Seaside town celebrates Agatha Christie vintage-style

The ghostly shadow of Agatha Christie emerges in a dimly-lit garden on a mystery-filled night in Torquay, the birthplace of the queen of crime which is celebrating the 125th anniversary of her birth.

"Do you think it's her?" a young woman asks her neighbor half-jokingly when she spots the hat-wearing silhouette crouched over her typewriter in the glamorously old-fashioned English Riviera town.

Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective she invented, can be seen pacing nearby in Torre Abbey - one of the Torquay landmarks hosting a legion of Christie fans and experts who enjoy a bit of dress-up.