Over the years Agatha Christie has been the inspiration for many a crime novel. From indomitable old lady amateur detectives to the private investigators with individual quirks, there are a whole host of books that pay homage in one way or another to the Queen of Crime. She’s even appeared as a character in books herself!

There was the Detection Club formed in 1930, comprised of a number of British crime writers. Technically not inspired by Agatha Christie as the lady herself was involved in the writing, there were a number of novels that saw collaborations with Dorothy L Sayers, GK Chesterton and others.  Look out for The Floating Admiral in which Agatha Christie wrote part of the story and  Six Against the Yard and Ask a Policeman which include a preface and an essay by Mrs Christie.

Many years later Sophie Hannah has taken up the mantle and continued with the adventures of Hercule Poirot. Starting with The Monogram Murders, next came Closed Casket. The latest in the series, The Mystery of the Three Quarters, was published by Harper Collins on 23rd August 2018.

Andrew Taylor reimagined Mrs Christie as a would be detective in A Talent for Murder. The next book in the series is A Different Kind of Evil. In A Talent for Murder, Mrs Christie must determine who has planned for her to murder someone on their behalf. In the next book, Agatha has been sent to the Canary Islands to investigate a murder.

There are a whole host of other novels inspired by the queen of crime fiction. There’s The Agatha Christie Book Club by C.A. Larmer or The Christie Caper  by Carolyn G. Hart in which a murder takes place at a party held to celebrate the birthday of the late Mrs Christie.

Then there is the non-fiction inspired by her books. In the fascinating A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, author and chemist Kathryn Harkup takes us through the poisons used to off the victims in 14 of Agatha Christie’s novels.

There are no doubt lots of books that I haven’t mentioned that have had more than a passing brush with Mrs Christie. Let me know if you’ve read any you’d recommend.