Agatha Christie, Woman of Mystery
Before Reading
chApter 5 And 6 while reading
Activity 1 before reading
1 No 2 Yes 3 Yes 4 No 5 No 6 Yes
Activity 2 before reading
Encourage students to guess but do not tell them
the answer. The right answer is number 3.
While Reading
chApters 1 And 2 while reading
1 Because she was ill in bed, and bored.
2 She sent it to a magazine, but they sent it back and
said they could not publish it.
3 She went to meet Hughes Massie, an agent, to talk
about her first novel, Snow Upon the Desert.
4 She went to fifty dances, met a lot of exciting young
men, and had a wonderful time.
5 She met him because she was a friend of his three
sisters, and then she and Reggie played a lot of golf
together.
6 Because Reggie was an army officer and had to go
back to Hong Kong for two years.
activities answers
1 Why . . .? Because she wanted to make some money
to keep Ashfield, the family home, in the family.
2 What . . .? He was Belgian, and was a short, tidy,
very clever man, with a black moustache.
3 Why . . .? Because of the big surprise at the end of
the story, which some people said was cheating.
4 Why . . .? They thought she disappeared because
she was unhappy after her mother died, and after
she found out that Archie was in love with Nancy
Neele.
5 What . . .? Agatha left her house and drove away in
her car.
6 What . . .? A coat, an open suitcase, three dresses,
some shoes, and some papers with the name ‘Mrs
Agatha Christie’ on them.
7 Why . . .? Because they thought Mrs Teresa Neele
was Agatha Christie.
8 What . . .? Nobody knows.
before reading activities (page 45)
Before reAding chApters 7 And 8
Encourage students to speculate and make guesses
but do not tell them the answers. They will find
out as they read that numbers 3 and 4 are the ‘true’
answers.
After Reading
Before reAding chApter 3
Encourage students to guess – perhaps Reggie
was Agatha’s first husband before she married Mr
Christie – but do not tell them the answer (which
they will find out is ‘no’).
Activity 1 after reading
Agatha Christie was a famous writer of detective
(murder, mystery) stories. She was born in 1890, was
married twice, and had one daughter. She met her
second husband, Max Mallowan, in Iraq. He was a
well-known archaeologist, who spent a lot of time
travelling, and Agatha always went with him.
Agatha Christie wrote nearly one (a) hundred books.
The famous detectives in her novels are called Mr
Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Two of her
best-known titles are the novel The Murder of Roger
Ackroyd, and the play The Mousetrap, which you can
still see in the theatre today.
chApters 3 And 4 while reading
1 Clara Miller (Agatha’s mother), talking about
Archie Christie taking Agatha out to tea in a hotel,
which she didn’t approve of.
2 Agatha, explaining to Archie why she can’t marry him.
3 Reggie, writing to Agatha from Hong Kong, after he
got Agatha’s letter saying she didn’t want to marry
him.
4 Clara Miller (Agatha’s mother), telling Archie and
Agatha they should get married now because with
the war the future was very uncertain.
5 Madge (Agatha’s sister), talking to Agatha about
writing detective stories.
6 Agatha, thinking about the detective for her first
murder mystery.
7 Clara Miller (Agatha’s mother), telling Agatha to go
away somewhere to finish the book she’s trying to write.
8 The publisher John Lane, talking to Agatha about
her book The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which he
wanted to publish, after a few changes.
oxford bookworms library stage 2
Stage 2
Open answers. Encourage students to discuss what
kind of information they want, and which questions
would produce the most information. They could
work in groups to invent answers to the questions
and to write their report.
agatha christie, woman of mystery
© Oxford University Press
Activity 2 after reading
activities answers
Activity 3 after reading
Activity 5 after reading
Suggested answers:
Police: Were you at home on the night when your
wife disappeared, Mr Christie?
Archie: No, I wasn’t. I was away, staying with friends.
Police: And why didn’t your wife go with you?
Archie: She didn’t want to. She didn’t know these
friends.
Police: So did she have any plans for the weekend?
Archie: She didn’t say she had any plans.
Police: Mr Christie, where do you think your wife
has gone?
Archie: I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Police: Mm. Are you and Mrs Christie happily
married?
Archie: Yes. Well, er . . . we’re as happy as most
husbands and wives.
Police: I see. Tell me, Mr Christie, do you want your
wife to come home?
Archie: Yes, of course I want her to come home!
1
2
3
4
5
Murder is Easy
Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile
The Moving Finger
At Bertram’s Hotel
Activity 6 after reading
Open answers.
Activity 4 after reading
© Oxford University Press
Words across: publisher, chapter, divorce, puzzle,
disappear, novel, idea, mystery, book, clue
Words down: character, guess, poison, story, type,
detective, popular, magazine
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1 The five words are ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.
2 They are used for the title of a book, and for the
title of a film.
3 The Belgian is a character in the story, Hercule
Poirot. He is the detective who finds the murderer.
4 After her divorce Agatha travelled on the Orient
Express to have a holiday in Iraq. She enjoyed it
very much, so she went again the next year, and on
that visit she met Max Mallowan. They fell in love
and got married the same year, and so began the
happiest years of Agatha Christie’s life.
oxford bookworms
bookworms library
library stage
stage 22
oxford
agatha christie, woman of mystery
xxx