40 Facts About Agatha Christie

Mystery writer Agatha Christie died 40 years ago this week. Here are some facts you may not know about the best-selling novelist of all time.

What don't you know about the English crime novelist who mastered the art of mystery?

• With between 2 and 4 billion works sold (depending on your source), she is bested only by William Shakespeare and the Bible.

• She is also the most translated novelist in history.

• Christie wrote her first detective story after being challenged by one of her older sisters.

• Six publishers rejected the manuscript before it was eventually published in 1920.

• Christie received £25 for her first story.

• She would go on to write 80 novels during her lifetime.