Did you know that many of Agatha Christie's best-selling detective stories have their basis in reality? 'Who killed Charles Bravo and why?' asks retired Superintendent Spence in Elephants Can Remember. He refers to an unsolved Victorian murder mystery, one of many allusions to real life crime and criminals in Agatha Christie's fiction. The infamous Dr Crippen, Jack the Ripper, John George Haigh, and many other real killers, fraudsters and spies, figure prominently in her plots, both explicitly and implicitly. Many of these cases belong to British criminal history, others originate from the USA and France. They cover a time frame from the eighteenth century to the 1960s, showing that Agatha Christie was not only an inspired writer of fiction but had a knowledge of true crime as well. There are even instances where she seems to have anticipated real life crimes, as in the case of the infamous poisoner Graham Young. This book explains the reality of these criminals and their crimes - some of which are well known, others largely forgotten - and how they are utilised in Agatha Christie's stories. Armed with this book, fans of the author's work will be able to gain new insights when reading her books either for the first time or on a repeat reading. AUTHORS: Dr Jonathan Oates is the Ealing Borough Archivist and Local History Librarian, and he has written and lectured on the Jacobite rebellions and on aspects of the history of London, including its criminal past. His best-selling books on criminal history are John Christie of Rillington Place, John George Haigh, the Acid-Bath Murderer and London Serial Killers. He is also well known as an expert on family history and has written several introductory books on the subject including Tracing Your London Ancestors and Tracing Your Ancestors From 1066 to 1837. Dr Anna-Lena Berg is a Swedish writer focusing on historical true crime. Her background as a veterinary surgeon and specialist in pathology is of value also for her literary projects. Anna-Lena is the author of "Blood on the Ocean: the forgotten true story of the Veronica mutiny", an account of a violent mutiny aboard a British sailing ship in 1902. She has a lifelong love for Agatha Christie's novels. 30 b/w illustrations
