Christie was a particularly retiring person; she would not have subjected herself to book-promotion appearances, and she gave very few interviews during the latter part of her life. Nor was her popularity greatly aided by translation to other media. Until almost the end of her life, the films that were made from her books were by no means great successes. Her works were not seen on television until after her death. The plays she wrote gained from the popularity of the books rather than contributed to it (though one,
The Mousetrap, has been perennially successful, running for more than twenty-five years in London). Her work gained wide popularity in part because she wrote in plain, good English with ample dialogue. She usually sketched her characters with the lightest of touches so that they could be imaginatively fleshed out by readers from any country to fit their own particular backgrounds. Above all, she told a simple story in a straightforward manner, rarely injecting any thoughts and feelings of her own.
Perhaps she owed this last virtue to her earliest upbringing. Born in the English seaside resort of Torquay to Frederick Alvah Miller, an American with private means, and Clarissa Boehmer Miller, she never attended school, nor did she have a governess.
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