无可争议的侦探小说女王，侦探文学史上最伟大的作家之一。

阿加莎•克里斯蒂原名为阿加莎•玛丽•克拉丽莎•米勒，一八九○年九月十五日生于英国德文郡托基的阿什菲尔德宅邸。她几乎没有接受过正规的教育，但酷爱阅读，尤其痴迷于歇洛克•福尔摩斯的故事。

第一次世界大战期间，阿加莎•克里斯蒂成了一名志愿者。战争结束后，她创作了自己的第一部侦探小说《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》。几经周折，作品于一九二○正式出版，由此开启了克里斯蒂辉煌的创作生涯。一九二六年，《罗杰疑案》由哈珀柯林斯出版公司出版。这部作品一举奠定了阿加莎•克里斯蒂在侦探文学领域不可撼动的地位。之后，她又陆续出版了《东方快车谋杀案》、《ABC 谋杀案》、《尼罗河上的惨案》、《无人生还》、《阳光下的罪恶》等脍炙人口的作品。时至今日，这些作品依然是世界侦探文学宝库里最宝贵的财富。根据她的小说改编而成的舞台剧《捕鼠器》，已经成为世界上公演场次最多的剧目；而在影视改编方面，《东方快车谋杀案》为英格丽•褒曼斩获奥斯卡大奖，《尼罗河上的惨案》更是成为了几代人心目中的经典。

阿加莎•克里斯蒂的创作生涯持续了五十余年，总共创作了八十部侦探小说。她的作品畅销全世界一百多个国家和地区，累计销量已经突破二十亿册。她创造的小胡子侦探波洛和老处女侦探马普尔小姐为读者津津乐道。阿加莎•克里斯蒂是柯南•道尔之后最伟大的侦探小说作家，是侦探文学黄金时代的开创者和集大成者。一九七一年，英国女王授予克里斯蒂爵士称号，以表彰其不朽的贡献。

一九七六年一月十二日，阿加莎•克里斯蒂逝世于英国牛津郡沃灵福德家中，被安葬于牛津郡的圣玛丽教堂墓园，享年八十五岁。

Victoria Jones was a shorthand typist, though she was actually out of a job more often than she was in one. Not only was she an indifferent typist, but she had an insatiable craving for excitement which often led her to choose drama at the expense of truth, a tendency which did not exactly fit her for ordinary office life. Owing to a slight difference of opinion with her latest employer, Victoria was again unemployed when fate stepped in. A chance encounter set her off in pursuit of glorious adventure and an attractive young man.

Baghdad by air, a post with a mysterious organization that existed for the betterment of world relations, three words uttered by a dying man, and Victoria was caught in the relentless toils of international intrigue, with evil, violence, and deadly peril as her close companions.

They Came to Baghdad, with its exciting background of mystery and espionage, is one of Agatha Christie's most absorbing novels.

In these days of increased awareness of the Middle East, it's fascinating to hear Agatha Christie's view of Iraq just after WWII. Albeit, one learns about Iraq by way of a mystery story featuring archaeologists, British agents, and a plucky English girl, but that just means one is learning while being entertained. One wishes that the narration were quite as good as the far-fetched but engaging plot. The difficulty is not the narration per se, which Emilia Fox reads beautifully. She also supplies an appealing, believable voice for Victoria, the Cockney heroine. It's most of the (many) male characters that give difficulty, for in seeking to give each a unique character-driven voice, Fox often makes them sound squeaky. As a result, many of the male characters have higher pitched voices than the female characters. This distracts from an otherwise admirable reading of a delightful entertainment. A.C.S.

length: (cm)21.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)14.8