Agatha Christie wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. These books were psychological and emotional novels rather than detective mysteries, allowing Christie to explore family relationships, love, memory, and personal conflict outside her famous crime-fiction identity.
Christie began using the Westmacott name in 1930, when she published Giant's Bread. The pseudonym helped keep readers and critics from judging the novels solely by her reputation as the “Queen of Crime.” The six Westmacott novels were published between 1930 and 1956, ending with The Burden.
The name was eventually revealed publicly in 1949, although Christie had successfully kept her authorship secret for years. A common mix-up is assuming Mary Westmacott was a separate writer; she was Christie herself. The Westmacott books also should not be confused with Christie's numerous non-fiction works, plays, short stories, and detective novels published under her own name.