Culture Street

Since the publication of her first book in 1920, Agatha Christie wrote 33 novels, two plays and more than 50 short stories featuring Hercule Poirot. Now, for the first time ever, the guardians of her legacy have approved a brand new novel featuring Dame Agatha's most beloved creation.

Written by Sophie Hannah, The Monogram Murders will be published in September this year. The front cover has just been revealed by HarperCollins.

Hannah's plot opens with Hercule Poirot enjoying a quiet supper in a London coffee house. He is rudely interrupted by a young woman who confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one's mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim...

Bestselling author Sophie Hannah introduces the next Hercule Porot mystery set in 1920s London.