FANS of crime novelist Agatha Christie descended on Wallingford, the town where she lived for many years.

The author lived at Winterbrook House in Cholsey from 1934 until her death in 1976 and there is now a commemorative blue plaque on the house.

She is buried in the village churchyard.

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At the town’s museum in High Street there is a permanent Agatha Christie exhibition, which details her life with archaeologist husband Max Mallowan and an annual festival took place at the weekend.

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Many of the author’s books were written at Winterbrook House.

The exhibition takes visitors behind the scenes to her home life, featuring photographs, letters and memories of local people who met her.

Museum curator Judy Dewey came up with the idea of the festival in 2014 and it has been running ever since.

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Fans have travelled from around the world to hear talks and take part in a series of events.

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This year’s festival ran from Friday until Sunday and featured guided trail walks on Saturday and Sunday.

Other highlights included a talk in St Mary’s Church, Cholsey, on Saturday night by Ruth Brompton-Charlesworth about the author’s use of horticulture in the creation and solving of whodunnits.

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There was also a Science Oxford Forensic Challenge in the museum on Friday where visitors could ‘examine a crime scene, gather forensic evidence and test it in a laboratory to help them to solve the crime’.

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Another highlight was A is for Agatha, is an unusual art exhibition at Cholsey Old School featuring printmaking inspired by the author’s books.

Ms Dewey said the weekend went very well with a 'brilliant' forensic night and added that people from 50 different countries have recently visited the author's grave.

The curator said earlier: “In 1932, a few years after her divorce from Archibald Christie, she (Agatha Christie) married Max Mallowan, an archaeologist she had met on a visit to excavations in the Middle East.

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“They bought Winterbrook House, Cholsey, in 1934, a Georgian house situated just on the outskirts of Wallingford.

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“This became their home together until her death in 1976. She was a very private person, shy of media pressure and determined to remain out of the public eye.

“She described her occupation as ‘Housewife’ and to local people she was always ‘Mrs Mallowan’.

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“Here she found the peace she needed to write her books.”

In 1970 a schoolboy from Wallingford knocked on the author’s door and asked if he could have an interview for his school magazine.

She agreed and the article can now be seen at the museum.

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The crime writer revealed: “I prefer writing during the morning as early as I can, or at night, when I find that I can think clearer than during the afternoon when my mind is far too slack for writing.’

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Last year the town council revealed it was applying for European Union funding to commission sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies to work on a statue of the author.

Agatha Christie was also president of Wallingford’s drama group the Sinodun Players from 1951 until 1976.