Fusing literature, culture, and heritage, “Murder by the Book: A Celebration of 20th Century British Crime Fiction” pays homage to the narratives of the UK’s fiction authors. Curated by acclaimed crime novelist Nicola Upson, the exhibition at the Cambridge University Library challenges conventional boundaries between literary and genre fiction. “Murder by the Book” delves into crime’s integral role in literary lineage and highlights the Library’s Special Collections.
Agatha Christie’s typewriter from the 1930s and the manuscript of her final Hercule Poirot novel, which had been safeguarded in a bank vault for decades, are also displayed in the exhibition that explores the core of crime fiction.
The cover of the faded and fragile manuscript has the book’s title “Curtain” written in capital letters in Christie’s own hand along with her name and address.
“She wrote it as a nest egg for her daughter Rosalind,” said crime novelist Nicola Upson, curator of the “Murder by the Book” exhibition.
The last Poirot mystery, in which Christie’s fabled Belgian detective dies, was written in the early 1940s during World War II in case she did not survive.
Featuring first editions of “The Moonstone” and “Bleak House,” alongside Sherlock Holmes’ inaugural adventure, the exhibition also showcases the Library’s extraordinary collections and the sleek dust jackets that epitomize over a century of British book design.
