In a new suspense novel, American author Nina de Gramont reimagines what happened to Agatha Christie during her 11-day disappearance in 1926.
The Christie Affair delves into a fictional backstory of one of the biggest missing person searches in British history.
Photo: Supplied
Although a successful author by the time of her disappearance, Christie was reportedly shaken by her husband Archie's request for a divorce so he could marry his mistress.
She never revealed what happened in those 11 days - not even in her own autobiography.
She was eventually found at a spa hotel in Yorkshire, booked under the mistress' surname.
Intrigued by a 2015 article on her disappearance, de Gramont began sketching up what other possible connections these romantic rivals could have.
At the time, de Gramont wasn't particularly a fan of Christie but knew of her work.
"I really wanted to spin my own epic tale that could sort of stand apart from the disappearance, on its own," de Gramont tells Kathryn Ryan.
"Once I had written my first draft, I researched Agatha Christie's life very heavily and I read many of her novels and ... became a fan at that point, but I think it really helped me starting out not being particularly emotionally attached to her. It really allowed me to invent my own standing character for her and be creative with things that might've happened."
Just like the mysteries from the 'Queen of Crime', de Gramont offers a twist with a murder in her story, which is told from the perspective of the mistress.
Christie's real-life heartbreak came at a distressing time as she dealt with the recent death of her mother, so it wouldn't have been easy to engage readers from the mistress' point of view without creating a backstory for her, de Gramont says.
"As far as Nan, and the actual mistress' name is Nancy Neal, I substituted in a fictional character in her place that has a couple of things in common with the actual mistress but is really her own separate fictional character.
"To sort of imagine her, I tried to give her characteristics that might make her more sympathetic to the reader, I gave her a motive beyond just taking a liking to Archie, I gave her aspirations that have been imported in terms of Nan very much wants to be a writer and I also made her like and admire Agatha and feel guilt for what she was putting her through.
"In a way I think that's the responsibility of the novel is to make even people who are doing things that are unforgiveable feel three-dimensional and human."
The novel also alternates between the lead-up to Christie's grievance with her husband and Nan's early life in London and Ireland, intertwining it with the nuns' homes for unwed mothers at the time.
"I thought about how Agatha Christie's disappearance captured people's imagination for nearly 100 years and I think part of the glamour of it is that she went missing apparently of her own volition and she returned safe and whole and healthy, which really isn't the case in history for most missing women, either they don't return at all or there are more complicated nefarious reasons behind their disappearances. And for years, Ireland mothers disappeared from their communities without a word and if they returned to their communities, they usually returned alone."
De Gramont also pays homage to Christie's story-telling style, using her writing as a primary source to imitate anecdotes and descriptions of Archie and the setting of that time.
She says she tried to be respectful to Christie by sticking to the points of fact.
"It's one of the reasons that I made every effort that it was very clear that this was meant to be fiction and not in any way a theory about what might've happened. The only characters in the book that have their real historical names are the Christies, Archie and Agatha, his mother, her mother, and the dog.
"I think it's certainly part of the fascination that the one mystery that she refused to solve for us was her own.
"Personally, having written this story and tried to make it my own, it made me less inclined to sort of chase different theories and ideas about what might've happened. I really resisted them, and I don't know why, I think I need a therapist really to walk me through it," she says.
Miramax TV have optioned the rights for The Christie Affair and it is reportedly in early development for a series adaptation.
