Agatha Christie London guide: places, plays, books, and tours

London is a great place for Agatha Christie fans. This Agatha Christie London guide covers locations, theatre, books, and guided tours.

Though she was born outside of London, Christie spent many years there, wrote many of her books there, and was inspired by places around the city.

I’ve been a fan of Agatha Christie’s mysteries since my early teens. I enjoyed seeing her plays in London and visiting some of the places mentioned in her books.

I created this Agatha Christie London guide for anyone who loves Agatha Christie and wants to plan a unique Christie themed visit to London.

London theatre shows by Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie was a wonderful novelist, but she was also a playwright.

Two of her plays are currently running in London’s West End: The Mousetrap and Witness For The Prosecution.

The Mousetrap

Agatha Christie The Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running play. A perennial theatre production. It’s been running in West End since 1952. You’ll be entering a living piece of theatre history.

The plot features a group of strangers stranded in a country house during a snowstorm in the company of a killer.

It’s a classic whodunnit, the ultimate murder mystery, both comic and the serious.

I enjoyed every moment of it.

Some people say they could guess the ending, but I couldn’t and I loved the surprising resolution.

Witness for the Prosecution

This entire play is staged in the authentic setting of the Council Chamber at County Hall.

If you’ve only ever read Christie on the page, this is what it feels like to step inside one of her plots.

Witness for the Prosecution is a fascinating courtroom drama that even involves some audience participation.

I enjoyed the evening, the setting, the acting, and most importantly, the plot twists.

This play keeps you in suspense until the very last moment.

My tip for choosing good seats for this show is to pick the left side of the courtroom stalls. You’ll get a clear view of the stage and the actors are often facing that way.

I’d avoid the galleries, as they are high up and you’ll be too far from the action.

As this isn’t your old West End theatre, the seats are comfortable, the legroom is excellent, and some seats have a table where you can place your drink.

Both plays are included in my guide to the best London West End plays for first timers.

Agatha Christie London guide: interesting locations

There are many locations in London associated with Agatha Christie. Places where she lived or visited, places she mentioned in her books, and film locations.

Here’s my selection of top 4 Christie spots to see in London.

1. Agatha Christie memorial

A bronze statue shaped like an open book, with Christie’s portrait at its centre and her characters’ names around the spine.

This spot is at also close to St Martin’s Theatre, at St Martin’s Cross in Covent Garden.

Address: Cranbourn St, London WC2H 7AB

2. Eltham Palace

Eltham Palace is an unusual palace in London, redesigned in the 1930s, so it features glamorous art deco interiors.

It was used as a filming location for TV and movie adaptations of Christie’s work, like Poirot’s Death on the Nile, Three Act Tragedy, and Miss Marple’s What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw.

Eltham Palace is worth a visit in its own right, especially if you like history and architecture or if you’re looking for unique places in London away from the crowds.

Address: Court Rd, London SE9 5NP

3. The Savoy

Christie was a regular at this hotel, and so was Poirot. The Savoy appears in several of her stories, such as Lord Edgware dies and One, two, buckle my shoe.

It’s about 10 minutes away from St. Martin’s Theatre where The Mousetrap is showing.

It’s beautiful hotel to visit if you like Art Deco design and a popular place for afternoon tea.

Address: The Savoy, Strand, London WC2R 0EZ

4. Christie’s home in Kensington

The place where Christie lived during the 1930s, by which point she was already famous.

You can see the English Heritage blue plaque on the wall.

She wrote at least 16 of her novels while living there.

Address: 58 Sheffield Terrace, London W8 7NA

You can see more places and learn more about them on an Agatha Christie guided tour.

Agatha Christie London tour

Take a 2 hour guided tour to see locations mentioned in Agatha Christie’s books, London spots that inspired her stories, and places where she herself lives and visited.

This tour is a great way to see these places in the their historical context and hear stories about her personal life.

If you’d like to visit Agatha Christie’s birthplace, travel to Torquay, where she was born and raised.

Torquay inspired her books and characters.

Learn about her life and influences on a guided tour in Torquay.

Torquay is in Devon, about 3 hours by train from London.

Agatha Christie books set in London

Many of Agatha Christie’s novels are set in London. Some move between London and other locations.

Here’s a breakdown with a quick plot summary for each of them and the London locations (some are fictional).

The secret adversary (1922)

The second novel Christie ever published, and the debut of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. The two old friends bump into each other after WWI, broke and directionless, and set themselves up as freelance adventurers. They’re soon tangled up with master criminals and a missing government document.

London places: Dover Street Station (now Green Park), a Lyons Tea Room, a den in Soho, the Ritz Hotel, Gloucester Road, and a house off Park Lane.

The seven dials mystery (1929)

A house party ends in suspicious death when a guest is found surrounded by eight alarm clocks, one of them missing. Spirited Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent heads to London to investigate, and descends into the seedy Seven Dials Club in Covent Garden, where she encounters a secret society and gets mixed up with the criminal underworld.

London places: The Seven Dials area and its club in Covent Garden.

Lord Edgware dies (1933)

Poirot is embroiled in a complicated divorce case when an American actress entreats him to help while he is dining at the Savoy Hotel with Captain Hastings. Her marriage to Lord Edgware was an utter mistake, but he isn’t willing to let her go. Just 24 hours later, the Baron is dead.

London places: The Savoy Hotel, Lord Edgware’s townhouse in Regent’s Gate.

Cards on the table (1936)

You are cordially invited to Mr Shaitana’s superb flat in London’s Park Lane for a party like no other. The rich host’s parties are notorious, but this one is designed exclusively for Hercule Poirot: a meeting of murderers who got away with it. With four experts in the room, what could possibly go wrong?

London places: Park Lane (Shaitana’s flat).

One, two, buckle my shoe (1940)

The story starts at the premises of Poirot’s dentist, one Mr Morley, who lives and works on Queen Charlotte Street. Poirot grudgingly leaves his home at Whitehaven Mansions to pay Morley a visit. Not more than an hour after Poirot has left, Mr Morley is found dead. A number of Morley’s patients are investigated, taking readers across London to locations including a large property overlooking the River Thames on Chelsea Embankment, the Savoy Hotel, Battersea Park, Hampstead and Ealing Broadway.

London places: Charlotte Street (Fitzrovia), Whitehaven Mansions, Chelsea Embankment, the Savoy, Battersea Park, Hampstead, Ealing Broadway.

Hickory dickory dock (1955)

This one is a departure from the glitz and glamour of London’s high society. Instead we find ourselves at 26 Hickory Road, where Poirot feels duty bound to assist Miss Lemon’s sister with a bizarre case of thefts at a student hostel at which she is the warden. A puzzling mystery which depicts the fascinating, ordinary lives of city-dwellers in the 50s.

London places: Hickory Road student hostel (somewhere in central London).

The pale horse (1961)

This story explores the contrast of modern 1960s London life with the disturbing goings-on in a traditional country village. Narrator Mark Easterbrook finds himself in a trendy Chelsea coffee shop, and observes the “Chelsea set”: young people from wealthy backgrounds who have given it all up to live a bohemian lifestyle. He also enjoys plays at the Old Vic. Later, the murder of a priest occurs in a dingy street near Paddington.

London places: Chelsea coffee shops, the Old Vic theatre, a street near Paddington.

At Bertram’s hotel (1965)

Join Miss Marple on a two-week break in this London hotel, which she remembers fondly. The story gives ample opportunity to nose around the upper echelons of society from the comfort of the lounge. But nostalgia can’t mask the undercover goings-on. The setting is thought to be inspired by one of Christie’s favourite venues, Brown’s Hotel.

London places: Bertram’s Hotel (probably based on Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair).

Third girl (1966)

Young Norma Restarick calls on Poirot in obvious distress, concerned that she has committed a murder. Poirot and Ariadne Oliver set out to find out who she is; their investigations take Poirot to Norma’s flatshare at Borodene Mansions in South Kensington, and put Ariadne Oliver in grave danger as she follows a suspect on the underground from Charing Cross, onto a bus to World’s End, and then into a maze of alleyways by the River Thames.

London places: South Kensington, Charing Cross station, World’s End (Chelsea), the Thames riverside.

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