Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious flashing light in the sports pavilion, while the rest of the school sleeps. There, among the lacrosse sticks, they stumble upon the body of the unpopular games mistress – shot through the heart from point blank range. The school is thrown into chaos when the 'cat' strikes again. Unfortunately, schoolgirl Julia Upjohn knows too much. In particular, she knows that without Hercule Poirot's help, she will be the next victim…

It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture, followed by a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. But when Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas, offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man ...

The new-look series of Miss Marple books for the 21st century. As Jane Marple sat basking in the Caribbean sunshine she felt mildly discontented with life. True, the warmth eased her rheumatism, but here in paradise nothing ever happened. Eventually, her interest was aroused by an old soldier's yarn about a strange coincidence. Infuriatingly, just as he was about to show her an astonishing photograph, the Major's attention wandered. He never did finished the story...

A new-look printing of Agatha Christie's 'most absorbing mystery' to mark the 25th anniversary of her death. Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976, having become the best-selling novelist in history. Her autobiography, published in 1977 a year after her death, tells of her fascinating private life, from early childhood through two marriages and two World Wars, and her experiences both as a writer and on archaeological expeditions with her second husband, Max Mallowan. Not only does the book reveal the true genius of her legendary success, but the story is vividly told and as captivating as one of her novels.

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond ...then came the 'suicide' that was murder ...the mystery of the absurdly chaep flat ...a suspicious death in a locked gun-room ...a million dollar bond robbery ...the curse of a pharoah's tomb ...a jewel robbery by the sea ...the abduction of a Prime Minister ...the disappearance of a banker ...a phone call from a dying man ...and, finally, the mystery of the missing willl. What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot.

A brand new omnibus of 55 short stories, presented for the first time in chronological order. Described by her friend Dolly Bantry as ' the typical old maid of fiction', Miss Marple has lived almost her entire life in the sleepy hamlet of St Mary Mead. Yet, by observing village life she has gained an unparalleled insight into human nature -- and used it to devasting effect. As her friend Sir Henry Clithering, the ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard has been heard to say: 'She's just the finest detective God ever made.' -- and many Agatha Christie fans would agree. Appearing for the first time in The Murder at The Vicarage (1930) her crime-fighting career spanned over forty years when she solved her final case in 1977 in Sleeping Murder. With every tale flawlessly plotted by the Queen of C

At last – the complete collection of over 50 Hercule Poirot short stories in a single volume! Hercule Poirot had a passion for order, for rational thought, and had a justified confidence in his deductive genius. No matter what the provocation, he always remained calm. The shrewd little detective with the egg-shaped head and the enormous black moustache was created by one of the world's greatest storytellers, Agatha Christie, who excelled at the art of short story writing. Only she could have devised the cases worthy of Poirot's skill, the ingenious mysteries that challenge the reader as well as the detective. There is a spectacular diversity in the plots and themes of these cases, ranging from very brief tales to full-length novellas. Violent murders, poisonings, kidnappings and thef

Charles Osborne’s adapation of Agatha Christie’s classic play, Spider’s Web, features Clarissa, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat given to daydreaming. ‘Supposing I were to come down one morning and find a dead body in the library, what should I do?’ she muses. Clarissa has her chance to find out when she discovers a body in her drawing-room. Desperate to dispose of it, she attempts to persuade her house guests to become accessories and accomplices. As the search begins for the murderer in their midst, the house party is interrupted by the arrival of a police inspector, who needs convincing there has been no murder at all. That shouldn’t be too hard for Clarissa who maintains that lies are always more believable, ‘I suppose when you’re making things up you get car

Baghdad is the chosen location for a secret superpower summit. Unfortunately the word is out, and an underground organisation in the Middle East is plotting to sabotage the talks. Into this explosive situation stumbles Victoria Jones, a girl with a yearning for adventure who gets more than she bargains for when a wounded agent dies in her hotel room. Now, if only she could make sense of his final words:'…Lucifer…Basrah…Lefarge…'

It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.

But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.

For an instant the two trains ran together, side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth witnessed a murder. Helplessly, she stared out of her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman’s throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away. But who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses… and no corpse.