Did Agatha Christie’s Disappearance REALLY Inspire Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl? | Grim Casebooks | Case Two
Written by: Aniesha Brahma | Edited by: Jash Vatsaraj
In 1926, Agatha Christie had already made a name for herself as the ‘Queen of Crime’. Right after the release of her novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – she made international headlines as she went missing for eleven days!
In 2002, Laci Peterson, an unassuming young woman who was happily married, and was an expecting mother, went missing from her neighbourhood as she went out to walk her dog.
And in 2012, Gillian Flynn released her crime thriller novel, the widely acclaimed Gone Girl.
First Look at the Three Cases
All of these cases mirror each other in some way. It is believed that Flynn was inspired by Agatha Christie’s disappearance and Laci Peterson’s high-profile case to lay the groundwork for Gone Girl.
In today’s episode of Grim Casebooks, we are going to explore how much of this claim is true, and what can just be chalked up to coincidence.
So, what are the parallels?
The media was obsessed with both Agatha Christie and Laci Peterson’s disappearance – the former even making international headlines. 15,000 people joined a nationwide search for Agatha Christie, along with biplanes in the sky, and bloodhounds on the ground. Lakes and streams were dredged. The Home Secretary put pressure on the police to solve the crime and her fellow crime writers got involved. Arthur Conan Doyle gave one of her gloves to a medium, Horace Leaf, who said she was still alive, “half-dazed, half purposeful”, and would turn up the following week.
Laci Peterson’s parents held a vigil and searched for her once they realized their daughter was missing. Laci’s dog had been found roaming around the neighbourhood. He was returned to Laci’s husband, Scott Peterson.
i. Unfaithful Husband
In all three stories, the husband has been unfaithful. Agatha Christie was aware of her husband’s affair and even knew the name of his mistress, Nancy Neele. It’s speculated that he had asked her for a divorce before departing that weekend to spend time with his mistress!
Scott Peterson had the support of his in-laws at the time of his wife’s disappearance – however – it was later revealed he was having an affair with Amanda Frey – who claimed he had told her he was single when they met! The revelation of the affair made it a motive for Scott to have kidnapped and unalived his wife.
In Gone Girl, Nick Dunne is revealed to have been having an affair with a much younger woman, his student, Andie. As readers, we find out that Amy knew about his affair.
ii. Revenge
While there is no concrete proof, it is believed that Agatha Christie pulled the stunt she did out of revenge. She wanted to upend her husband’s weekend with his mistress. Agatha Christie allegedly kissed their sleeping child, drove off, and abandoned her car in the middle of the road, leaving behind her expired driver’s license. Before going off, she had sent postcards out – one to her brother-in-law claiming she was going on a holiday, another to the local police constable, claiming she feared for her life. She left one for her husband which he burned before the police could see it. She also alerted London Times saying relatives of Mrs. Teresa Neele could contact her at the motel she was staying at.
Laci Peterson’s case doesn’t show her getting revenge on her husband. However, in Gone Girl, Amy carefully crafts seven years’ worth of diary entries, where she paints herself slowly growing terrified of Nick Dunne. She burns this diary just enough for investigators to recover and make Nick a person of interest.
iii. Disappearance
In both Agatha Christie’s life and Amy Dunne’s life, the woman chooses to disappear – leaving behind a trail of evidence that would directly lead back to their husbands.
There are multiple accounts of what happened to Agatha Christie during those eleven days. Some accounts claim she checked into a hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and passively noted the search being conducted for her – not bothering to disguise herself, and even buying the paper every day. Other accounts claim she had assumed a name – borrowing Neele’s surname – and sent a warning to the local police to alert her family of the whereabouts. Still another account says, she just turned up at a hotel in Yorkshire eleven days later, claiming amnesia!
We might never know what truly happened to Agatha Christie during those eleven days – though people believe it was due to her disintegrating marriage. It was also speculated that perhaps it was a marketing gimmick to sell more of her books – but that’s highly unlikely!
iv. Reappearance
Eleven days later, Agatha Christie resurfaced. Her husband, Archie Christie, claimed she had amnesia – but it was perhaps to save face. They never spoke of those eleven days again.
In Gone Girl, Amy Dunne decides to come back to Nick Dunne when she hears his plea on television – she falls in love with him again. She ends up murdering her ex-boyfriend, Desi Collins, who she had been staying with and stages it to look like he’d been the mastermind behind her alleged kidnapping and assault.
Unfortunately, Laci Peterson’s story has a far more tragic end. Her body washed up on shore four months later in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was clear she was a victim. However, it remains unclear since Scott Peterson’s death row sentence was overturned in January 2024, if he was the one behind Laci’s murder.
Bonus:
Agatha Christie went by the name ‘Teresa Neele’ when she was hiding out in the world. She was paying for her assumed identity by using cash from the money belt. Her odd behaviour made people suspicious of who she claimed to be.
When Amy Dunne is hiding out at a motel, she uses a money belt as well. She arouses suspicion when her blonde roots begin to show and her behaviour is chalked up as odd. During this time, she goes by the name ‘Nancy’ – which was the name of Archie Christie’s real-life mistress!
Differences:
The major difference between the three stories is – Agatha Christie and Archie Christie divorced the following year. Archie went on to marry his mistress in 1928. Agatha Christie too went on to marry archaeologist Max Mallowan.
Laci Peterson lost her life and her husband has been a suspect in the eyes of the public for a spectacularly long time.
And, Amy Dunne came back to Nick Dunne, after inseminating herself with his sperm. He realizes his wife is a psychopath but decides due to the media attention on them, and the sake of their unborn child they would stay together.
Final Verdict:
Gillian Flynn said that her being a journalist directly fed into her storytelling in the genre of crime thrillers. She also cited Agatha Christie as her idol when it comes to writing crime thrillers. While she’s never outright claimed Agatha Christie’s disappearance as the source of her inspiration for Gone Girl – the similarities between the two are too striking to ignore.
Whether consciously or unconsciously, Gone Girl seemed to have been inspired by the high-profile disappearance of the Queen of Crime and the quite good-looking Laci Peterson!
Thank you so much for reading the first post of Grim Casebooks! You can also watch the video for the same.
I will be back with a new blog post soon. If you liked this one, please leave a comment & subscribe to the blog. Feel free to leave your theories about Agatha Christie’s disappearance and Gone Girl as well.
Also, please let me know if you want me to cover any other book and their ties to true crime!
References:
https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/gone-girl-agatha-christie/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/agatha-christie-murder-mystery-queen-and-original-gone-girl/
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2015/09/72090/agatha-christie-disappearance-gone-girl
