J o h n e s c o t t agatha Christie

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Agatha disappears
Agatha’s car, found at Newlands Corner
The newspapers were soon full of the story, and A gatha’s 
picture was on the front pages. Where was the detective- 
story writer? Was she dead? Was she murdered? Did she 
kill herself?
The Daily News wanted answers to these questions, 
and said, on December the 7th, that it would give 
£100 to the first person with the answers. By the next 
weekend, hundreds of policemen and thousands of 
people were looking for her.
‘Did your wife ever talk about disappearing?’ a Daily 
M ail reporter asked Archie.
‘Yes,’ said Archie. ‘She once told her sister, “ I could 
disappear any time I wanted to. I would plan it carefully,
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Agatha Christie, 'Woman o f Mystery
MRS. CHRISTIE DISGUISED.
Mrs. Agatha Christie as she w as last seen (centre), and (on left and
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Did Agatha plan to disappearf Did she change how she looked? 
The newspapers showed pictures o f Agatha Christie with 
different hair and wearing glasses.
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Agatha disappears
and nobody would find me.” Perhaps this happened. Or 
perhaps she’s ill and can’t remember who she is.’
The police asked Archie lots of questions, watched his 
house, and followed him to his office.
‘They think I’ve murdered A gatha,’ he told a friend.
The woman at the Hydro Hotel had breakfast in her 
room each morning, and sat quietly reading in the hotel 
sitting-room in the afternoons. She said ‘Good morning’ 
and ‘Good afternoon’ to other people in the hotel, and 
seemed worried because there were no letters for her.
But one of the chambermaids went to see Mrs Taylor, 
the wife of the hotel manager.
‘Mrs Neele looks like the woman in the Daily M ail 
picture,’ said the chambermaid. ‘You know the one -
Agatha Christie!’
Mrs Taylor spoke to her husband about it, but they 
decided to say nothing. They did not want any trouble 
at the hotel.
But two more people at the Hydro Hotel were also 
looking carefully at ‘Mrs Teresa Neele’.
Bob Tappin and Bob Leeming played music in the 
hotel each evening, and both of them watched the quiet 
woman in the corner of the room - and began to think.
‘I’m sure that Neele woman is Agatha Christie,’ Bob 
Tappin said to his friend one evening.
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Agatha Christie, Woman o f Mystery
T think you’re right,’ Bob Leeming agreed. ‘What 
shall we do about it?’
And the next day they went to the police.
The police immediately told Agatha’s husband, and 
Archie Christie arrived at the Hydro Hotel at 6.45pm on 
Tuesday, the 14th of December. When his wife walked out 
of the sitting-room, Archie saw her and went up to her.
‘Hello, A gatha,’ he said.
She looked at him carefully, but did not seem sure who 
he was. ‘Hello,’ she said.
The hotel was soon full of newspaper reporters.
Archie told them later, ‘I don’t think that my wife 
knows who she is. She doesn’t know me, and she doesn’t 
know where she is.’
He and Agatha left the hotel the next day. There were 
reporters everywhere. They followed the Christies to the 
railway station, trying to get pictures of the frightened 
Agatha, who was hiding her face behind her hands. She 
looked thin and her face was white.
And in London, hundreds of people were waiting 
at King’s Cross Station for the train from Harrogate. 
Everyone wanted to see the ‘woman of mystery’ and her 
husband. Their lives now seemed to be like something 
out of one of her detective stories.
Archie helped the silent, frightened Agatha through
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