“推理女王”笔下的故事

She was known to millions as the “Queen of Crime” or the “Duchess of Death”. But surprisingly, she hated violence and blood, and didn’t know much about the weapons most often used in murder. “I don’t think I’d dare look at a really horrible and damaged body,” Agatha Christie once said.

她被誉为“推理女王”或者“死亡女爵”。但令人意外的是，她厌恶暴力与鲜血，对谋杀案中常出现的凶器也不甚了解。“我觉得自己根本不敢看一具恐怖的残缺尸体，”阿加莎·克里斯蒂曾如此说道。

But the pen of the British writer dared to travel where her eyes wouldn’t. During her 50-year writing career, Christie’s murder stories made her the world’s best-known mystery writer.

但这位英国作家的笔尖却敢于触碰她眼睛不敢看的事物。在她长达50年的写作生涯中，克里斯蒂的谋杀故事令她成为全球最著名的悬疑小说家。

Her novels have been turned into films and TV series. And a new film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, Christie’s 1934 detective novel, will be released on the big screen on Nov 10. This is already the fourth adaptation of this novel.

她的小说被改编成了电影和电视剧。一部改编自克里斯蒂1934年的侦探小说《东方快车谋杀案》的新电影也即将于11月10日登上大银幕。这已经是这部小说的第四部改编作品了。

Born in 1890 in England, Christie was educated at home and began her writing career while working as a nurse during World War I. She went on to produce 79 novels and several short stories, before dying at the age of 86. With her knowledge of murder, Christie could easily have taught would-be detectives a few things.

克里斯蒂1890年生于英格兰，自幼在家中接受教育。她在一战期间做了护士，同时也开始了自己的写作生涯。在86年的人生中，她一共写出了79部小说和多个短篇故事。就有关谋杀案方面的知识而言，克里斯蒂为想当侦探的人们指点一二简直是小菜一碟。

But instead, she chose to give her skills to her favorite character – Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police officer who she introduced in her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Poirot then starred in 30 of her works, including Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. The character has become so famous that someone has even written his biography, The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot.

但她却选择将自己的技能知识悉数给予自己最喜欢的角色 —— 赫尔克里·波洛。这位退休的比利时警官在克里斯蒂的首部小说《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》中登场，后来又在《东方快车谋杀案》、《尼罗河上的惨案》等30部克里斯蒂的作品中担任主角。由于太有名气，有人甚至还为这一角色写了本传记《赫尔克里·波洛的生平和时代》。

Christie also featured interesting aspects of human nature in her work, usually by putting a large group of characters in an isolated environment. An example is And Then There Were None, in which 10 people with different personalities and from different social backgrounds were trapped on an island and soon started to mysteriously die one after the other. Each character’s story is portrayed with depth, and put together, they make for a fascinating read.

克里斯汀通常都会将一大群角色设置在一个孤立无援的环境中，从而展现人性令人关注的方面，这也是其作品的一大特点。小说《无人生还》就是个例子，在这本书中，10位来自不同社会背景、性格各异的人被困在了一座小岛上，并一个接一个地离奇死亡。每个角色的故事都带有深度，这些故事交织成了一本引人入胜的读物。

“From the British country house to the exotic mysteries of the East, her vivid construction of character and place combined with dramatic moral complexities engages readers,” wrote mystery author TP Fielden in the Express.

“从英国的乡村小屋到东方的异国悬疑，她在生动地构建角色和地点的同时，也加入了戏剧化的道德的复杂性，令读者们深深着迷，”悬疑作家TP Fielden 在《每日快报》上如此写道。