September 15 is the birthday of one of the world's most famous authors of detective fiction, Agatha Christie. Her books have been published in over 4 billion copies and translated into more than 100 languages.  Her life was full of controversial and extraordinary episodes, many of which are embodied in her books.

We offer the most striking moments from the life and work of the queen of the detective.

The reason for writing the first novel was an argument with her sister that Agatha could do something more worthwhile than her.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan, née Miller, originally intended to publish under the pseudonym Martin West or Martin Gray, believing that a female detective author's name might cause some prejudice among readers. She later decided to keep her first husband's real name, Christie.

As often happens with talented people, Agatha suffered from dysgraphia - the inability to write down a text. All of her works were dictated.

During World War I, Agatha Christie worked as a nurse in a military hospital, then she got a job in a pharmacy, which gave her an excellent understanding of poisonous substances. Perhaps that is why poisoning is so common in her detectives.

In the debut novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", the fee for which amounted to 25 pounds, appeared a constant character Christie - the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who will be the hero of 25 detective stories.

1926 was not only a year of triumph for the writer, but also a year of personal drama: her husband Archibald demanded a divorce, intending to marry his golf partner. This was so shocking to Agatha that she committed an act that she later never really explained. One fine morning, Agatha Christie simply disappeared. The search lasted 11 days. The writer was discovered in a hotel under the name of her rival. She had divorced her husband, of course.

And it was after her divorce that the 40-year-old Agatha met and married the 25-year-old Max. He was an archaeologist, and the writer often joked that an archaeologist's wife had to be much older than her husband to interest him. They lived together for just over 45 years, until the writer's death.

Agatha Christie wrote more than 60 detective novels, hundreds of short stories and 16 plays. She has been translated into other languages more than any other English author except Shakespeare.

In 1956 Christie became a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, in 1971 - received the title of nobility, and since 1958 she headed the English Detective Club.

Agatha Christie is the author of many great sayings, the most famous of which is "Freedom is worth fighting for".

Polnikov Alexey , librarian of the Department of the International Book