Plenty to read in new Agatha Christie mystery set from Royal Mail.

The Centenary of publication of Agatha Christie's first story, which introduced Hercule Poirot to the worldwide detective fiction readership, and the 40th anniversary of the author's death, are marked by Royal Mail with a set of 6 stamps with most innovative designs, to be issued on 15 September 2016.   The more you look at them, the more you see.

Each stamp - there are se-tenant pairs of 1st class, £1.33 and £.152 - is fully captioned with the title of the work illustrated, but there is more to read in the small print - microtext and detail only revealed with an ultra-violet lamp.

For the £1.52 stamp illustrating The Body in the Library there appears to be text on the spines of the books lining the shelf beyond the chalk outline of the body.  What that text reads is anybody's guess as we are not privy to the detail!

You can see the rest of the stamps, and read more about the author and the stories, on our new webpage.  But as for the hidden details, you will have to find out for yourself, or wait until we reveal what we have found, (long*) after the stamps are issued.  (* long after, because we are not updating website or blog with these details until we have been able to see the stamps, which will be in November.)

UPDATE 18 August
Incidentally, the Agatha Christie Birthday Celebrations in Torquay, also on 15 September includes a Royal Mail Special Stamps shop, and book signings (and probably first day cover and postcards signiings), and Sutherland (stamp designers) cleverly used the I^ST class Machin stamp on their invitation cards (see right).

Sutherland also designed the Charles Darwin, Royal Society, London Underground, Rescue at Sea, and Royal Shakespeare Company stamp sets.

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