John Steinbeck in 1939 Born

Death and burial[edit]

Christie died peacefully on 12 January 1976 at age 85 from natural causes at her home at Winterbrook House.^[73][74] When her death was announced, two West End theatres – the St. Martin's, where The Mousetrap was playing, and the Savoy, which was home to a revival of Murder at the Vicarage – dimmed their outside lights in her honour.^[27]:373 She was buried in the nearby churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey, in a plot she had chosen with her husband 10 years before. The simple funeral service was attended by about 20 newspaper and TV reporters, some having travelled from as far away as South America. 30 wreaths adorned Christie's grave, including one from the cast of her long-running play The Mousetrap and one sent "on behalf of the multitude of grateful readers" by the Ulverscroft Large Print Book Publishers.^[75]

Mallowan, who remarried in 1977, died in 1978 and was buried next to Christie.^[76]