Poirot

This month’s Killer Reads Book of the Month is the first Poirot mystery, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES. You can join the debate on GoodReads here: http://bit.ly/1wWAv3F When my agent first suggested to me that I ought to… Read More

World Book Night 2014 is officially celebrated today, with a call for the public to inspire more people fall in love with reading. 12,500 copies of 20 specially printed World Book Night titles, totaling 250,000 books, will be given by a network of volunteer reading enthusiasts and institutions. Very excitingly,… Read More

Some of the best Agatha Christie murder mysteries have been released today with a striking new cover design. Following the stunning new cover interpretations of Murder on The Orient Express, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Curtain, these gorgeous new jackets will be a great addition to your Christie library. Read More

Last month Laura, our Agatha Christie Brand Manager, expert and all-round Christie fan, attended the Agatha Christie Festival! Here’s Laura’s roundup of what took place… The international bestselling crime writer, Sophie Hannah, who is to write a new Agatha Christie novel, appeared at the famous Agatha Christie Festival… Read More

We are VERY excited to share that a brand new, fully-authorised Poirot novel will be published worldwide in September 2014! Find out lots more information in the press release below… Fully-authorised Poirot novel to be published worldwide in September 2014 The international bestselling crime writer, Sophie Hannah, is to… Read More

This week marks the return of the world famous annual Agatha Christie week. Every September, thousands of Christie fans flock to Torquay to enjoy numerous Christie inspired games, activities and events that take place in and around Devon to celebrate the Queen of Crimes birthday (15th September). Whether it is attending the Vintage Ball, playing some 1920’s pitch-and-putt or indulging in the splendour of the Agatha Christie Theatre Company’s new production of Murder on the Nile, there’s so many ways to get involved and celebrate Agatha’s legacy.   This year’s celebrations kicked off on Sunday the 9th September with the traditional Agatha Christie Fete on Torquay seafront, where stallholders dressed up in their 1920s and ‘30s best, with jazz bands, a Punch and Judy show, and fairground rides. Read More

John Curran and Hercule Poirot take a look at "the original evidence" - including one of Agatha Christie's own writing notebooks - at Paignton Library during Agatha Christie Festival. Congratulations to our very own Agatha Christie expert! John Curran triumphed in the awards at Bouchercon a few nights ago by winning not one but two presitigious crime-writing awards for his writing debut, Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks. To celebrate we've decided not only to give you an exclusive look at David Suchet's foreword for the paperback of John's new book, Agatha Christie's Murder in the Making, but also to give you an extract from the book which looks at some of the ideas that Agatha Christie never used in her novels.    KILLER READS EXCLUSIVE: David Suchet's Foreword When John Curran's book Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks was published in 2009, the reading public was given something very rare: perhaps the most complete document for any author of the notes and sketches of their novels. Reading the book was like studying the preliminary sketches of any great artist, and in doing so we automatically found ourselves searching for clues. It gave us an insight into the workings of Agatha Christie's mind - plus the gift of two new unpublished Poirot stories! Read More

Wednesday 15th September was Agatha Christie's 120th birthday. There was a plethora of activity to mark the occasion, with extensive press coverage celebrating the Queen of Crime and her work. If you didn't get the chance to see it, the 'Google Doodle' was Christie-themed in over 40 countries worldwide on the today. FIVE OF THE BEST Murder on the Orient Express Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer - in case he or she decides to strike again... Read an extract from Murder on the Orient Express Read More

Inspired by Soul Murder, guest blogger Adele from Un:Bound takes a look at the most Memorable Deaths in Fiction. Playing Cluedo as a child I always felt certain people should use certain weapons, I felt the game lacked verisimilitude otherwise. Professor Plum clearly would have to use the candlestick. Miss Scarlett should use the revolver like any self respecting femme fatale, Mrs Peacock, portrayed on her card as older and wealthy seemed a shoo in for the dagger since poison wasn’t an option, Colonel Mustard as an army sort ought to have the strength to use the rope and so on. I was possibly putting too much thought into the game, but a steady diet of Morse, Poirot, and Miss Marple will do that to a child. So the trend was set, it matters to me how you kill people. That's only reasonable though; there should be method to the madness and meaning to be found behind the method. In Soul Murder (Daniel Blake) the victims are burned alive. This is not only grotesque enough to be memorable, but also raises questions for both the detectives and the reader, the most fundamental of which is: why didn’t the killer take Scott Evil’s advice? “Just shoot him now … I’ll go get a gun and we’ll shoot him together ...” Read More

Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She has sold over two billion books worldwide and has been translated into over 45 languages. Read More