A 1926 whodunit by Agatha Christie has been named the
best crime novel ever written by her fellow crime writers.
The Murder of
Roger Ackroyd, one of the first Christie books to feature Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot, topped a poll held to mark the 60th anniversary of the Crime
Writers' Association (CWA).
Christie
herself was named best ever author, while the Sherlock Holmes cycle was named
best ever crime series.
Ten titles in
all made the shortlist put before the body's 600 members.
They included
another Christie work - 1934's Murder on the Orient Express - as well as two
novels by Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye.
The Hound of
the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers had also been in contention.
The Silence of the
Lambs by Thomas Harris (1988) and On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill (1998) were
the most recent works to make the shortlist.
However the CWA
favoured classic crime fiction above more contemporary works.
Plot twist
The Murder of
Roger Ackroyd sees Poirot investigate the deaths of two residents of a small
English village.
The novel ends
with an audacious revelation which is now considered one of the most ingenious
plot twists in the history of crime writing.
The poll coincides
with what will be David Suchet's final TV appearance as Hercule Poirot, whom he
first portrayed on television in 1989.
Curtain -
Poirot's Last Case, broadcast on ITV on 13 November, will be followed by Being
Poirot, a documentary about the actor's experience of playing the famous
moustachioed sleuth.
It was
announced in September the detective will return in an as yet untitled new
novel, penned by the crime writer Sophie Hannah.
Source: BBC
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