| A sneak peek at the cover |
So, I was
idly flicking through a discarded newspaper (the Evening Standard, I know, vile
rag but it just happened to be there) in the works kitchen this week when my
eye was drawn to the magic word....Poirot.
It seems
that this is old news, google-fu suggests it was first released to the press in
September 2013, but a new Poirot novel is being written. HERESY! I hear
you say. Christie died in 1975 and Poirot, the novelist’s leading man,
was killed off in his final tale, “Curtain” slightly earlier that same year.
Worry not I
say, as neither Poirot nor Christie are being brutally raised from the
grave. In fact, as part of what seems to be quite the new trend, a more
modern crime writer is putting her name to a Poirot tale, which I understand
will be sandwiched into the period between 1928 and 1932 where Christie did not
set any of her original tales.
Sophie
Hannah is a crime writer of good standing and long time fan of Christie,
describing herself as “obsessively” devoted. Her favourite tale is Murder
on the Orient Express, which she has named as one of the books she would
take to a desert island.
The book
has been commissioned by the Christie Estate and will be published in September
this year to commemorate what would have been Agatha’s 125th
birthday.
I’m
thoroughly looking forward to reading it but I am sure a lot of you out there
have reservations. But, in the words of the author “I regard every word
Agatha Christie ever wrote almost as a holy text, so I’m not going to be taking
any liberties. He won’t be taking up rollerskating.”
 |
| The author and members of the Christie Estate |
