Murder By The Book celebrates 20th century British crime fiction

Crime fiction goes under the microscope at Cambridge University Library in... Murder By The Book!

Agatha Christie's typewriter, dictaphone and the typescript of her final Poirot novel - so top secret it was kept in a bank vault for three decades - are all on display as part of a major FREE exhibition unravelling the history and enduring popularity of crime fiction.

Murder by the Book: a celebration of 20th century British crime fiction puts on display nearly 100 of the most famous, influential and best-selling crime novels in UK history, as well as other consequential works that are now long out of print. The exhibition runs until 24th August.

Tap here to book your FREE ticket now!

The vast majority of novels on display are drawn from the Library’s unique, world-class Tower collection of first editions in their original dust jackets. The exhibition has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Aside from Christie’s 1937 Remington typewriter, one of the star exhibits of Murder by the Book is the typescript of her final Poirot novel Curtain – locked away for nearly 30 years and originally supposed to be published posthumously.

It was the last novel published before her death in 1976 and finally revealed a closely guarded secret about Christie’s beloved detective Hercule Poirot – a revelation so culturally significant, that it featured on the front page of the New York Times.

The Christie objects, loaned by the Christie Archive Trust, also include her draft notebooks from the writing of Curtain and Witness for the Prosecution.

Elsewhere, the exhibition also features Wilkie Collins’ writing desk, as well as the Library’s first edition copy of his seminal work The Moonstone.

Murder by the Book is free - but pre-booking is essential. Tap here to book your FREE ticket now!