A FASCINATING, witty and informative study of one of the world's greatest crime writer which digs well below the surface to expose a more complex character than might have been expected from her books.

A golden childhood, an ill-fated first marriage and a much more successful second marriage are all placed in the context of the development of her writing and of her rivalry with her more glamorous sister and the reader learns how much of an emotional crutch as well as a financial support her writing became.

Christie was a remarkable woman who did sterling hospital duty during the First World War, changed the face of British crime writing, refused to be browbeaten by Hollywood and nobly continued to pay the outrageous tax demands made on her by the British Treasury until her final days.

What Laura Thompson has done is made her a friend of the reader and not many biographers can claim that - she even wins you to Christie's side over her notorious "non-disappearance" at Harrogate.