Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie would go on to become the bestselling novelist in history. Her debut novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," written during the latter stages of World War I, introduced readers to the iconic Hercule Poirot, who would rise to unparalleled popularity in the realm of crime fiction, rivaled only by Sherlock Holmes. Revered globally as the Queen of Crime, her literary works have achieved staggering sales figures, exceeding one billion copies in the English language and another billion in more than 100 foreign nations. Agatha Christie authored an impressive catalogue of 80 crime novels and collections of short stories, in addition to crafting 19 plays and six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.

One of her notable works, "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," a masterful piece of detective fiction, was penned by the British writer and initially published in June 1926. In this gripping tale, Poirot, who had retired to a village near the home of his friend Roger Ackroyd to focus on the cultivation of perfect vegetable marrows, is compelled to return to his investigative pursuits when Ackroyd is tragically murdered. The novel received acclaim from its very first release, and in 2013, the British Crime Writers’ Association recognized it as the finest crime novel ever written.