Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is one of the biggest names in detective fiction, and literary historians credit her with creating many classic tropes of the genre. Dubbed The Queen of Crime, she is the best-selling fiction writer of all time, with 66 detective novels, 14 short story collections, and 20 stage plays, one of which, The Mouse Trap, holds the record for the world’s longest-running production. She also wrote six more novels under the name Mary Westmacott. Her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles appeared in 1916 and features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Her most well-known characters and detectives are Poirot and Miss Marple.

While these two characters are very different in their backgrounds, personalities, and methods of solving crimes, Christie uses similar literary devices such as specific settings, character traits, and clarity of style, which have become hallmarks of her work. Her devices are widely imitated by those who came after her. In most of her books, closed settings such as the small town of St. Mary Mead in Murder at the Vicarage or the snow-bound train in Murder on the Orient Express force a limited number of characters together.