Dame Agatha Christie DBE (1890 – 1976), was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. Almost all of her books are ‘whodunits’ where the detective either stumbles across the murder, or is called upon by an old acquaintance, who is somehow involved.
Gradually, the detective interrogates each suspect, examines the scene of the crime and makes a note of each clue, so readers can analyze it and be allowed a fair chance of solving the mystery themselves.
A preferred means of murder in Christie’s books was poisoning using arsenic. Easy accessibility of the poison and the possibility of avoiding detection if the victim ingested small amounts at a time, made it a popular choice.
This was exemplified in her 1929 publication of a short story collection Partners in Crime. This included ‘The House of the Lurking Death’, whose story line featured a box of chocolates laced with arsenic at old maid Lois Hargreaves’ home. Not liking chocolates, she was the only one in the house who didn’t sample the unexpected gift and consequently, she was the only one who wasn’t taken ill afterwards making her the number one suspect.
That story was written 80 years ago.
We have a present day mystery on our hands that is not fictional. And the majority of deaths involve females.
The mystery we are talking about is breast cancer.
To unravel the mystery, it may well help if we employ the techniques used in Christie’s prose.
In 2009, there were an estimated 192,370 (female); 1,910 (male) new cases and 40, 170 (female); 440 (male) deaths from breast cancer in the United States. Except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. African American women are more likely than all other women to die from breast cancer.
Why is it a mystery?........read more at Heroin and Cornflakes blog
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