Agatha Christie's famed detective, Hercule Poirot, will be resurrected in a new novel, nearly 40 years after his last adventure.

The moustachioed Belgian will appear in a book to be published next year written by British crime writer Sophie Hannah.

The book has the support of the Christie family and is due to be published in September, 94 years after Poirot first appeared in the author's debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Hannah says it was Christie, who died in 1974, who had made her "fall in love with mystery fiction" at the age of 13.

"It is almost impossible to put into words how honoured I am to have been entrusted with this amazing project," she said.

"It was Christie's brilliant plotting and deep understanding of the human psyche that shaped my identity as a crime writer."

She says she hopes to "create a puzzle that will confound and frustrate the incomparable Hercule Poirot for at least a good few chapters".

Hannah is the author of eight psychological thrillers as well as eight volumes of poetry. Two of her novels have been adapted for television.

Along with Miss Marple, the diminutive Poirot is one of Christie's best-loved characters.

Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, says it is "pure serendipity" that Hannah has been commissioned to write the book, as her agent approached the publisher with the idea in the same week that the family began discussing a new Christie novel.

"Her idea for a plotline was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother's work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written," he said.

Christie has sold more than 2 billion books which have been adapted countless times for the stage and screen.

Her play The Mousetrap is the longest-running show in history, having had more than 25,000 performances since it opened in London 61 years ago.

Poirot is not the first famous character to be revived after their creator's death.

Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver and William Boyd have all penned continuation novels for Ian Fleming's James Bond series, while Faulks is due to publish a new book about PG Woodhouse's Jeeves and Wooster in November.

AFP