The novel is the latest in a growing trend of revivals for classic literary characters – in recent years both Sherlock Holmes and James Bond have appeared in new books.
The new novel will be written by Sophie Hannah with with the full backing of the Christie family.
Hannah is an acclaimed writer of psychological crime fiction and has been published in 24 countries.
Her Poirot novel, which is yet to be titled, will be published in September 2014 by HarperCollins worldwide, 38 years after Agatha Christie’s last novel, Sleeping Murder, was published in 1976, and 39 years after the final Poirot, Curtain.
Mathew Prichard, Chairman of Agatha Christie Limited and grandson of Agatha Christie said: ‘It was pure serendipity that led to Sophie Hannah being commissioned to write this book.
“Her agent happened to approach HarperCollins in exactly the same week that my colleagues and I had started discussing a new Christie book.
“Her idea for a plot line was so compelling and her passion for my grandmother’s work so strong, that we felt that the time was right for a new Christie to be written.’
Sophie Hannah described Christie as “the writer who made me fall in love with mystery fiction” and said she was “honoured” to have been entrusted with bringing the detective back.