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Writers of mystery series do not always enjoy the luxury of composing a last novel that draws a series to a fitting close. Writer's block, boredom, other opportunities, disability, or sudden death may leave a series without a final curtain call. This is not the case with best-selling mystery writer Agatha Christie.
Through forethought in the 1940s and dedicated effort while ill in the early 1970s, Christie successfully wrapped up her Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford series. Poirot solves one last case with Ariadne Oliver and another with Captain Hastings, representing at his end his lifetime's dedication to justice, friendship, and romance. Tommy and Tuppence hunt down spies and traitors a final time, earning them, once again, the gratitude of the British government. At long last, Miss Marple's abilities as a sleuth earn her a generous financial reward, which will allow her some pleasures in her final years.
Most unusually and fortunately, Christie's three series end with five novels, not three. Although her health declined significantly in the early 1970s, when she was in her eighties,1 she somehow summoned the energy to complete three last novels-Nemesis (1971), Elephants Can Remember (1972), and Postern of Fate (1973)-featuring, respectively, Miss Marple, Poirot, and the Beresfords. Although these novels hardly rank with her best efforts, they artfully pull together threads of these three popular series and give each detective a fitting send-off. While struggling to complete these books, Christie knew that she had locked in a vault two complete typescripts, one novel featuring Hercule Poirot and another with Miss Marple, both composed during World War II but with almost no references to that era. These two novels were published just before and after her death on 12 January 1976, creating a huge sensation2 and bringing further closure to the Poirot and Miss Marple series. Curtain (1975) brought the Poirot series full circle, with Poirot and Hastings reunited at Styles, the site of their first case, to stop one of Poirot's most subtle murderers, at the cost of Poirot's life. In Sleeping Murder (1976), avid gardener Jane Marple travels to a seaside resort and digs up a murder that has lain buried, literally and figuratively, for two decades; she acts to protect two innocents endangered...