"Every murderer is probably somebody's old friend."

These very words are of a woman whose murder mystery and crime novels were groundbreaking and gave the roots to a whole genre. Yes, I am talking about Agatha Christie. Her thrilling and attention-grabbing plot with the guiltiest of characters and most brilliant murder had set the bars pretty high. Before her, there was Arthur Conan Doyle, who had created the famous quick-witted detective Sherlock Holmes. Christie made her mark with the first book she wrote, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920 after the first world war.

She stood out with exquisite style, thrilling suspense and misleading the readers and leaving them flabbergasted with the finale.She gave the world Hercule Poirot, the mustachioed detective who could solve the impossible of crimes in style.

A good murder mystery will keep you on your toes, will make wonder- who did it, and most importantly, will put the clues right under your nose- in plain sight.

Christie's execution of the plot was almost perfect, as some say. She put her characters in positions never thought of before- abandon mansions and houses, frightening islands.

Christie took inspiration from her surroundings and her day-to-day life. Traveling while writing her novels gave her adventurous locations. She once said that every character written about in her books is from her mundane life! She took in every detail and made them turning points of the books.

Her work, such as Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None and, The ABC Murders, are critically acclaimed and are a source of inspiration for many in the crime and thriller writing genre.

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