2020 marks 100 years since the publication of Agatha Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced Hercule Poirot to the world. Christie completed the story in 1916, but it wasn't published until February 1920 as a serial in 18 parts in The Weekly Times. It was published in the United States in October 1920 and then in the United Kingdom in January 1921. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is described in our OverDrive Collection:
Captain Arthur Hastings, invalided in the Great War, is recuperating as a guest of John Cavendish at Styles Court, the 'country-place' of John's autocratic old aunt, Emily Inglethorpe—she of a sizeable fortune, and so recently remarried to a man twenty years her junior. When Emily's sudden heart attack is found to be attributable to strychnine, Hastings recruits an old friend, now retired, to aid in the local investigation. With impeccable timing, Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective, makes his dramatic entrance into the pages of crime literature.
For more information about Christie's life and her legacy, visit The Home of Agatha Christie. You'll also find an interesting article, The Making of the Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Christie expert Chris Chan.
Download the official Hercule Poirot reading list. Many of the titles are available as ebooks and audiobooks in our OverDrive Collection. Over 100 Christie titles are available to reserve through the library catalog, too.
2020 also brings the release of Sophie Hannah's new Poirot novel, The Killings at Kingfisher Hill. Hannah writes the New Hercule Poirot Mystery Series which continues Christie's original series. Four novels have been written to date: The Monogram Murders (2014), Closed Casket (2016),The Mystery of Three Quarters (2018), and The Killings at Kingfisher Hill. Reserve your copy through the library catalog, https://bit.ly/3iy27aK, or our OverDrive Collection, https://bit.ly/3liRXN0..
December 2020 brings Death on the Nile to the big screen. Based on Christie's 1937 novel, this mystery is directed by Kenneth Branagh. The movie also stars Branagh as the iconic detective Hercule Poirot. The cast of suspects includes Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Armie Hammer and Gal Gadot.