Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.

‘Poirot’s return to the happy hunting grounds of detective fiction is something of an event… The thumbnail sketches of the characters are as good as ever and in spite of the over-elaborate nature of the puzzle there is plenty of entertainment.’ Times Literary Supplement‘The Christie fan of longest standing, who thinks he knows every one of her tricks, will still be surprised by some of the twists here.’ New York Times