Agatha Christie avoided professional writing her entire life.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie , Lady Mallowan , DBE ( née Miller ; 15 September 1890 -- 12 January 1976 ) was an English crime novelist , short story writer and playwright . She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , particularly those revolving around her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple . Christie 's stage play The Mousetrap holds the world record for longest initial run . The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie , first published in June 1926 in the United Kingdom by William Collins , Sons and in the United States by Dodd , Mead and Company on 19 June 1926 . Witness for the Prosecution is a play adapted by Agatha Christie from her short story .