9/7/1976 Miss Marple's graceful exit

September 7, 1976.  This day saw the American publication of Sleeping Murder, which Agatha Christie wrote during the second World War and tucked away to be a posthumous curtain call for herself and Jane Marple, the beloved spinster from St Mary Mead.

A newlywed has an apparent deja-vu memory of a murder.  Is it ESP, or something more sinsiter.

Kirkus Review said: "This is Miss Marple at her noticing, unobtrusive, kindly best--a perfect envoi."

7/18/1917 Agatha Christie's century of murder

July 18, 1917.  One hundred years ago today  a woman was murdered at a mansion called Styles, beginning Agatha Christie's long killing spree.  The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920, is the first of her 66 mystery novels.  Her books are estimated to have sold 4 billion copies.

3/5/1982 Evil Under the Sun exposed

March 5, 1982.  This day saw the premiere of Evil Under the Sun, the second of six movies in which Peter Ustinov played Agatha Christie's master sleuth Hercule Poirot.  The cast included Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, Sarah Miles, James Mason, and Roddy McDowall.  Anthony Shaffer was nominated for an Edgar for the screenplay.

Poirot: "Really to count, a woman must have either goodness or brains."

Dame Agatha had at least one of the above.

1/8/1989 LIttle Gray Cells Come to TV.

January 8, 1989.  This date saw the premiere on ITV of Agatha Christie's Poirot, one of the most popular and long-running filmed versions of Dame Agatha's fiction  David Suchet starred as the wily Belgian detective and by 2013 he had filmed essentially everything Christie had written about him.  The series was nominated for countless awards and won several, including an Edgar for best TV episode..

5/20/1939 And Then There Were None...

May 20, 1939.  Agatha Christie seemed determined to try every possible variation of the murderer-suspects-victim-detective combination.  This date saw the publication in the Saturday Evening Post of the first episode of the American edition of And Then There Were None, one of her most audacious explorations of her chosen field.

Ten people, all with shady pasts, are guests on an island.  There is no way off.  And somebody is killing them all, one by one...  The climax is breathtaking.

The New York Times Book Review: "The whole thing is utterly impossible and utterly fascinating. It is the most baffling mystery that Agatha Christie has ever written, and if any other writer has ever surpassed it for sheer puzzlement the name escapes our memory. We are referring, of course, to mysteries that have logical explanations, as this one has. It is a tall story, to be sure, but it could have happened."

12/30/1956 Miss Marple meets the media

December 30, 1956.  Agatha Christie's elderly amateur sleuth, Jane Marple, has shown up in several movies and TV series, but her first appearance was on NBC's Goodyear TV Playhouse, showing on this night.  Gracie Fields starred in A Murder is Announced.  Roger Moore and Jessica Tandy also performed.

11/25/1952 The Mousetrap opens

November 25, 1952.  Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap opened in London's West End.  It is still running to this day, to the entertainment of (mostly) tourists.  Christie gave the rights to her grandson Matthew Prichard as a birthday present.  That certainly has to be one of the better gifts he got that year, or any other.