Christie's Poirot returning in new novel

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's famous moustachioed Belgian sleuth, is to return in a new novel backed by the author's family, BBC News reports.

Crime novelist and poet Sophie Hannah will write the as-yet-untitled book, which will be published in September 2014. It will be the first official novel to continue Agatha Christie's work.

Hannah said Christie was the writer who made her "fall in love with mystery fiction" at the age of 13.

"I read and collected all her novels within a year, and have been a passionately - some might even say obsessively - devoted fan ever since. It was Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple who, between them, made me want to devote my working life to crime fiction and it was Christie's brilliant plotting and deep understanding of the human psyche that shaped my identity as a crime writer. Therefore, it is almost impossible to put into words how honoured I am to have been entrusted with this amazing project - in fact, I still can't quite believe that this is really happening. I hope to create a puzzle that will confound and frustrate the incomparable Hercule Poirot for at least a good few chapters."

Hannah's novel comes more than 90 years after Christie introduced Poirot in her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, published in 1920.

Christie died in 1976.