Sophie Hannah to Write New Hercule Poirot Novel With Blessing of Agatha Christie's Estate

Posted on September 7, 2013

Agatha Christie fans are in for a major shock: William Morrow just announced that it has inked a deal for author Sophie Hannah to continue the story of the little Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Yes, someone else will now write an Hercule Poirot novel. The Christie estate approved the project and approved the choice of author. The new Poirot novel will be published on September 2014 worldwide by HarperCollins.

The first Hercule Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, was released in 1920. The last Poirot novel, Sleeping Murder, was published in 1977 and was called Curtain. Poirot fans all know how that ended, so we feel fairly sure the new novel will be set back in Poirot's heyday.

Agatha's grandson Matthew Prichard had this to say about the project, "It was pure serendipity that led to Sophie Hannah being commissioned to write this book. Her agent happened to approach HarperCollins in exactly the same week that my colleagues and I started discussing a new Christie book. Her idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother's work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written."

Sophie Hannah writes psychological crime fiction and is an international bestselling author, although she is not well known in the U.S. She's pretty excited about the gig, understandably. She said, "It is almost impossible to put into words how honored 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."

We're are extremely curious to see what she comes up with and a bit nervous, as well. Can anyone really pull this off? Agatha Christie had a unique knack of describing characters quickly and a point of view that's going to be difficult to replicate. Still, the idea of a new Poirot story is enough to induce us to read the first book. We wonder what year it will be set in? Poirot in the digital age is a mind boggling concept. Perhaps she'll set it in either the 20s, 30s or 40s.



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