Decoding Midlife: What Agatha Christie Can Teach Us

Is aging a crime? It certainly creeps up on us and we do everything to keep it at bay. How many times a day do we see advertisements heralding the latest anti-aging cream, capsule, or calisthenic?

If aging is a true crime then maybe we need to have the mindset of a detective like Miss Marple, the popular fictional character in Agatha Christie‘s crime novels, to solve the mystery.

Agatha Christie, my new role model

I am continually searching for women who have solved the mystery of aging for themselves. I typically find them in my own social circles, my family tree, or of course online in my Instagram feed. Who doesn’t want to be Joan MacDonald with 2 million followers living in Tulum, Mexico? Sign me up!

This week I found a new role model in an unlikely place, my Audible book app. I’m listening to Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman (Pegasus Crime, 2023). It is expertly written and resplendently narrated by the author, Lucy Worsley.

As I learned about Agatha Christie, the “Queen of Mystery”—or “Queen of Crime” as her estate trademarked— she quickly solidified herself as my newest literary best friend and captivating role model for aging. I found myself going beyond the informative Worsley biography and searching for more clues to how she lived an abundant life until at the age of 85 she breathed her last.

There is no expiration date on work that brings you joy

In 1974 at the age of 82 she made her final public appearance at the premiere of the film adaptation of her iconic thriller, Murder on the Orient Express—a book she wrote 40 years earlier. She had considered retiring at the age of 75 but her books were selling so well she just kept writing up until a year before she died.

At every age, push yourself to learn and share new stories

This formidable and perceptive woman was a risk taker. She learned to surf in the 1920’s. She trained as a nurse and also a pharmacist—the perfect training grounds for learning about poisons that eventually found themselves in her novels! Her extensive travel was often the impetus for her next great mystery.

No matter the circumstances, stay clever and curious

Agatha experienced heartbreak when her mother died and their beloved estate had to be sold. With the loss of financial resources and living with deep loneliness she forced herself to write her next book. Later, her spirit was shaken when she learned of her husband’s affair with his golf partner, Nancy.

Agatha reacted by hiding out at a spa hotel for eleven days that caused a nationwide search for this celebrity author. She checked into the hotel using the surname of her husband’s mistress.

Solving our midlife puzzle

Do these clues resonate with what you are seeing in your own life at 50, 60, or 70? I am bolstered by Agatha’s constant reminder and foundation for her whodunnits: “The mystery is hidden in an object in plain sight.” 

Can we each solve our own mysterious aging by simply seeing and embracing what is in plain sight before us?

For example, that favorite water glass that sits empty on the counter—fill it several times a day, add some lemon juice, and feel the life returning to your veins. That can of tuna hidden in your pantry behind the chips solves the protein puzzle for a quick lunch.

Oh, and that delightful and dreaded cell phone that we always want in plain site. Let’s talk about that. I am the queen of death scrolling, especially at 3:30 am. Our phones are so full of mysteries but what do they really solve? Their best use is to call girlfriends or brothers or sisters and have an uplifting chat or plan a dinner date. A sure-fire antidote to the poison of loneliness.

Agatha’s main characters always had a sidekick. Who is yours?

I spy that pile of travel magazines collecting dust on the coffee table. Corners already turned down for quick reference. Plan that trip and go! Collect free stories along the way!

Crumpled in my pocket is that pamphlet I was handed at the grocery store. The local elementary school is looking for volunteers. How serendipitous? I’m looking for variety, something to do that has meaning and purpose.

I can barely open my desk drawer. It is stuffed with unused greeting cards and pretty papers I just keep saving. The gift of a handwritten note to anyone— a new acquaintance or an old schoolmate—can spark energy in the giver and the receiver. There is an exhilaration that comes with turning outside ourselves and turning to others. Use this clue often.

It is imperative we use all of our senses to solve the puzzles of the aging process. The mystery of more days can easily be made more satisfying with the natural gifts of taste, smell, sight, hearing, and touch. Seek opportunities for sensational experiences—from cooking to listening to loving.

On my coffee table I notice that pretty candle I received for Christmas patiently waiting to be lit. It is calling me to sit, breathe, pray. I flick the match and light the flame. Flickering across the objects in plain site inviting me to solve the mystery of aging. Tomorrow I might be somewhere more novel or exotic but for today I found all my clues—right at home.

Friends, aging is a mystery to be embraced and solved daily—best done with people and purpose—not potions. Take the time. Take the notes. Take the risk. Write your own mystery, be your own main character. Just like an Agatha Christie novel, you won’t want to put it down.

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