Apart from writing, Agatha had a few other hobbies that were quite unusual, one of them being her interest for poisons. From a young age she had felt intrigued by the effects some substances could have in the human body. When World War I began, she volunteered as a nurse, where she spent most of her time working in the pharmacy. There, she learnt chemistry in order to manipulate drugs in the right way. During that time her sister dared her to write a detective novel, which she accepted and wrote The Mysterious Affairs at Styles. She used poisoning for the cause of death, since she was very familiar with the different poisons and effects they could have. The novel was acclaimed by different critics, which encouraged her to keep introducing poisons in her stories.
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| Agatha Christie as a nurse during WWI |
During World War II she volunteered again to work in the dispensary since she was familiarized with the different pharmaceutical practices. Being in constant touch with the different medicines, inspired her to keep writing more mystery novels where poisons were involved. The most common substances present in her stories were arsenic, cyanide, glycine and strychnine but also toxic plants, such as the yellow jasmine or foxgloves among many others.
Christie was far from being the first writer using the element of poison in her novels, but her way of introducing them was astonishing. Thanks to the broad knowledge of different poisons she was able to write mystery novels with great detail.
