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Your Christie favourites immortalised upon 'The Book'

22 Aug 12 10:41AM

Join Agatha Christie in naming her best stories and have your selection immortalised upon 'The Book'.

In response to a Japanese fan's letter in 1972, Agatha Christie compiled a top-ten of her own works. These ten titles will appear as book spines around the base of 'The Book', the Agatha Christie statue to be unveiled in London's West End this November. There are spaces for a further ten titles and this is where you come in.

We want you to compile a top-ten from the remaining titles in Agatha Christie's entire body of work (so long as it appeared in book form, stand-alone short stories are excluded) that you feel best represent her work. Not only that, we want you to say why, just as Agatha did.

The entries will be judged by a panel of Agatha Christie experts including her grandson Mathew Prichard and the winning entry will have their choices immortalised in bronze, in a variety of languages and in Braille upon 'The Book'. They will also receive a unique box-set of five leather bound novels chosen and signed by Agatha Christie's late daughter Rosalind Hicks.

Please follow Agatha's lead and complete numbers 11-20 below, then email your entry to competitions@agathachristie.com

1 - And Then There Were None - "A difficult technique which was a challenge and so I enjoyed it, and I think dealt with it satisfactorily."

2 - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - "A general favourite and also the first time where the xxxxx has managed to be the villain" (edited to prevent spoiler)

3 - A Murder is Announced - "I thought all the characters interesting to write about and felt I knew them quite well by the time the book was finished."

4 - Murder on the Orient Express - "Again because it was a new idea for a plot."

5 - The Thirteen Problems - "A good series of short stories."

6 - Towards Zero - "I found it interesting to work on the idea of people from different places coming towards a murder, instead of starting with the murder and working from that."

7 - Endless Night - "My own favourite at present."

8 - Crooked House - "I found a study of a certain family interesting to explore."

9 - Ordeal by Innocence - "An idea I had had for some time before starting to work upon it."

10 - The Moving Finger - "Which I have re-read lately and enjoyed reading it again, very much."

11 - ....

12 - ....

13 - .... 
(complete to number 20)

The closing date for entries is midnight on the last day of Christie Week, September 16. There is no cash alternative to the prize, because basically, it is priceless. Should there be multiple entries that list the same titles as the winning selection then the winner will be judged on the quality of their reasons for selecting these titles. There will be only one winner and the judges’ decision will be final. The winner will be announced before October 15th, 2012. This competition is open to everybody in every country, worldwide, and we will courier the box-set of books to you wherever you live. Sadly entries must be in English but will not be judged on grammar or spelling. By entering you give permission for us to publish your entry online, but we will not use your email address for any other purpose than to contact you should you win. Only one entry per household. Entrants under 18 years of age should obtain parental permission before entering. Employees of Agatha Christie Ltd and Acorn Productions are exempt from entry.

On receipt of entry, competitions entrant is deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions and to have agreed to be bound by them.  These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

Good luck!

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5 comments

Moderator2 25 Oct 12 at 3:02p.m.

********** UPDATE **********
The winner has been announced! Go to Mathew's Blog for all the details.

Pat_september 18 Oct 12 at 5:10p.m.

Thank you.

Moderator2 18 Oct 12 at 3:09p.m.

*****UPDATE******
The winner has been selected and notified - we will announce who they are and their selection in this month's official newsletter due out next week, as well as here on www.agathachristie.com. If you haven't won, do not be downhearted, the standard has been very, very high - and all we can say is a huge thank you for taking the time to enter. Mathew Prichard will discuss the process in his blog next week.

Moderator2 17 Oct 12 at 11:42a.m.

Our apologies for the delay - it has been a very close contest and the judges without the luxury of being in the same room at the same time are due to make a decision and the winner will be announced very soon.

Pat_september 16 Oct 12 at 2:22p.m.

Anxiously awaiting for the winner to be announced..