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Murder on the Orient Express evil Under

the Sun death on the Nile and then there

were none just a handful of novels

created by one of the most prolific

mystery writers of the 20th century

Agatha Christie a woman herself who

would become embroiled in a plot worthy

of one of her own novels for on December

3rd 1926 Agatha Christie vanished for 11

days deeply shrouded in the mystique of

the wealthy Society of Edwardian upper

class Agatha was quite unlike most women

of her day independent curious and

surrounded by many strong women during

her upbringing that would reinforce her

desire to possess her own mind

she had a thirst for knowledge beyond

the trappings of English country life

she sought a formal education and found

Paris more to her liking than the

traditional strict British institutions

for women upon her return to England

Agatha and her mother left for Cairo

seeking the warmer climate in hopes of

restoring her mother's declining health

during her time in Egypt she spent most

of it exploring the monuments yet taking

no official interest in archeology

however the subject would be later

employed and prominently interwoven

throughout her novels not long after her

return to her home in Torquay she would

meet Archibald Christie who would become

her first husband the two would marry on

Christmas Eve 1914 as Archie was being

sent to France to fight in World War one

it was during this time she began to

consider following in the steps of one

of her literary heroes Sir Arthur Conan

Doyle creator of Sherlock Holmes and

wanted to imagine her own master sleuth

former Belgian police detective a qrow

who would appear in 33 of her novels

although it would not be another 20

years before she would write her most

famous story Murder on the Orient

Express Agatha would continue writing in

spite years of rejections from

publishers but during the early 1920s

Agatha Christie did begin making a name

for herself and while she had not yet

achieved the pinnacle of her writing

career she had become a household name

so much so that an event in December

1926 would take the world by surprise

when the young mystery writer simply

vanished

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on the night of December 3rd 1926 Agatha

Christie left her secretary a letter

stating she was going to Yorkshire but

when the letter was received and the

secretary found a cthis only daughter

Rosalynn alone and asleep in the house

she knew something was wrong when it was

discovered Agatha had never arrived in

Yorkshire and that her car had been

found wrecked and abandoned at the edge

of the road of Newlands corner her

secretary promptly informed police upon

examination all that was found was her

expired driver's license and some

clothes in the backseat had the mystery

writer herself become a victim of foul

play as police arrived at the family

estate in Berks Dale to investigate it

was discovered her husband was nowhere

to be found either and police now did

not know if they had two missing persons

on their hands or perhaps a double

murder while the estate seemed an order

with no signs of a struggle and nothing

stolen detectives were called in to try

and retrace the steps of mrs. Christie

in a classic style reminiscent of one of

her novels detectives questioned

everyone in the Christie household

inquiring to the events leading up to

the night in question servants of the

time were extremely reluctant to divulge

intimate details of their employers not

only for the fear of being fired but it

was simply something not done England at

the time was still steeped in the

separation of classes and airing the

dirty laundry of one's employer could

result in never working again

however it would not be long before

police would be able to question Colonel

Archibald Christie himself upon his

return to their estate you can imagine

his concern to find police and

detectives searching his home for clues

to his missing wife Colonel Christie

exclaimed that he was away for the

weekend but his wife had been in good

health at the time of his departure it

was at this time he was informed his

wife had left a letter stating she was

going to Yorkshire and her abandoned car

had been found in the country in order

to establish his alibi Christie was

forced to admit that he was with his

mistress in Surrey upon further

questioning police learned that the

couple had argued that evening resulting

in mr. Christie storming out and Agatha

leaving in her own car approximately at

9:45 p.m. after contacting mrs.

Christie's circle of friends and no one

having any idea of where she might be

and not having heard from her serious

concern for her safety was now at the

forefront of the police investigation

with Colonel Christie as their prime

suspect

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once the press caught wind of the story

it began appearing on the front pages of

the UK's leading newspapers and even

garnered a headline on the front page of

the New York Times it was the perfect

tabloid story with all the elements of

an Agatha Christie whodunit close to the

scene of the car accident was a natural

spring known as the silent pool was it

possible the young novelist had

deliberately drowned herself silent pool

was dragged just in case but mrs.

Christie was nowhere to be found

over 1,000 police officers and 1500

volunteers began searching the English

countryside the public outcry was so

great that Home Secretary William

Johnson Hicks pressured police and a

newspaper to offer a reward during this

time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle became

involved in her search with his serious

affinity for the occult Conan Doyle

employed the use of seeking a well known

medium to locate her by providing one of

mrs. Christie's gloves in hopes of

discovering where the missing mystery

writer

might have gone while fellow author

Dorothy sails visited the scene of where

the car was found in hopes of

discovering clues neither event produced

anything worthy of bringing them any

closer to the answer of where she had

gone as the day's progressed on and

still no sign of Agatha the public had

become convinced her husband had

murdered her and did away with her

corpse the press had a field day

inventing wild scenarios while others

speculated this was nothing more than a

publicity stunt to help increase sales

of her latest book but it did pose the

question what if mrs. Christie had

disappeared on purpose

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with his personal safety at risk Colonel

Archibald Christie was desperate to find

his missing wife and in an odd turn of

events one of the most unlikely people

in the world would be the one to solve

the question on everyone's mind had

Agatha Christie been murdered Bob Capon

a banjo player at the Swan Hotel in

Harrogate recognized the mystery writer

and alerted police who in turn informed

Colonel Christie who promptly arrived

only to discover an even more perplexing

mystery then while his wife was alive

and well she was registered in the hotel

as Theresa Neil Neil being the surname

of his mistress Agatha would claim to

have no memory of any of the events of

that night or how she came to being a

guest at the Swan Hotel she claimed to

have woken up and believed that she had

arrived in Harrogate from Africa and

when presented with photos of herself in

the newspaper the mystery writer said

she did not recognize that woman

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according to the official report police

believed that after the argument between

the Christie's the upset Agatha left

their home to be with friends in her

state of depression she crashed her car

causing her to suffer a brief bout of

amnesia she then took the train to

Harrogate and checked into the Swan

hotel with no identification in her mind

and a flux of confusion she registered

under the only name she could think of

which was the surname of her husband's

mistress and the only explanation of

stating to have arrived from Africa as

it was the last place of happiness she

had experienced with her recently

deceased mother while others claimed it

to be an outright lie in order to avoid

embarrassment two doctors insisted she

was suffering from what was then known

as a fugue state from the trauma of her

husband abandoning her for another woman

and what woman let alone a mother would

knowingly leave her seven-year-old

daughter behind and all alone it was

concluded the only way that was possible

was if she was suicidal and the accident

thus caused her amnesia

agatha christie never spoke of her

missing 11 days and over the years many

speculations have been offered from the

simple distraught wife suffering from

depression a failed suicide attempt or

even the more clever elaborate scenario

in which the philandering husband and

mistress would become suspect in her

disappearance a mystery that only a

writers such as herself could craft one

in which she would never reveal the

solution the perfect whodunit complete

with a villain a victim and a mystery

that would endure for all the ages

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whatever the truth was only Agatha

Christie knew the answer

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you