Christie, Agatha: - Agatha Christie is the world's bestselling mystery writer. The publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles heralded the arrival of a detective fiction writer of astonishing talent and launched the illustrious career of "The Queen of Mystery." In The Secret of Chimneys Christie introduces Superintendent Battle of Scotland Yard and the spirited "it" girl in the character of Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent, both of whom appear in later stories. Over the course of more than half a century Christie wrote eighty crime novels and short story collections, nineteen plays, and several poetry collections. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in the English language and another billion in a hundred other languages.