Agatha Christie's True Crime InspirationsPaperback, 1 April 2011

The true scandals, crimes, and murders that inspired the works of the Queen of Crime, and affected those around her Fact proves far stranger than fiction in this collection of events that either influenced the works of the world's most popular mystery writer or affected the lives of many famous personalities involved in her long career. These include the exploits of Jack the Ripper, which inspired the serial killings in "The ABC Murders"; the kidnapping in "Murder on the Orient Express" was based on a family tragedy that befell aviator Charles Lindbergh; "The Mirror Cracked" was dedicated to the Miss Marple actress Margaret Rutherford, whose father was committed to an asylum for murder, and Hercule Poirot actor Peter Ustinov was interviewing Indira Gandi when the Indian leader was assassinated. The twist in the plot for "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was suggested by Lord Mountbatten; while his son-in-law Lord Brabourne produced a series of star-studded Christie film adaptations before the two men became victims of an IRA bomb attack. There are also examples of how her books themselves became the unknowing inspiration for real life crimes, or how people reading them have been inspired to solve crimes.