Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon. She was the youngest of three children born to Frederick Alvah Miller, an affluent American stockbroker, and his Irish-born wife Clara Miller née Boehmer. Agatha's mother Clara had been born in Belfast in 1854 to Captain Frederick Boehmer and Mary Ann West as the couple's only daughter. Boehmer was killed in a riding accident while stationed on Jersey in April 1863, leaving his widow to raise the child alone on a meagre income. In that same year, 1863, Mary Ann's sister Margaret married a wealthy American, Nathaniel Frary Miller, and the couple settled in Southbourne, West Sussex. In The Adventure of The Western Star, Captain Hastings, Poirot's friend, notices a woman on the street when looking out the window of Poirot's room. Poirot identifies her as Miss Mary Marvell, a famous American film star. He suspects she is on the way to see him. Soon his predictions are confirmed, and the doorbell rings. Mary Marvell brings threatening letters she received in relation to the diamond in her possession called the "Western Star." The letters claim this diamond belongs to the gods and has to be returned. The first two letters contain only a request while the third warns that if the diamond is not returned it will be taken away during the full moon… You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Adventure of the 'Western Star'” by Agatha Christie on our website.
