Renowned detective novelist Agatha Christie found herself at the centre of a real-life mystery: when she mysteriously disappeared for 11 days, from 3rd December, 1926.

Shortly after learning of her husband's infidelity, Christie had driven away from the family home, abandoning her car near a quarry. There was a massive manhunt as theories circulated in the newspapers, including murder, suicide, or intentional disappearance. Eventually she was spotted in a spa hotel in Harrogate, living under an assumed identity.

In this episode, The Retrospectors investigate what Christie got up to during her mental fugue; consider whether this event triggered the trend for amateur sleuths joyriding on real-life crimes; and reveal how the novelist’s most detailed description of the event occurs not in her autobiography, but in a novel she wrote under a pseudonym…

CONTENT WARNING: attempted suicide, post-traumatic mental illness.

Further Reading:

• ‘When the World’s Most Famous Mystery Writer Vanished’ (The New York Times, 2019):

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/books/agatha-christie-vanished-11-days-1926.html

• ‘‘I just wanted my life to end’: the mystery of Agatha Christie’s disappearance’ (The Guardian, 2022): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/27/mystery-of-agatha-christie-disappearance

• ‘The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie’ (Ireland A.M., 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yd2o4XFKIk

This episode first premiered in 2023, for members of 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 - where you can also DITCH THE ADS and get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 100 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks!

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024.

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