J o h n e s c o t t agatha Christie

Tea at the railway station
and Agatha went up to 
London to meet him. 
Then the two of them 
went down to Bristol, 
where Archie’s mother 
lived. They could not 
wait any longer. They 
wanted to get married.
Archie’s 
mother 
was not happy about 
this, but Clara thought 
differently. ‘Yes, get 
married now,’ she said. 
‘There’s a war on. Who 
knows 
what 
will 
happen? 
Be 
happy 
while you can.”
So Agatha and Archie 
were 
married 
at 
last on the 24th of 
December, 1914. Two 
days later, Archie went 
back to the war, and 
Agatha did not see him 
again for six months.
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КГ
Archibald Christie
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Agatha Christie, Woman o f Mystery
During the summer of 1915, Agatha was ill and could 
not do any nursing work at the hospital for three or four 
weeks. Then, when she returned, she went to work in 
the hospital dispensary. And here she learned something 
which was very useful for a writer of detective stories. 
She learned about poisons.
CHAPTER 4
A detective story
O
ne day, some time before the war, Agatha was talking 
with her sister, Madge, about detective stories. They 
both enjoyed reading this kind of book very much.
T d like to try and write a detective story myself,’ said 
Agatha.
‘You couldn’t do it,’ said M adge. ‘They’re very 
difficult to do. I’ve thought about it.’
‘Well, one day I’m going to try,’ said Agatha.
The idea stayed in Agatha’s head, and she wanted to 
show M adge that she could do it. And when, years later, 
she went to work in the hospital dispensary, she again 
began to think about writing a detective story.
‘There must be a murder in it, of course,’ she thought. 
The questions ran busily around inside her head. ‘But 
what kind of murder? A death by poisoning? Who will
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Л detective story
In the hospital dispensary Agatha learned about poisons.
die? Who will the murderer be? When? How? Why? 
Where? And what about a detective?’
There were some Belgian people living in Torquay, 
who were there because of the war in Belgium. Clara, 
like everyone in the town, was very kind and helpful to 
them when they arrived. She gave them chairs and beds 
for their homes, and tried to make them feel happy and 
comfortable. Now, Agatha suddenly remembered them.
‘What about a Belgian detective?’ she thought, and 
began to build the character in her head. ‘H e’ll be a very 
clever, very tidy little man. But what shall I call him? I 
know, I’ ll call him Hercules!’ She smiled. ‘It’s a good
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Agatha Christie, Woman o f Mystery
name for a small man. And his second name? Poirot. 
Hercules - no, Hercule Poirot! Yes, that’s it.’
Agatha thought about her detective story during 
every quiet minute in the dispensary. She knew a lot 
about poisons now. She knew which poisons worked 
quickly, and which worked slowly. She knew how much 
to give, and what different poisons smelt and tasted like. 
She knew how people died from poisons — did their faces 
turn blue? Did they die in their sleep, or die screaming in 
pain? A good detective - and a good writer of detective 
stories - must know these things. She began to write her 
story at home, and used M ad g e ’s old typewriter again. 
‘What are you doing?’ Clara asked her one day.
T’m writing a detective novel,’ said Agatha, T want to 
finish it, but it’s very difficult.’
‘Why don’t you finish it during your holiday?’ said 
Clara. ‘Go away somewhere nice and quiet, and take it 
with you. Where do you want to go? D artm oor?’
‘Yes!’ said Agatha. ‘D artm oor!’
Dartmoor was a beautiful, lonely moor in Devon. 
Agatha took M ad ge’s typewriter with her and stayed 
at the Moorland Hotel at Hay Tor. It was a large hotel 
with a lot of rooms, but not many people were staying 
there. For two weeks she wrote in her room every 
morning, then went for long walks alone on the moor 
in the afternoons. Everything went well. The characters
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Л detective story