It is 120 years since the birth of Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie. OLIVER BENNETT checks in to one of her favourite hotels, the revamped Pera Palace in Turkey

PROMPTED by the refurbishment of Pera Palace Hotel and the 120th anniversary of Agatha Christie's birth, I had come to Istanbul to follow in the footsteps of the Queen of Crime. Now, after a £22million wash and brush up, the Pera Palace looks even more like an icon from the golden age of travel. It was in Room 411 that Christie wrote Murder On The Orient Express during one of her numerous visits to the city between 1926 and 1932.

The 1892-vintage splendour that once hosted the passengers of the famous train as they journeyed glamorously from Paris has been well preserved. The Pera Palace is not an "international" hotel where local flavour stops at the door. Outside there's a maroon Plymouth car used for transfers; inside it's all marbled walls and antiques, including an old cash register that may once have taken Christie's guineas.

Click here now for amazing offers to Istanbul!

Christie is indelibly associated with the hotel, and the spirit of the world's most published writer lingers, both here and in the city itself.

"She loved Istanbul, " says Matthew Pritchard, Christie's grandson. "My grandfather (renowned archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, Christie's second husband) looked east and my grandmother looked west. So Istanbul was a perfect location for them."

The Pera Palace, designed by Franco-Turkish Alexander Vallaury in art nouveau-meets-oriental style, further manifests the continental crossroads theme.

I went up to Room 411 heralded by a plaque which reads, "Agatha Christie Room". Large and elegant enough to befit the Mistress of Murder, it doesn't have a distracting view of the Bosphorus but it does boast some nicely integrated Christie touches with books on the shelves and plenty of photographs of her.

Thick curtains at the windows help mask the noise from the bustling streets outside, and Turkish rugs across the wooden floors provide a cosy air. It's no surprise that the room is constantly booked up. Other famous names that have stayed at Pera include the Queen, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock and Ernest Hemingway but the hotel's most prominent aura is still Christie's.

Want incredible deals to Istanbul? Click here now...

The carpeted lift is a glorious wooden cabin and, at 120 years, is as old as Christie herself.

If you're going to put on a murder mystery event, then the Pera Palace might well be the best place in the world.

In the balmy evening I drained an Efes beer on the Orient Bar's terrace, then went for supper in the Agatha Restaurant to sample various confections made by chef Maximilian J W Thomae, including quail kebab and artichoke soup. Could this be Murder by Meze?

I certainly felt the effects of Max's generous helpings as I stumbled off into the throbbing back streets of the Pera district for a nightcap. It is the liveliest part of Istanbul and heaved with a good-natured crowd moving through the tiny streets.

The next morning I tucked into some delicious croissants, which reminded me that this most French patisserie started life as an Ottoman "crescent", another illustration of the east-west traffic.

I headed to the Old Town and nosed around the 14th-century Grand Bazaar, thinking of Mallowan and Christie haggling for some textiles. They were great collectors and loved rugs.

Local guide Elif Kömü and I moved on to Istanbul's other big hitters. The Hagia Sophia, a former Byzantine church and Ottoman mosque, is majestic.

The Blue Mosque with its six minarets is incredible, and the tiled splendour of the Topkapi Palace a dream with its magnificent jewellery collection including the enigmatic Topkapi Dagger. "They used the weapon in the thriller Topkapi, " said Elif.

Perhaps there was something about raffish Istanbul that inspired the imagination.

Later in the afternoon I boarded a boat, all white leather seats, pink windows and wood trim, for a glamorous ride along the Bosphorus.

As the Bond-like craft sailed down the famous waterway, the banks became replete with international glamour, with an Ottoman palaceturned-hotel, a waterside restaurant and an ancient castle to remind us that we were sailing through a slice of history.

Back at the Pera Palace I visited the museum, Room 101 no less, which houses newspapers from the day that the Republic's founder Atatürk died in 1938 as well as a plethora of Christie memorabilia.

The most vexing Christie story has to be when she went missing in Istanbul for 11 days.

A film was planned trying to piece her life together and, bizarrely, a Hollywood séance took place where "Agatha" gave spooky directions to a spot in the Pera where a key, perhaps to a diary, was found behind the skirting board in Room 411. A replica now sits under glass outside her room. Pritchard doesn't give it much credence: "I'm mystified by it." However, it's all part of the magic.

GETTING THERE:
Cox & Kings (0207 873 5000/www.coxandkings.co.uk) offers three nights at the Pera Palace from £685pp (two sharing), B&B. Price includes return flights from Heathrow to Istanbul with BA and transfers.

For further information on Agatha Christie visit www.agathachristie.com; Turkish Culture and Tourism Office:
0207 839 7778/ www.gototurkey.co.uk