Agatha Christie's pharmaceutical background influenced her crime novels

Before becoming a world-renowned author, Agatha Christie worked in a pharmacy in Torquay, England, under a man she identified in her memoirs as Mr. P. During her time there, she observed Mr. P carrying curare, a lethal poison, which she noted could make a person feel “powerful.”

Christie also recalled an incident where she prevented a dangerous medical error by intentionally spilling a medication that Mr. P had accidentally prepared with ten times the required dosage. She realized he would not heed a correction from a “little girl,” so she destroyed the batch to ensure it was not sold.

Her experience in the pharmacy and her subsequent training as a pharmacist at Torquay hospital in 1916 provided her with a deep understanding of toxicology. This scientific knowledge became a cornerstone of her detective fiction. For example, her 1920 debut novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles,” featured strychnine as a murder weapon, a choice inspired by the pharmaceutical textbooks she studied.