Agatha Christie will forever be the grand dame of British crime fiction and her enduring influence on contemporary writers is unquestionable. Some follow her lead unwittingly, but others proudly pay homage with devilishly twisty Christie-like plots – and these are three of the best. Benjamin Stevenson tips his hat to the Orient Express in the gloriously inventive Everyone on This Train is a Suspect. Frances White’s Voyage of the Damned is a mind-blowing fantasy murder mystery with Agatha (and some Tolkein) in its DNA. Simon McCleave’s Last Night at Villa Lucia uncovers the shocking secrets of the guests in a luxury Tuscan villa after one of them is found murdered in the villa’s infinity pool.

This event will be chaired by author Vaseem Khan.