by Burton Frierson

NEW YORK, US - After more than 30-years, murder mystery writer Agatha Christie's fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot will return to the United States next week.

The Strand Magazine said it will publish the 5,000-word story called the Incident of the Dog's Ball, which was found in the attic of the author's daughter in 2004.

The story was published in the Britain in September.

"It's a typical Agatha Christie whodunnit," Andrew Gulli, the editor of the Strand, said in a telephone interview, adding that it contains lots of surprises.

Gulli said the story would be the first new appearance since 1975 by Hercule Poirot in fiction in the United States.

The Strand Magazine considers itself to be the reincarnation of the journal that started in the late 19th
century in England and published the first Sherlock Holmes short stories.

The magazine folded in 1950 but it was revived in the United States a decade ago as a quarterly publication. The Poirot story will be in the 10th anniversary edition. --REUTERS