death 28 years later. The family's share of the company allowed them to appoint 50% of the board and the chairman, and retain a veto over new treatments, updated versions, and republications of her works. In 2004, Hicks' obituary in The Telegraph noted that she had been "determined to remain true to her mother's vision and to protect
28688-468: Was later seen by a maid as gaining entrance through a window to steal Miss Kerr's jewellery. The police did indeed find the bungalow rifled and a large quantity of jewels missing. Miss Kerr soon returned but denied any knowledge of the affair or even of having rung up the police. Both she and the maid had been summoned away for the day on separate false pretexts and had never been in the bungalow when Mr Faulkener visited (whether by invitation or not). When Jane
28864-408: Was locked when her husband was placing the dead girl in his room, and a hat was needed to cover the face. Mr Sanders was hanged for his wife's murder. A reluctant Mrs Bantry is prevailed upon to take her turn. She relates how she and her husband were guests of Sir Ambrose Bercy at his house at Clodderham Court. Sage leaves were picked from the garden for dinner that night, but unfortunately foxglove
29040-400: Was newly purchased by Sir Richard Haydon, an old college friend of the doctor's. Dr Pender was invited to a house party there, where they were joined by seven other people including a striking society beauty named Diana Ashley. Sir Richard was much attracted to her, as were most of the other men in the party, and she bewitched them all in turn. On the moor outside the house were several relics of
29216-746: Was not found for another 10 days. On 4 December, the day after she went missing, it is now known she had tea in London and visited Harrods department store where she marvelled at the spectacle of the store's Christmas display . On 14 December 1926, she was located at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate , Yorkshire, 184 miles (296 km) north of her home in Sunningdale, registered as "Mrs Tressa Neele" (the surname of her husband's lover) from "Capetown [ sic ] S.A." (South Africa). The next day, Christie left for her sister's residence at Abney Hall , Cheadle, where she
29392-414: Was out playing bridge with friends, and early in the evening Mr Sanders returned from a trip out with two of his friends and asked Miss Marple and the other ladies' opinions on an evening bag that he'd bought for his wife as a Christmas present. They went up to his room and saw the body of Mrs Sanders on the floor, felled by a sandbag. Immediately suspicious, Miss Marple refused to allow the husband to touch
29568-914: Was raised. Christie drew on her experience of international train travel when writing her 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express . The Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, the eastern terminus of the railway, claims the book was written there and maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author. Christie and Mallowan first lived in Cresswell Place in Chelsea , and later in Sheffield Terrace, Holland Park , Kensington . Both properties are now marked by blue plaques . In 1934, they bought Winterbrook House in Winterbrook ,
29744-419: Was rambling before he died about fish. An exhumation order was granted, followed by an autopsy that proved totally inconclusive. Miss Marple began to wonder if Geoffrey had committed suicide and used a knowledge of medicine gained in a previous period of his life to do so. Totally stumped by the problem, she was in the high street and in something of a silent prayer for guidance when she opened her eyes and saw
29920-443: Was released in 1920 and introduced the detective Hercule Poirot , who appeared in 33 of her novels and more than 50 short stories. Over the years, Christie grew tired of Poirot, much as Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes. By the end of the 1930s, Christie wrote in her diary that she was finding Poirot "insufferable", and by the 1960s she felt he was "an egocentric creep". Thompson believes Christie's occasional antipathy to her creation
30096-454: Was sequestered "in guarded hall, gates locked, telephone cut off, and callers turned away". Christie's autobiography makes no reference to the disappearance. Two doctors diagnosed her with "an unquestionable genuine loss of memory", yet opinion remains divided over the reason for her disappearance. Some, including her biographer Morgan, believe she disappeared during a fugue state . The author Jared Cade concluded that Christie planned
30272-585: Was simply wearing the other person's clothes. The really significant fact was that the body in Cornwall was never found – this was another part of the deception. Dr Lloyd confirms that he met the lady again coincidentally in Melbourne , Australia. Miss Barton was , in fact, Miss Durrant. Two tourists would not have been known to anyone, and no one realised who was the employer and who was the companion in Gran Canaria. The two women were cousins. Miss Durrant
30448-444: Was that he was an unsuccessful playwright and had sent one of his efforts to Jane to read. She had written to him to say that she liked it and inviting him to come down to the bungalow to discuss it. He had gone, been shown in by the parlourmaid, met Jane, and drunk a cocktail . The next thing he knew, he was waking up by the roadside. He staggered along and was quickly picked up by the police. The bungalow belonged to Sir Herman Cohen,
30624-518: Was the eldest of nine children in desperate straits, with some suffering ill-health. They wrote to their relative in England for help, but she refused due to a family quarrel from years earlier. Miss Durrant travelled to England under this assumed name and found employment with Miss Barton, whom she then killed and whose guise she adopted in Gran Canaria. Faking her death in Cornwall, she and her siblings inherited her money as next-of-kin. Dr Lloyd met with
30800-415: Was twenty-two, despite Denman having a violent temper and a history of insanity in his family. Ten years later he died, and Miss Marple wrote to offer to stay with her niece for a while, but received a reply back that politely refused the offer. Three months later a second letter was sent to her aunt hysterically begging her to come. Arriving at her niece's house, which Mabel shared with two servants – hers and
30976-543: Was voted the best crime writer and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the best crime novel ever by 600 professional novelists of the Crime Writers' Association . In 2015, And Then There Were None was named the "World's Favourite Christie" in a vote sponsored by the author's estate. Many of Christie's books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games, and graphic novels. More than 30 feature films are based on her work. Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller
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