Agatha Christie's fictional universe

In Agatha Christie's mystery novels, several characters cross over different sagas, creating a fictional universe in which most of her stories are set. This article has one table to summarize the novels with characters who occur in other Christie novels; the table is titled Crossovers by Christie. There is brief mention of characters crossing over in adaptations of the novels. Her publications, both novels and short stories, are then listed by main detective, in order of publication. Some stories or novels authorised by the estate of Agatha Christie, using the characters she created, and written long after Agatha Christie died, are included in the lists.

Her novels under the pen name Mary Westmacott and her nonfiction books are not covered in this article.

One notable example of characters from one novel appearing in another is the novel The Pale Horse, which featured no fewer than five cross-over characters: Ariadne Oliver, Major Despard and his wife Rhoda (all had previously appeared in the Poirot mystery Cards on the Table; although Mrs Oliver appeared in numerous later Poirot mysteries) and the Rev and Mrs Dane Calthrop (who were seen in the Miss Marple mystery The Moving Finger).[1]

List of cross-overs

Crossovers by Christie
Story Length Year Crossing-over characters
The Secret Adversary Novel 1922 Tommy and Tuppence, Albert Batt, A. Carter, James Japp
The Mystery of the Blue Train Novel 1928 Hercule Poirot, Katherine Grey (who lives in St. Mary Mead), Mr. Goby
The Case of the Discontented Soldier Short story 1932 Parker Pyne, Ariadne Oliver[2]
The Case of the Distressed Lady Short story 1932 Parker Pyne, Miss Lemon[3]
The Case of the Discontented Husband Short story 1932 Parker Pyne, Ariadne Oliver
The Case of the Middle-aged Wife Short story 1932 Parker Pyne, Miss Lemon
The Second Gong Short story 1932 Hercule Poirot, Mr Satterthwaite
Three Act Tragedy Novel 1934 Hercule Poirot, Mr Satterthwaite
How Does Your Garden Grow? Short story 1935 Hercule Poirot, Miss Lemon
Cards on the Table Novel 1936 Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, Superintendent Battle, Colonel Race, Colonel Despard, Rhoda Despard[2]
Dead Man's Mirror Novella 1937 Hercule Poirot, Mr Satterthwaite
Death on the Nile Novel 1937 Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race
The Moving Finger Novel 1942 Miss Marple, Mrs Dane Calthrop, Rev Dane Calthrop
Towards Zero Novel 1944 Superintendent Battle, Hercule Poirot (mentioned)
The Labours of Hercules Collection of related short stories 1947 Hercule Poirot, Miss Lemon, James Japp, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes (mentioned)
Mrs McGinty's Dead Novel 1952 Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver
After the Funeral Novel 1953 Hercule Poirot, Mr. Goby
Hickory Dickory Dock Novel 1955 Hercule Poirot, Miss Lemon
Dead Man's Folly Novel 1956 Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, Miss Lemon
Cat Among the Pigeons Novel 1959 Hercule Poirot, Mr Robinson, Colonel Pikeaway
The Pale Horse Novel 1961 Ariadne Oliver, Colonel Despard, Rhoda Despard, Mrs Dane Calthrop, Rev Dane Calthrop
The Clocks Novel 1963 Hercule Poirot, Superintendent Battle (mentioned)
At Bertram's Hotel Novel 1965 Miss Marple, Mr Robinson
Third Girl Novel 1966 Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, Miss Lemon, Mr. Goby
Hallowe'en Party Novel 1969 Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver
Passenger to Frankfurt Novel 1970 Mr Robinson, Colonel Pikeaway, Amy Leatheran[4]
Elephants Can Remember Novel 1972 Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, Miss Lemon
Postern of Fate Novel 1973 Tommy and Tuppence, Mr Robinson, Colonel Pikeaway, Albert Batt
Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly Novella 2013 (written 1954) Hercule Poirot, Ariadne Oliver, Miss Lemon

Crossovers in media adaptations of novels or short stories

Outside of stories by Christie herself, three media adaptations of her works have featured crossovers involving Miss Marple which Christie herself never wrote; two of the three aired many decades after her death:

Hercule Poirot
Main article: Hercule Poirot in literature

Miss Marple
Main article: Miss Marple § Bibliography

Mr Satterthwaite

Parker Pyne

Superintendent Battle

Tommy and Tuppence

Colonel Race

Trivia

References
  1. Hobbs, James (2018). "Fictional World of Agatha Christie". Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  2. Webb, Mary (2017). "Ariadne Oliver". All About Agatha Christie. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. Hobbs, James (2018). "Poirot's Allies". Hercule Poirot Central. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  4. Bunson, Matthew (2000). The Complete Christie: An Agatha Christie Encyclopedia. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0671028312.
  5. Curran, John (2009). Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0007310562.
  6. Curran, John (2011). Agatha Christie: Murder in the Making: More Stories and Secrets from Her Notebooks. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0062065421.
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