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 countries. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.

"The construction is flawless." Daily Mail "Must be read twice, once for enjoyment and once to see how the wheels go round." The Times "The main alibi is of the first brilliance ! the descriptive work hits, as it were, the Nile on the head." Observer "A peach of a case for Poirot. I take my hat off to the author for as ingenious an alibi as can well be imagined." Sunday Times