Why is Agatha Christie so popular in Brazil?

In 55 years of career, the English writer wrote 66 police novels, 153 stories and more than 30 pieces. To date, the “Queen of Crime” inspires authors from all over the world, such as the Brazilian Raphael Montes. Exactly 50 years ago, the New York Times published, in the edition of 6 August 1975, a obituary on its first page. It was not the first time, nor would it have been the last, but that necrology attracted attention because it was a fictitious character: Hercule Poirot.

In Brazil, Jornal da Tarde also paid tribute to the Belgian detective. “Poirot did not die of natural death. Those who killed him was Agatha Christie”, announced the death note, referring to the English writer popularly known as “Queen of Crime”.

The announcements referred to the publication of Cai or Pano, who arrived in bookstores on October 15, 1975. “Rarely Poirot was so brilliant,” says Jean Pierre Chauvin, PhD in Livers of the University of São Paulo (USP) and author of the book for Reading Agatha Christie (2024). “The obituary shows its relevance. It was able to break the limits of fiction.”

Although it was published in 1975, the fabric fell in the 1940s. During the Second World War, Agatha Christie wrote the fabric, the last case of Hercule Poirot and the sleeping crime, the last mystery of Jane Marple – his two most famous characters.

In Her Autobiography (1977), he confesses that he has written the falls of Rosalind Hicks’ fabric thought, his only daughter, and the dormant crime at Max Mallowan, her second husband. By precaution, he blocked the two originals in the safe of a bank. The idea was to publish them only after their death.

The Cloth Falls, however, was published on October 15, 1975, 89 days before his departure, on January 12, 1976. The sleeping crime was published posthumously in 1976.

“Half a century later, Agatha Christie remains unsurpassed. There are no” heirs “at his height”, continues Chauvin. “His work is not reduced to the game for cats and mice. It describes the contradictions of the human being.”

Unusual bet

The inspiration for the creation of Poirot came from Belgian refugees he met in England. In honor of the Greek hero, he called Hercule’s detective. As for the surname, he said he did not remember his origin. “I don’t know why I decided about Poirot,” he admitted in his autobiography, written for 15 years – from 1950 to 1965. “If I came by chance or saw him in a newspaper.”

Poirot starred in 33 novels – The first was the mysterious case of Styles (1920). It is interesting to note that Agatha Christie took four years until he convinced a publisher to publish it. Six publishers rejected their debut novel. “They are probably the largest detective in the world”, he boasted Poirot in the mystery of the Blue Train (1928).

Another curiosity: the mysterious case of Styles was born from a “bet” between Agatha and Margareth, his sister. “I think you couldn’t [escrever uma história de detetive]”He challenged the eldest son.” I would like to try, “he said the youngest.” Well, I bet it won’t work, “Madge shrugged. If he had bet, he would have lost.

The Cloth Falls was the first book by Agatha Christie that Jamie Bernhal-Hoker, professor of creative writing at the University of Suffolk, England, read when he was eight years old. “Some police writers are distinguished by the plot. Others, the dialogues. Others, still, the characters. But nobody has achieved the level of excellence of Agatha Christie in all three categories”, says the author of works such as Agatha Christie: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (2022), among others.

“It was fashionable to criticize her because she is a popular author. Although her books are easy to read, they are not simple. He said a lot in very few words,” he adds.

All over the world

From 1920 to 1975, Agatha Christie published 72 novels. Of these, 66 are the police and six are romantic, written under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. Endless Night (1967) was written in six weeks. Already absent in spring (1944) in three days! Not enough, the British author also wrote Tales. Overall, 153 short narratives were divided into 14 anthologies.

He also wrote more than 30 pieces. The most famous is the mouse. He previewed in 1952 and is still on display to date. The success is not uninterrupted only because by 2020 the season has been canceled due to Covid-19.

According to Agatha Christie Ltda, the author sold two billion copies: one billion in English and one in the most diverse languages, such as Portuguese.

There was only one thing that Agatha liked to write: Traveling. In 1922, she turned to the world with her first husband, Archibald Christie, who borrowed her famous surname. His single name is Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller.

During his travels, he began to discard some of his most famous novels. The inspiration for the murder in the East Express (1934) that emerged at Christmas 1931 in Istanbul, Turkey, in the middle of a snowstorm. Already death in the Nile (1937) was born during a holiday tour, in 1933, in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, in the company of Max and Rosalind.

Although he liked to travel, he never met Brazil. Neither she nor Poirot. The detective was on his bags ready for Rio, but canceled the journey during an unexpected visit. This happened in The Great Four (1927).

Agatha Christie did not know Brazil. But, your first husband, yes. Archibald Christie visited Rio de Janeiro, in the company of the second wife and son of the couple, in 1947. There were 39 days: from 2 August to 10 September. The family was at 204 of Saint Roman Street in Copacabana.

Although he has never been to Brazil, the country is a unique two in the world who have Agatha Christie Ambassadors, in addition to the United States. The Brazilian is Tito Prates; The American, Christopher Chan. Both were appointed by Mathew Prichard, son of Rosalind and grandson of Agatha. “As an ambassador, I am responsible for the promotion and supervision of his work in our country”, says Pretes, author of Agatha Christie – a biography of truth (2022). “There were publishers who tried to get around copyright and the pieces produced without a license.”

Nervous collapse

Priest is the author of the first and only biography of the English author written in Portuguese. In it, the biographer revisited one of the most enigmatic episodes of his biographical life: his death for eleven days in 1926.

The hypotheses are many: marketing plays to the suicide attempt. In his autobiography, he does not comment on the case. He says only: “I hate remember the following year. When something goes wrong, everything goes wrong.” The “next year” was from 1926. In April, he lost his mother, Clara, victim of bronchitis. He had already lost his father, Federico, at the age of 11.

“I was depressed to the point of crying because he lost the list of the laundry or because the car did not get it before,” says priest. Four months later, Archie confesses to being in love with another, Nancy Neele, and asks for divorce. It was too much.

On the morning of December 4th, Morris Cowley of the writer was found abandoned near Silent Pool Lake. The police even offered a reward of £ 100 for those who gave any clues to where it was.

On the 15th, it was recognized by an employee of the SWAN hydroexual hotel in Yorkshire, 400 kilometers from home in Berkshire. He remained under the name of Theresa Neele, the same surname of her husband’s lover. “For a year I expected Archie to reconsider his attitude. But he didn’t do it. So he finished my first marriage,” he says in his memories.

From comics to audivivos

Every year, Agatha Christie sells, according to the estimates of the company that manages his work, 4 million books. Only in Brazil, his work is published by three publishers: Harper Collins, L&M and Globo Books.

In the last edition of The Book Biennial, who received 740,000 visitors and sold 6.8 million copies, the writer won a escape room. The proposal was to find out who has poisoned Mrs. Scarlet for her birthday!

“Such a significant author, with such a rich universe, must be worked in other formats,” says Alice Mello, editor of Harper Collins.

Among the other titles, the publisher offers the complete collection (38 volumes), the box such as Poirot Travels and Stories of Miss Marple (2023), Anthology of Tales written by 12 contemporary authors. In September, another release: Agatha Christie – more than 100 interactive mysteries.

His work is available in Audiobooks and Graphic novels. Only Audible offers 14 titles in Portuguese: the mysterious case of styles is narrated by Marco Ricca and Thomás Aquino. There are seven comics. Those who love murder in The East Express can choose: the version adapted and illustrated by Bob Al-Greene, or scripted by Benjamin von Eckartsberg and designed by Tsai Chaiko.

“It continues to inspire many authors. If today we have Freida McFaddden and Gillian Flynn is because one day we had Agatha Christie,” says Amanda Orlando of Globo Books. “No one else has opened so many doors.”

Of the 12 titles published by Globo Books, The Best Selling is far and there is no (1939), previously known as the case of the ten blacks.

Poirot is not dead

Orlando cited the American Freida Mcfadden and Gillian Flynn. But he could have mentioned, among so many, the English Sophie Hannah and the Brazilian Raphael Montes. In 2014, almost 40 years after the fall of the fabric, Hannah “Rose” Poirot in the monogram crimes. “I have been devoted since I read the body in the library at the age of 12,” he says. “Inventing new mysteries and Poirot is the greatest honor of my life.”

Since then, Hannah has written Closed Coffin (2016), The Mystery of the Tre Piece (2018), The Killings in Kingfisher Hill (2020) and Silent Night by Hercule Poirot (2024). On 23 October he publishes the last death of the year.

“The biggest challenge was to write as I wrote. I wanted to keep Poirot while Agatha Christie created it because it is perfect. It is perfect, but it does not belong to me, it belongs to them. The way in which Inspector Catchpool was invented,” he explains.

Who killed?

In Brazil, the writer and screenwriter Raphael Montes is the first to admit that the author who influenced his writing most was Agatha Christie. Who presented him to the “queen of crime” was his grandmother, Iacy, when he was 12 years old. Before then, its favorite author was Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the English detective Sherlock Holmes.

“It was with Agatha Christie that I learned to put clues throughout history and, in the end, to surprise the reader with a great turning point,” explains the author of Suicides (2012), Perfect Days (2014), Good Morning, Veronica (2016) and a happy family (2024).

During the pandemic, Montes reinterprets the entire work of the author. “I usually do not get the identity of the murderer,” confesses the author of one million books sold. “To worsen things, my memory is not the best. That is, I had forgotten most of the finals. Being a police author does not help me reveal the mysteries of Agatha Christie.”

In flesh, bones and mustache

Agatha Christie’s books inspired a series of adaptations for theater, cinema, TV and streaming. The last public appearance of the author, included, was in the Murder at the East Express (1974) premiere in London. In the classic of Sidney Lumet, who played Hercule Poirot was Albert Finney.

The character has already been played by countless names: by Peter Ustinov, the favorite of Prates, David Schet, the favorite of Montes. The first played in three films and two shows; The second starred in a TV series. Currently, which gives life to the Belgian detective is the English actor Kenneth Branagh. So far, three films have been: Murder in The East Express (2017), Nile Death (2022) and Halloween (2023).

“I attribute his success to three factors: the quality of his stories, the volume of his production and the timeless time of his work,” says Ivan Pinheiro Machado, publisher of L&MM. “Your books never age.”

Gaúcha Publisher makes 101 author’s titles available in his catalog, 61 of their published in the pocket version. “There will always be a story by Agatha Christie who is told somewhere on the planet,” Machado underlines.

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.