 
Murder Mysteries have often been favorite summertime reads. I began reading Agatha Christie's crime novels when I was in Jr High School. After reading all the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy novels in the library during my earlier years I couldn't wait to get my hands on more juicy detective novels. I also enjoyed watching Inspector Poirot mysteries with my mother and then with my children as well as Miss Marple and more recently Tommy and Tuppence. Though Agatha Christie initially struggled to have her work published, she is now considered to be one of the best selling authors of all time with her writing third most published, after the Bible and Shakespeare. Though she also wrote a few romances, it was the mysteries for which she became well-known. Her initial writing consisted of short stories that were all rejected by magazines, something that I find encouraging as they were all eventually published because she never gave up her passion for writing. During her writing career, she changed the ending of one novel at the Publisher's request and regretted it. She worked as an apothecary's assistant during the Second World War where she learned about the poisons that made their way into her stories. During the war she was also investigated by British Intelligence because a character in one of her novels was named Major Bletchley as they believed she may have been a spy focusing on their top-secret code breaking center. One of the things I learned about her in my youth was that she tried desperately to enjoy cigarettes, smoking one after lunch and dinner each day for six months but, thankfully, never enjoyed them.
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