UK seaside town unveils Agatha Christie attraction in tribute to famous author (2025)

A new statue of famous crime writer Agatha Christie has been unveiled (Image: BBC)

A new statue of famous crime writer Agatha Christie has been unveiled in a beautiful UK seaside area that was also her hometown. The statue, by local artist Elisabeth Hadley, has been revealed in the town of Torquay.

The statue depicts the author, who was born in Torquay in 1890, and her favourite dog, Peter. The statue will reportedly be the focal point of the Devon seaside town's new £4m harbourside plaza. The work was unveiled by her grandson, Mathew Prichard, who told the BBC: "Next year she would have been gone 50 years and the story goes on." He added: "She had a huge band of fans and booksellers and publishers all of her life."

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A Blue Plaque on Barton Road, Torquay, marks the spot of Ashfield, Agatha Christie's childhood homev (Image: Getty)

Agatha Christie was an English detective novelist and playwright. She wrote some 75 novels, including 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections.

Christie is perhaps the world's most famous mystery writer and is one of the best-selling novelists of all time.

A Blue Plaque on Barton Road, Torquay, marks the spot of Ashfield, Agatha Christie's childhood home.

Ashfield was a large Victorian mansion where Agatha spent a happy childhood with her parents, Frederick and Clara Miller, and her elder siblings Monty and Madge.

According to her official website, during the World War 1, Agatha worked firstly as a VAD nurse in Torquay’s field hospital before transferring to the dispensary set up in the Town Hall.

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It explained: "Here she worked as an assistant to the pharmacist and found the inspiration to write her first detective novel.

"She chose the murder method – which, given her pharmaceutical learnings, had to be poison – and the villain, and then considered her detective.

"At the time there were numerous Belgian war refugees in Torquay, and they provided the inspiration for her sleuth.

"Finding it hard to concentrate, she took two weeks off work on the advice of her mother to finish the novel, repairing to the Moorland Hotel at Haytor on Dartmoor where she completed it in 1916.

"The book was named The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and introduced the world to Hercule Poirot."