Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance: What really happened?

Author Agatha Christie has sold an estimated 2 billion copies of her works, second only to the Bible and the works of William Shakespeare. But as people continue reading her mysteries today, many have forgotten about the biggest mystery in Christie's own life - a sensational disappearance that took place not long after WWI. That disappearance is the focus of a new novel by Marie Benedict. Jeff Glor sat down with her.
Watch "CBS This Morning" HERE: bit.ly/1T88yAR
Download the CBS News app on iOS HERE: apple.co/1tRNnUy
Download the CBS News app on Android HERE: bit.ly/1IcphuX
Like "CBS This Morning" on Facebook HERE: on. 1LhtdvI
Follow "CBS This Morning" on Twitter HERE: bit.ly/1Xj5W3p
Follow "CBS This Morning" on Instagram HERE: bit.ly/1Q7NGnY
Get new episodes of shows you love across devices the next day, stream local news live, and watch full seasons of CBS fan favorites anytime, anywhere with CBS All Access. Try it free! bit.ly/1OQA29B
Each weekday morning, "CBS This Morning" co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil deliver two hours of original reporting, breaking news and top-level newsmaker interviews in an engaging and informative format that challenges the norm in network morning news programs. The broadcast has earned a prestigious Peabody Award, a Polk Award, four News & Documentary Emmys, three Daytime Emmys and the 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. The broadcast was also honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award as part of CBS News division-wide coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Check local listings for "CBS This Morning" broadcast times.

[@mevansmrichard]

She had an adventure with Doctor Who and his companion.

[@aravchubsbaba]

THE Doctor.

[@theprodigyhouseproject3976]

She knew where she was and it sounds like she had to get away from her cheating husband to get some spa time...She was never missing and was not a "victim" but rather intelligent, knowing of what she needed/wanted & capable of taking her life into her own hands without the help of a man. Not weak but strong. Not a victim but a victor

[@BillPeschel]

Exactly, and Benedict "cleverly positing that Agatha’s private tragedy was the genesis of the legendary author’s success" (accd to the Christian Science Monitor review) is sheer nonsense. "Roger Ackroyd" was written before the disappearance and already showed she was becoming a great writer.

[@nadacolic7775]

Indeed

[@kelyoph]

AGREE!!

[@marjoriegarner5369]

the prodigy, Well said.

[@vehement-critic_q8957]

But she could simply obtain a divorce & end her relationship with her cheating husband. But she's recollecting herself after losing her mother, so finding out that her husband adulterous added a fuel to the fire.

[@ditchdakkon]

so her husband got ptsd and cheated on her, id take a vacation also no wonder she was found at a spa, how is this a mystery?

[@marjoriegarner5369]

no mystery, she knew what she was doing. Smart lady.

[@paigecooksey6142]

She told her a relative in a letter where she was going. The letter to her husband was never revealed but he said the letter had no information… in which he burned. Her mother had died, husband was having an affair and she had writer’s block. She knew her husband was to meet up with his mistress… she “vanishes” and ruins that little party. Even checked into the hotel using his mistress’s last name… fabulous!! Press asked the hubs why she chose to use an alias or at least that name. I believe she planned the whole thing and enjoyed herself immensely.

[@gisleyalves1819]

The question people should be asking and , in reality, there is just this question is: why does anybody in the entire world has NEVER written like Agatha Christie? Neither before or after. Once you start to read her books , you can't stop until the end of it. We know quite much about hers books and very few about her.

[@user-po6ur4kc5l]

I agree with you, her stories have a unique and indescribable kind

[@vehement-critic_q8957]

Arthur Consn Doyle's so. Both because they play on the strings of suspension & surprise in their stories. & that sort of stories to be read once for the first time without spoils.

[@jamesdandy1777]

I didn't know she was the third in line for all time best selling authors

[@markhoskins4996]

She's the bestselling author of all time.

[@hieutruong7456]

@@markhoskins4996 what about William Shakespear

[@zecon990]

Shakespeare and Agatha Christie jointly are the best selling authors of all time. 4 billion copies sells on both side

[@Suleymanakaalp4787]

What about sir Arthur doyle,sherlock way more popular than hercule poirot

[@ethanweeter2732]

@@hieutruong7456Shakespeare was a playwright, not an author.

[@abrarmalik3847]

Omg, its the first time iheard her voice i'm crying of happiness😭😭😭😭

[@theoraclekennedy8670]

Spoilers she didn't go missing. She went to the spa 200 miles away from home for 11 days and the writer IMAGINES what she did during that time.

[@marjoriegarner5369]

Totally correct

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

@@marjoriegarner5369 Although the newspapers treated it as a 'disappearance', which is why it is remembered as such.

[@macylouwho1187]

She knew he was cheating. She did what so many women do in that circumstance-she took herself away to get some alone time to heal and get clarity on her own life and how it would change without him in it. She was likely in pain/heartbreak, and needed to proverbially “lick her wounds” away from the public eye, away from him and his mistress. Her using the mistresses name is very telling to me. This isn’t a mystery at all. A woman left for a short while to take care of herself after a terrible hurt and betrayal. The end.

[@1805movie]

I bet she just needed a break.

[@janina8559]

Hedy Lamar was an amazing genius! Her Biography is one that blows me away for Real not Fiction!

[@MrGameutopia1]

Is everyone here to watch this from Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime's second episode?

[@SHAD0WKNITE]

Yup

[@suicidalmemelord5066]

Me

[@glenjohnson6009]

Her mum had died, her husband told her he was leaving her for her friend, and the pressures of fame lead to her having a dissociative fugue.

[@Solmom03]

Interesting...but she definitely was like “mind your business”.

[@NancyMartinMysteries]

Can’t wait to read this book by Marie Benedict!

[@karishmaa7601]

She really deserved a break from all the stress she faced.... Don't title her as victim.... Everyone needs a little bit of space for themselves

[@qjames0077]

I guess now that Trump is leaving cable news has to come up with legitimate content for the first time in four years.

[@southernbelle6200]

You have the right to your opinions.

[@qjames0077]

@@southernbelle6200 bruv the head of CNN literally has pictures of him smiling with Trump. Cable news reached their peak ratings, like EVER, over the election cycle. Watch. In a few months there'll either be a huge shift in the media industry OR they'll keep preying on Trump, and anyone with differing ideas.

[@qjames0077]

@@southernbelle6200 at first they displayed a clock counter of days Trump has been in office, then when Covid became more popular they replaced that counter with Covid tallies. It's not to keep you informed, it's to keep you fearful and watching so they can get their ad money.

[@sempre8135]

Who cares

[@PrTournesol1988]

Fascinating how Agatha Christie doesn't mention that AT ALL in her autobiography (which I'm about to finish: an excellent read!). Mustn't have been such a big deal from her point of view...

[@TheSouthIsHot]

She knew exactly where she was the whole time. It was no great mystery to her. I bought her autobiography a few days ago. I can't wait to read it!

[@CatsInHats-S.CrouchingTiger]

4:44 “She was a victim in her own vanishing”? I think she wanted to give the old-ball & chain a good hard tug one final time! If her husband wanted the mistress so badly, then Christie was going to become the one who is free! Resuming the mistresses name for a spa holiday meant she was happy to switch roles! 😂 Good for her! 😝 Genius!

[@frenchvanilla7109]

Yes I agree genius 😅

[@marjoriegarner5369]

"Assuming" the mistresses name. Not "resuming" the mistresses name.

[@sooz9433]

Agatha Christie was a brilliant woman... if you think about it, this proves it.😉

[@sannah1916]

It was honestly a dissociative episode she had after having a crumbling mental health and 2 traumatic events in her life

[@journeymansmitty8283]

As a kid when I used to go to Catholic School we read about her🤔

[@elizabethabaya4435]

Was anyone bothered by the obvious fact that the interview didn't take place at the same time or in the same place, and the male reporter kept smiling falsely on cue? Idk. This just irked me the whole time.

[@marjoriegarner5369]

yes.

[@DinosaurKale]

She went on vacation for 11 days and it made her famous?

[@kitcoffey7194]

Women had a lot less freedom back then.

[@debbieking5171]

When will the book be out?

[@wisatamalam9608]

Thank you Agatha Christie✨💫 🙏🏿😭🥲

[@kathleenaustin6147]

She wanted to catch her husband cheating! Happens all the time!

[@timfahey7127]

I just ordered this book! Looking forward to it!

[@BellaPearl79]

Show all the books

[@rebeos]

OMG Finally I heard her voice😭

[@nata3467]

She went away of her own volition...she may have had a nervous breakdown of a kind. She was not a victim though. She went on to bigger and better things.

[@glenndesouza5457]

Agatha has brought me much joy from age 12 but don’t like her books written in her last 15 years

[@zappababe8577]

Something occurred to me - what if she did this as a threat to her husband? Sort of, "I can make myself disappear, maybe next time I'll make it look as though *you* murdered me. So straighten up and stop having affairs!" Something along those lines? Or am I just thinking of "Gone Girl"? ETA: Apparently they split up. So maybe it wasn't a threat, just a punishment for her husband, who might have been under heavy suspicion for those 11 days, which couldn't have been pleasant. Sorry, I don't buy the "amnesia" explanation for her actions, and I'm usually a very trusting person who likes to think the best of others.

[@angusmacfrankenstein7227]

Didn’t Doctor Who figure this out?

[@oliviagreen8853]

The ultimate mystery

[@Carpenterdane]

She just needed to get away and process everything. She had just lost her mom about a year before her husband announced he wanted a divorce.

[@vangogh4045]

No body, no crime brought me here

[@carolking6355]

Too short.

[@PriscillaNisha]

Who is here after Doctor Who

[@leseandevine1306]

I love her!

[@thecobweb4720]

How is it a "mysterious disappearance" when she herself staged her own disappearance.

[@idamehrnoush8833]

Wtf is this

[@sweetonyxakararegem692]

😂😂😂

[@DraftBarley]

Wasnt there a lady that went missing recently and all the sudden everything went quiet? She got lost on a trail or something? Js, it still does happen lol

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

it all sounded promising until the Tracy Austin quack-alike came in at 0:18

[@Odo55]

Why blend fact with fiction ? So self serving.

[@SnarkNSass]

Tell this chick that uptalking is NOT a good look.

[@Camie.in.Philly]

Oh wow, my neither was in love with her. I swear she read every book.

[@marjoriegarner5369]

"my neither"...do you mean mother?

[@sb6678]

No matter what you write in your trashy book, it will never be authentic. Only Agatha Christie knew the facts of her disappearance and she never once spoke of it. Also, learn the correct pronunciation of homage.

[@marjoriegarner5369]

agree. This woman is out for money, not truth.

[@scotnick59]

Sounds like a nervous breakdown/

[@rrrr_www]

Поможіть з тестом з англійської , будь ласка 🙏🙏🙏

[@ottovonbismarck6310]

Sounds like a reaction to her cheating husband.

[@nandobeatsmusic369]

2:58 I care I do really I’m trying to care but you have so much money I have to smile like this so you can give me anything my heart desires

[@r.e.d.readyeveryday508]

She legt 1 more mystery for us

[@edithugorji6398]

The English people and their mistress, geez.

[@Lilithly]

That's so not only an english thing.

[@saodat1894]

Interesting girl ...

[@ciaomariobello]

Marketing.

[@Lilithly]

She didn't need any marketing by that point. Her new book was doing very very well.

[@williamm374]

She was trying to get back those 11 days the Pope stole.

[@reginald_1458]

All the women obsessed with glossing over the details of her dissaperance as if it wasn't a publicity stunt which furthered her career. To say it was only her minding her business getting away from her husband is exactly the narrative they want to obsolve her from any suspicion.

[@johnkeane1419]

No mention of her racism, lol. Wasn't one of her books titled 12 Little N*****s?

[@johnsonapioras8697]

Acid trip, thats what happened

[@StuartMills-e8i]

❤y

[@barbarablue2571]

No i dint want to listen the rest of sheeps. But to Agatha

[@georgiesimmons5924]

Only the most brilliant crime offer in the world could stage her disappearance and give her cheating husband a taste of his own medicine😂

[@StuartMills-e8i]

😂

[@StuartMills-e8i]

🥹🥹

[@StuartMills-e8i]

Ss

[@johnmat4678]

After CBS buried the hunter Biden story, covered up Trump's achievements, I and a lot of other people are never watching CBS again. So long !!!!