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.

'One of the best of Agatha Christie's early thrillers.' Charles Osborne 'A thick fog of mystery, cross purposes, and romance, which leads up to a most unexpected and highly satisfactory ending.' Times Literary Supplement 'Here's another capital detective story by Miss Christie, which will keep the reader guessing until the very end, not only as to the identity of the arch villain -- the murderer -- but also that of the hero, Anthony Cade.' Literary Review