Queens of crime: Val McDermid reveals legal threat over Agatha Christie title

Author Val McDermid has said Agatha Christie's estate has threatened legal action against her publisher for promoting her as the "queen of crime".

That phrase is trademarked by the descendants of Christie, who created Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

McDermid, the author of almost 50 crime books, said her publisher had been told not to use the title otherwise "our lawyers will be in touch".

The author said the Christie estate's reaction was "astonishingly pitiful".

McDermid is known for her best-selling novels about Tony Hill and Carol Jordan, which were adapted for the Wire in the Blood TV series.

She is also among the modern writers who have been asked to write new Miss Marple stories by Agatha Christie Ltd, which is run by the original crime queen's great-grandson, James Prichard.

"It's all been going great guns and we've all been doing lots of publicity and interviews and writing articles for the papers and stuff, all at the behest of the Agatha Christie estate," McDermid told the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

"However, a few weeks ago the Agatha Christie estate wrote to my publisher and said, 'You must cease and desist referring to Val McDermid as the queen of crime. We have trademarked this expression.

"'If you call Val McDermid the queen of crime, you will be in breach of copyright and breach of our trademark. You may continue to quote other people calling her the queen of crime, and obviously you cannot prevent someone on a platform during an event calling her the queen of crime.

"'But should you use this title elsewhere in other ways, then you will be in breach and our lawyers will be in touch.'"

She continued: "I actually got a letter from Agatha Christie's great-grandson, who helps to run the Agatha Christie estate, and obviously earns vast sums of money from the Agatha Christie estate.

"He said, 'You will imagine my shock when my train pulled into Waterloo station and a poster said, new from the queen of crime. You must understand there's nothing personal in this, but we must protect my great-grandmother's legacy.'"

McDermid joked: "Obviously, you see that on the poster, you're going to go, 'Oh, queen of crime, we're not going to read that Agatha Christie any more are we?' It's just astonishingly pitiful."

Agatha Christie Ltd trademarked the "queen of crime" title in 2013. She published 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, which have sold more than a billion books in English and another billion in translation, according to the estate.

That makes her the best-selling novelist of all time, and behind only the Bible and William Shakespeare in terms of overall sales, they say.

Her Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries have been turned into numerous TV shows and films, while Christie also write the long-running plays The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution. She died in 1976.

McDermid has been hugely successful but has some catching up to do, with sales of 17 million books in 40 languages.

As well as Wire in the Blood, her books have been adapted for the TV shows Traces, A Place Of Execution and Karen Pirie, the latter of which will begin on ITV in September.

Her 46th novel, titled 1989, has just been published, with promotional quotes from fellow authors David Baldacci and Patricia Cornwell describing McDermid as the "queen of crime".

McDermid has now rechristened herself the "quine of crime", getting that title printed on a T-shirt and using it to introduce herself at another book festival session.

Agatha Christie Ltd and McDermid's publisher Little, Brown have not responded to requests for comment.