If you could order a crime as one orders dinner, detective Hercule Poirot asks in Agatha Christies The ABC Murders, What would you choose?

Let me see now, his buddy Captain Arthur Hastings replies. Lets review the menu. Robbery? Forgery? No, I think not. Rather too vegetarian. No, it must be murder red blooded murder. With trimmings, of course.

This tone refined, witty, and just a little bit bloodthirsty characterizes Agatha Christies 66 murder mystery novels , published between 1920 and 1976. Christies written world exists in a sort of British fairytale bubble assuming, of course, your fairytales include multiple homicides. Her stories settings are limited to middle and upper class suburbia, and often demarcated even more tightly taking place on a train, a deserted island, or a seasonal home.

The murders that occur there are swift and out of sight; not a huge fan of gore, Christie ensured the carnage was reasonably minimal. Poison the cleanest of killers was her go-to way to go, a good blundering would, on special occasions, really ruin a carpet. The Queen of Mystery could choose her crimes as one selects a tasty meal, and clearly, she had a type.

The ratio of women victims to men, in Christies novels, is roughly two to one. In reality, men are more likely to be victims of homicide than women. Yet women are more commonly cast as victims in literature, film, art , the media, and hence, the imagination. Although the exaggeration of female victims doesnt reflect real life, the resounding fear that results from it is real. And for women, that sticks.

Its not too surprising that Christies pattern mirrored this norm, whether she was critiquing it or conforming to it or a little of both.