Agatha Christie’s iconic detectives, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, have joined the whimsical world of the Mr Men and Little Miss series.
The collaboration reimagines some of the best-selling novelist’s most celebrated stories through new illustrations in a series of children’s books.
The first two titles, Little Miss Marple: Muddle at the Vicarage and Mr Poirot: Mischief on the Nile, were published on Thursday.
The illustrated books, aimed at pre-school and primary age children, will feature Christie detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple working alongside Roger Hargreaves’s much-loved children’s characters.
Two further instalments are slated for release in February 2026.
Christie’s great-grandson, James Prichard, who is CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd, said that as a lifelong fan of the Mr Men and Little Miss books, it has “always” been his wish to put Poirot and Miss Marple into that universe, describing the project as a “dream collaboration”.
n Muddle at the Vicarage, Little Miss Marple lives in St Mary Mead, the fictional village created by Christie, and is friends with Mr Nosey and Little Miss Chatterbox. When Reverend Muddle suspects there’s been a theft at the vicarage, and there are further mysteries “of the rather muddled kind”, Little Miss Marple is “sure she can help Inspector Nonsense and Constable Silly uncover the truth”, according to publisher HarperCollins.
Meanwhile, in Mischief on the Nile, Mr Poirot escapes winter with a cruise on the Nile when he meets his friend Colonel Rush, who travels the world tracking down criminals. Poirot’s holiday “soon includes much mischief and a mystery to solve,” with many Mr Men and Little Miss suspects, including Mr Tickle, said the publisher.
The two stories are loosely inspired by Christie’s Death on the Nile and Murder at the Vicarage, but with a charming and humorous twist for younger mystery fans.
Originally created by cartoonist Roger Hargreaves in 1971, the Mr Men and Little Miss series has been continued by his son, Adam, who took over the family business aged 25 following Roger’s death.
Adam said: “I have had the privilege from 1988 to continue to draw and write for the series. It has been a real pleasure and an intriguing challenge to bring together the timeless mysteries of Agatha Christie with the playful world of the Mr Men and Little Miss.
“Agatha Christie’s iconic stories now have a new twist that neither she nor my father might have imagined!”
The partnership will form part of Agatha Christie Limited’s anniversary programme next year, which will mark 50 years since the celebrated author’s death, 100 years since the publication of Poirot novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and 50 years since the release of Sleeping Murder.
Although not the last book she wrote, the latter was the final novel to be published by Christie, posthumously in 1976, and featured Miss Marple.