McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a 1971 American Western film starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, and directed by Robert Altman.

The cast includes Julie Christie as Marian Maudsley, Alan Bates as Ted Burgess, Margaret Leighton as Mrs Maudsley, Michael Redgrave as the older Leo, and Edward Fox as Trimingham.

* Nancy Marchand as Mrs. Christie, Head of Nurses

Gladys Mitchell rivalled Agatha Christie for UK sales in the 1930s and 1940s but only one of her 66 novels remains in print despite a BBC television series of the The Mrs Bradley Mysteries in 1999.

Certainly Mrs. Christie ought to know them, but she continues to surmount them so well that another score of novels may be hoped for.

" He concluded, " Largely by a careful study of the score, Poirot is able to reach the truth, and Mrs. Christie sees to it that he does so by way of springing upon the reader one shattering surprise after another.

* Audrey Christie as Mrs. Loomis

In The Observers issue of June 30, 1935 " Torquemada " ( Edward Powys Mathers ) started his review by saying, " My admiration for Mrs. Christie is such that with each new book of hers I strain every mental nerve to prove that she has failed, at last, to hypnotise me.

" He finished by saying, " Mrs. Christie provides a little gallery of thumb-nail sketches of plausible characters ; she gives us all the clues and even tells us where to look for them ; we ought to find the murderer by reason, but are not likely to succeed except by guesswork.

The Times Literary Supplement of January 11, 1936 concluded with a note of admiration for the plot that, " If Mrs. Christie ever deserts fiction for crime, she will be very dangerous: no one but Poirot will catch her.

" We are ready to take this for granted until Mrs. Christie ( I wouldn't put it past her ) gives us one who isn't.

" He went on to say, " In the second chapter, Mrs. Christie shows us what seems to be the maniac himself.

To an easy and attractive style and an adequate if not very profound sense of character Mrs. Christie adds an extreme and astonishing ingenuity, nor does it very greatly matter that it is quite impossible to accept the groundwork of her tale or to suppose that any stalking-horse would behave so invariably so exactly as required.

In the smooth and apparently effortless perfection with which she achieves her ends Mrs. Christie reminds one of Noël Coward ; she might, indeed, in that respect be called the Noël Coward of the detective novel.

* Mrs. Archibald Christie.

For instance, in Mrs McGinty's Dead, Mrs Oliver talks of having made the blowpipe a foot long in one of her novels, whereas the actual length is something like four-and-a-half feet — the same mistake Christie made in Death in the Clouds.

In Cards on the Table, there is a reference to Mrs Oliver's book The Body in the Library ; this title was used by Christie six years later, for a novel featuring Miss Marple.

Further functions of Mrs Oliver are to enable Christie to discuss overtly the techniques of detective fiction, to contrast the more fanciful apparatuses employed by mystery authors with the apparent realism of her own plots, and to satirise Christie's own experiences and instincts as a writer.

Mrs Oliver therefore serves a range of literary purposes for Christie.

#* Lord Lieutenant for County Antrim ( Mrs Joan Christie )

:*" Mrs. Christie gives her readers plenty of adventure.

Mrs. Christie has certainly succeeded in writing a story not only entertaining, but ingenious and amazingly clever.

Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Whimsey ( the respective creations of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers ) have retained Holmes' egotism but not his zest for life and eccentric habits.

His reading ranged from Agatha Christie to The Book Of Job and he had an insatiable interest in his fellow-creatures, while his letters were full of gossip about new politicians and old men of letters with whom he had been intimately thrown six decades before.

Christie describes entirely different working methods for every book in her autobiography thus contradicts this claim, more likely from theatre, screen film and TV adaptations that vary perpetrators to keep viewers coming back.

In six stories, Christie allows the murderer to escape justice ( and in the case of the last three, implicitly almost approves of their crimes ); these are The Witness for the Prosecution, Five Little Pigs, The Man in the Brown Suit, Murder on the Orient Express, Curtain and The Unexpected Guest.

( When Christie adapted Witness into a stage play, she lengthened the ending so that the murderer was also killed.

The world's best-selling mystery writer, and often referred to as the “ Queen of Crime ”, Agatha Christie is considered a master of suspense, plotting, and characterisation.

Others have criticised Christie on political grounds, particularly with respect to her conversations about and portrayals of Jews.

Christopher Hitchens, in his autobiography, describes a dinner with Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, that became increasingly uncomfortable as the night wore on, where " The anti-Jewish flavour of the talk was not to be ignored or overlooked, or put down to heavy humour or generational prejudice.

Christie occasionally inserted stereotyped descriptions of characters into her work, particularly before the end of the Second World War ( when such attitudes were more commonly expressed publicly ), and particularly in regard to Italians, Jews, and non-Europeans.

To contrast with the more stereotyped descriptions, Christie often characterised the " foreigners " in such a way as to make the reader understand and sympathise with them ; this is particularly true of her Jewish characters, who are seldom actually criminals.

After four years of war-torn London, Christie hoped she can return some day to Syria, which she described as " gentle fertile country and its simple people, who know how to laugh and how to enjoy life ; who are idle and gay, and who have dignity, good manners, and a great sense of humor, and to whom death is not terrible.

Christie had always had an interest in archaeology.

::::::::::::- Christie expressing her interest in archaeology, a passage from An Autobiography ( London, 1984 ), p. 389

Prior to meeting Mallowan, Christie had not had any extensive brushes with archaeology, but once the two married they made sure to only go to sites where they could work together.

::::::::::::- Christie wishing for an earlier exposure to Archaeology, a passage from An Autobiography ( 1984 ), p. 546

While accompanying Mallowan on countless archaeological trips ( spending up to 3 – 4 months at a time in Syria and Iraq at excavation sites at Ur, Ninevah, Tell Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar, Tell Brak, and Nimrud ), Christie not only wrote novels and short stories, but also contributed work to the archaeological sites, more specifically to the archaeological restoration and labeling of ancient exhibits which includes tasks such as cleaning and conserving delicate ivory pieces, reconstructing pottery, developing photos from early excavations which later led to taking photographs of the site and its findings, and taking field notes.

So as to not influence the funding of the archaeological excavations, Christie would always pay for her own board and lodging and her travel expenses, and supported excavations as an anonymous sponsor.

Many of the settings for Agatha Christie ’ s books were directly inspired by the many archaeological field seasons spent in the Middle East on the sites managed by her second husband Max Mallowan.

Of the characters in her books, Christie has often showcased the archaeologist and experts in Middle Eastern cultures and artifacts.

More indirectly, Christie ’ s famous character of Hercule Poirot can be compared to an archaeologist in his detailed scrutiny of all facts both large and small.

Holtorf ’ s description of the archaeologist as a detective is very similar to Christie ’ s Poirot who is hugely observant and is very careful to look at the small details as they often impart the most information.

Many of Christie ’ s detective characters show some archaeological traits through their careful attention to clues and artifacts alike.

Miss Marple, another of Christie ’ s most famous characters, shares these characteristics of careful deduction though the attention paid to the small clues.

Christie ’ s life within the archaeological world not only shaped her settings and characters for her books but also in the issues she highlights.

Many of Christie ’ s books and short stories both set in the Middle East and back in England have a decidedly otherworldly influence in which religious sects, sacrifices, ceremony, and seances play a part.