The name of the new group: Hitchcock and Agatha Christie
http://www.hitch2christie.gather.com/
For nearly the last year I have been saying I was going to do this group, and now I have. If you like either one, or both you're invited to join. It's the reason I've reposted the article below; there is also an article on Alfred Hitchcock (Hitch)
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977379768 Hitch article:
Hey all of you writers out there: Would you like to know how to become a best-selling author? I cannot tell you myself, but you may very well study either one of the three best sellers, two of which are authors like yourself. They are, in order of sales:
1. The Holy Bible
2. William Shakespeare
3. Agatha Christie
I particularly love the fact that Agatha Christie is THE number one bestselling contemporary author since she is -- TA-DA! -- a woman! Hear...her...ROAR!!!
(Obviously numbers 1 and 2 have had several centuries to build up their numbers, whereas Dame Agatha Christie made her mark in less that a century's time.) You go, Girlfriend! You are Superbad!
From what I see, here is what Christie does: she TEASES you! She engages you. She leaves you wanting more, needing more, so that you cannot sleep, cannot eat, you cannot do anything else, but continue, to feed on her product because you must know what is next. She gives a "taste" and like a drug, just one little dose and you are HOOKED, darn her!
After college, I swore -- and I meant it -- that I would NEVER read another piece of fiction as long as I lived. But back then, I had never sampled Agatha Christie. When I did, it was too late for me; I was hooked. . .forever.
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Biography
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, was born September 15, 1890 as Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She died January 12, 1976. She wrote under the name Mary Westmacott as well as Agatha Christie. Although she did write romance novels, she is famed for her writing of the 80 detective novels and the West End theatre plays. Two of her most popular characters featured also in television and movies are detectives/sleuths Miss Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot.
Christie has been called -- by the Guinness Book of World Records, amongst others -- the best-selling writer of books of all time, and the best-selling writer of ANY kind together with Willie (Shakespeare). Bible beats both of them out with 6 billion copies. Estimations are that about 4 billion of her novels have been sold. UNESCO states that she is currently the most translated individual author in the world with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions superseding her. As an example of her broad appeal, she is the all-time best-selling author in France, with over 40 million copies sold in French, (this is as of 2003), versus 22 million for Emile Zola, (I wonder if either of them is left-handed), the nearest contender.
Her stage play, "The Mousetrap", holds the record for the longest initial run in the world, opening at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on November 25, 1952, and as of 2007 is still running after more than 20,000 -- let's repeat that number --
20,000 performances; WOW!
In 1955, Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year, Witness for the Prosecution was given an Edgar Award by the MWA, for Best Play. Most of her books and short stories have been filmed, some many times over, and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.
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Agatha Christie is the only writer I find myself talking to. I have read nearly all of her books; I have held back a few because I know that after they have been read there shall be no more -- no more mysteries to be solved coming from this INCREDIBLE woman. I find myself saying to her:
"I am going to solve it first, Agatha. Watch and see! I know. . .I know who DID IT. I know the whole sinister little scheme. Now here's how it happened. . . .Let me tell you alllll about it. You see, it's like this. . . You won't trick me -- not this time, Agatha! I am ON to you, Girlfriend. . .What! Huh? Huh? She did it! How??? NO! NO! You did it to me, again!"
[Sigh]. So far, she has beat me EVERY SINGLE TIME, which is why I hold back on reading those last novels. . . I cannot bear the thought of reading the very last word of the mystery/crime novels of Dame Agatha Christie, not ever having solved ONE of them, and knowing there shall be never again be another one from her.
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Agatha's Detectives:
Hercule Poirot 
Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot in
"Murder On the Orient Express"
David Suchet
as the famous
Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot
Miss Marple 
(Christie told Joan Hickson that she would like for
her to one day play Miss Marple.
Unfortunately,
Ms. Christie never
had to opportunity to see Ms.
Hickson in this role.)
Tommy and Tuppence 
(BBC series)
Honourable mention: Inspector Slack. (I couldn't locate a photo of the camera shy David Horovitz.) He first appeared in "The Body in the Library." I saw Inspector Slack of the Miss Marple series be promoted to Chief Inspector Slack, to Superintendent Slack. I never knew why I had such a fondness for Horovitz's rendition of Slack, until I learned we shared the same birthday in real life, (August 11), although I would have never guessed he was so much older.
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Note: The links to Christie's novels, movies, plays and short stories do not work in this article. To connect specifically to all of them, click here.
Novels: (including detectives, in boldface.)
(her first novel in 1920, named her after her home, Styles.)
1920The Mysterious Affair at Styles Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
Chief Inspector Japp
1922 The Secret Adversary Tommy and Tuppence
1923 The Murder on the Links Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
1924 The Man in the Brown Suit Anne Beddingfeld
Colonel Race
1925 The Secret of Chimneys Superintendent Battle
1926 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Hercule Poirot
1927 The Big Four Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
Chief Inspector Japp
1928 The Mystery of the Blue Train Hercule Poirot
1929 The Seven Dials Mystery Bill Eversleigh
Superintendent Battle
1930 The Murder at the Vicarage Miss Marple
1931 The Sittaford Mystery
also Murder at Hazelmoor Hercule Poirot
1932 Peril at End House Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
Chief Inspector Japp
1933 Lord Edgware Dies
also Thirteen at Dinner Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
Chief Inspector Japp
1934 Murder on the Orient Express
also Murder on the Calais Coach Hercule Poirot
1934 Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
also The Boomerang Clue
1935 Three Act Tragedy
also Murder in Three Acts Hercule Poirot
1935 Death in the Clouds
also Death in the Air Hercule Poirot
Chief Inspector Japp
1936 The A.B.C. Murders
also The Alphabet Murders Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
Chief Inspector Japp
1936 Murder in Mesopotamia Hercule Poirot
1936 Cards on the Table Hercule Poirot
Colonel Race
Superintendent Battle
Ariadne Oliver
1937 Dumb Witness
also Poirot Loses a Client
also Mystery at Littlegreen House
also Murder at Littlegreen House Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
1937 Death on the Nile Hercule Poirot
Colonel Race
1938 Appointment with Death Hercule Poirot
1938 Hercule Poirot's Christmas
also Murder for Christmas
also A Holiday for Murder Hercule Poirot
1939 Murder is Easy
also Easy to Kill Superintendent Battle
1939 And Then There Were None
also Ten Little Indians
1940 Sad Cypress Hercule Poirot
1940 One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
also An Overdose of Death
also The Patriotic Murders Hercule Poirot
Chief Inspector Japp
1941 Evil Under the Sun Hercule Poirot
1941 N or M? Tommy and Tuppence
1942 The Body in the Library Miss Marple
1942 Five Little Pigs
also Murder in Retrospect Hercule Poirot
1942 The Moving Finger
also The Case of the Moving Finger Miss Marple
1944 Towards Zero
also Come and Be Hanged Superintendent Battle
Inspector James Leach
1945 Sparkling Cyanide
also Remembered Death Colonel Race
1946 The Hollow
also Murder After Hours Hercule Poirot
1948 Taken at the Flood
also There is a Tide Hercule Poirot
1949 Crooked House Charles Hayward
1950 A Murder is Announced Miss Marple
1951 They Came to Baghdad
1952 Mrs McGinty's Dead
also Blood Will Tell Hercule Poirot
Ariadne Oliver
1952 They Do It with Mirrors
also Murder with Mirrors Miss Marple
1953 After the Funeral
also Funerals are Fatal
also Murder at the Gallop Hercule Poirot
1953 A Pocket Full of Rye Miss Marple
1954 Destination Unknown
also So Many Steps to Death
1955 Hickory Dickory Dock
also Hickory Dickory Death Hercule Poirot
1956 Dead Man's Folly Hercule Poirot
Ariadne Oliver
1957 4.50 from Paddington
also What Mrs. McGillycuddy Saw
also Murder She Said Miss Marple
1958 Ordeal by Innocence
1959 Cat Among the Pigeons Hercule Poirot
1961 The Pale Horse Inspector Lejeune
Ariadne Oliver
1962 The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
also The Mirror Crack'd Miss Marple
1963 The Clocks Hercule Poirot
1964 A Caribbean Mystery Miss Marple
1965 At Bertram's Hotel Miss Marple
1966 Third Girl Hercule Poirot
Ariadne Oliver
1967 Endless Night
1968 By the Pricking of My Thumbs Tommy and Tuppence
1969 Hallowe'en Party Hercule Poirot
Ariadne Oliver
1971 Nemesis Miss Marple
1972 Elephants Can Remember Hercule Poirot
Ariadne Oliver
1973 Postern of Fate
final Tommy and Tuppence
last novel Christie wrote Tommy and Tuppence
1975 Curtain
Poirot's last case, written four decades earlier Hercule Poirot
Arthur Hastings
1976 Sleeping Murder Miss Marple
Miss Marple's last case, written four decades earlier Miss Marple
Christie also wrote under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott.
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
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Movie Adaptions
1929 Die Abenteurer GmbH based on The Secret Adversary
1931 Alibi
1931 Black Coffee
1934 Lord Edgware Dies
1937 Love from a Stranger (Film)
1947 Love from a Stranger (Film)
1957 Witness for the Prosecution
1960 The Spider's Web
1962 Murder, She Said (Based on 4.50 From Paddington)
1963 Murder at the Gallop (Based on After the Funeral)
1964 Murder Most Foul (Based on Mrs. McGinty's Dead)
1964 Murder Ahoy! (An original movie not based on any of the books, though it borrows some of the elements of They Do It with Mirrors)
1966 Ten Little Indians
1966 The Alphabet Murders (Based on The ABC Murders)
1972 Endless Night
1974 Murder on the Orient Express
1975 Ten Little Indians
1978 Death on the Nile
1980 The Mirror Crack'd
1982 Evil Under the Sun
1984 Ordeal by Innocence
1987 Desyat Negrityat* yes, I know
1989 Ten Little Indians
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Comments: 25
Just LAST NIGHT I bought a FIVE DVD set of Hitchcock fifties and sixties teevee shows for FIVE BUCKS!
looking forward to watching them!
Did you watch Dr. Who on Saturday? He went back in time to meet Agatha shortly before she went missing. It was terrific. There were all sorts of in-jokes about titles and plot lines, etc. Great fun.
I believe there will always be fans of dear Agatha's for work. She is the absolute best in the tea-cozy kind of murder. Oh, if I could turn out one book done as well as any of hers.
I will keep trying.
Doc! I am so envious, I love the old tv Hitchcock shows. They are prime works, like the old Twiglight Zone, with so many then unknown stars who have since done so very well.
Hitchcock...now we watched that every week when I was little on reruns!
doc, sooo jealous...enjoy!
It'll be a great way for me to learn more of her.
Hope all is well with you Ms. Lady!
Oh, and by the way. Take a goood look at Joan Hickson up there. See here?
Alright, it's true confessions time: that's really ME; I AMMiss Marple!
Hah!
So, let's see, who do we have here, Alison?
Carol,
Selene,
Doc,
Elaine,
Wanda,
Judi,
donna,
Debby,
Kay,
Seyi the surgeon,
Ace,
Lionel, and
Otelia
Alison, that's a very good start, ya think? And I say since Lionel has so brilliantly figured out Agatha that we BEGIN with him. What say you? Shall Lionel (Mr. figured-it-out-by-the-second-chapter) be first?
You decide, Alison.
heh, heh!
As much as I want not to, I have to laugh. Why say it, Jeff? This once, couldn't you have just not said something like THAT? Huh?
Agatha Christie may well have been what YOU call an "opinionated feminist", and what of it?
She beat ALL of you men at your own game, INCLUDING Shakespeare.
Thaaaaaaaaat's right!
Read the article, Jeff! It won't be long before her numbers shall surpass Shakespeare's and proportionally speaking, they ALREADY have!
Get a grip, Jeff, and accept the inevitable . . . SHE BEAT THE FELLAS! HARDY HAR!
. . . but you brought me to it, Jeff!
I do so agree. I hope you indulge yourself. I find her best to read on a dreary, Autumn, afternoon, or evening, and especially if there is a fire going. Somehow that seems to set the mood.
Then again, Agatha knows how to set her OWN mood in your mind, doesn't she?
Thank YOU, Shelbia!