9 Agatha Christie Books To Read Before Kicking the Bucket

There are few pleasures that beat sitting on a couch in winter with a murder mystery, and everyone knows who writes them best. Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her stories have only been outsold by the works of William Shakespeare and The Bible. Nicknamed “The Queen of Crime”, Christie has been admired and beloved by people of every age for over a century. New adaptations of her novels come out every few years, from BBC’s period dramas to Kenneth Branagh‘s most recent star-studded blockbusters. Currently, a six-part TV adaptation titled Hercule is in production by the BBC and BritBox, in which Edward Bluemel stars as a younger version of the famous fictional detective, Hercule Poirot.

But, where to start? Christie loved to write. Over her life, she published about 66 novels, 14 short story collections, around 25 play scripts, an autobiography and six romantic dramas under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott. There is plenty of material to keep anyone busy every time they face a reading slump, or for many a winter season. Still, within all of these writings, there are some that are so essential that they should be on anyone’s bucket list. This compilation offers the essential Christie guide, from the best to the absolutely brilliant. The only thing missing is who did it.

‘The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories’ (1948)

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Feeling intimidated? In that case, watching one of Agatha Christie’s plays or picking up one of her short stories might be the best place to start. Among them, there is no other like Witness for the Prosecution. First published in the magazine Flynn’s in 1925, it became the centerpiece of a 1948 short story collection. Its success led Agatha Christie herself to adapt the story to the stage. The revival of this adaptation is still playing in London today — inside London County Hall, no less.

Few of Christie’s stories take place during a trial. The important thing is to uncover the truth, legal details aside. In Witness for the Prosecution, the truth is trickier to find. The story begins with an arrest: young, handsome Leonard Vole is charged with the murder of Emily French, a wealthy old woman who has named him heir to her fortune. He asks his wife, Romaine, to testify in his trial. In a turn of events, Romaine agrees, but she testifies for the prosecution instead of the defense. With its twists and turns, the story has captivated a generation, even with its changing endings, different in the first installment of the story, in the play, in Billy Wilder’s 1957 version, and in the 2016 two-part TV drama by BBC One that starred Kim Cattrall as Emily French.

‘Hercule Poirot’s Christmas’ (1938)

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For decades, readers could expect a brand-new Agatha Christie novel every holiday season. Her publisher even used the slogan “a Christie for Christmas” to sell more books. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, one of her few works centered around the holidays, was perhaps the bloodiest of her novels. Christie dedicated it to her brother-in-law, James Watts, who complained her murders were becoming too refined and “yearned for a good violent murder with lots of blood.” She certainly delivered. If the Christmas season does not make you particularly jolly, or if you are tired of sickly-sweet seasonal stories, this is the book for you.

Hercules Poirot’s Christmas holiday break is interrupted when he is called to investigate the death of the wealthy Simeone Lee. The multimillionaire had invited his four sons and their spouses to gather at his mansion for the holidays, alongside a granddaughter they had not met, and the son of a business partner. The family reunion is tense, taking place until Christmas Eve, when an awful scream echoes through the house, alongside sounds of furniture breaking. The noise is tracked down to be coming from the patriarch’s locked room, where he is found dead in a pool of blood.

‘Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case’ (1975)

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Do not read this book first. It is very important. Do not read it until after you have read every other Agatha Christie book out there, or at least those that surround her most famous and beloved character, Hercule Poirot and his dear friend Arthur Hastings. The story returns the reader to Styles Court in Essex, the scene of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Poirot’s first case in England. This time, the now-frail detective believes a murder is about to take place, by the same person that has already committed five others in that same place. Said and done. Still, Poirot is set on catching the killer.

Written in the preamble to WWII and during the London Blitz, Curtain is one of Agatha Christie’s most serious novels. The author kept the manuscript locked away for years after writing it, and only allowed it to be published months before her own death in 1976. Its plot offers readers a deeper ethical puzzle, one not even the author gives a concrete answer to. Do not read this book first, but do read it at some point, because very few characters in fiction have conclusions to their stories that are as fascinating and well-executed as this one.

‘Five Little Pigs’ (1942)

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Agatha Christie loved a good nursery rhyme reference. In this case, she uses This Little Piggy as the framing device for a story about a 16-year-old murder. In the story, Hercule Poirot is asked to defend a deceased person. It starts when Carla Lemarchant receives a letter from her deceased mother, who had been convicted of poisoning her husband, Amyas Crale. In the letter, Carolina claims to be innocent. Carla then convinces Poirot to reexamine the case and investigate the five people who were present at the home the day Amyas died. With any evidence of the crime long gone, Poirot is forced to reconstruct the events of the murder from the witnesses’ memories in a magnificent psychological exercise.

The five suspects remind Poirot of the five little piggies of the nursery rhyme. The pig that “went to market” is stockbroker Philip Blake. His brother, herbalist Meredith Blake, is the one who stayed home. Three-times divorcee Elsa Greer is the pig who “had roast beef,” while devoted governess Cecilia Williams “had none.” Finally, Angela Warren, Amyas’ daughter and Carla’s half-sister, “cried wee wee all the way home.” Following the pattern of the rhyme, the book allows each character to tell their version of what happened that day, until the truth is finally revealed.

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (1934)

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If there is one Agatha Christie story most readers are sure to know the ending of, it’s Murder on the Orient Express. It is simply that timeless. And yet, it is still one that any fan of crime novels must pick up at one point in their lives. It presents Christie’s most iconic group of characters, including the mysterious American businessman named Ratchett, his secretary, Hector MacQueen; American widow Mrs. Caroline Hubbard; Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson; Italian-American car salesman Antonio Foscarelli; English colonel John Arbuthnot; Russian Princess Dragomiroff; and, of course, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, among others. All of them find themselves aboard the luxurious Orient Express train. Then, someone dies. When the train is stopped due to a snowstorm, all the passengers and the murderer are trapped inside.

Partly inspired by the 1932 kidnapping of twenty-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., as well as Agatha Christie’s own experience getting stuck on the Orient Express, the story is one told generation after generation. Its plot has been adapted several times, including the 1974 Sidney Lumet version and the more recent 2017 movie with Kenneth Branagh, as well as two video games, a comic and a 2015 Japanese-language movie. Murder on the Orient Express is inescapable, yet it still stands the test of time.

‘A Murder Is Announced’ (1950)

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“A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th at Little Paddocks at 6:30 p.m.” This is the message that the residents of a small village find in the local newspaper one morning like any other. The notice is a surprise even to Miss Letitia Blacklock, the woman whose home has been identified as the future crime scene. Intrigued, several villagers show up at the time indicated. When the clock strikes 6:30, the lights go out and a door opens, revealing a masked man. He screams. Shots follow. When the light returns, a bullet has grazed Miss Blacklock’s ear and the man is dead. He is later identified as Rudi Scherz, a Swiss receptionist at a local spa.

Leaving Poirot’s “little gray cells” to rest for a while, this book features Miss Jane Marple. The woman’s favorite pastimes include gardening, knitting and birdwatching. Oh, and who could forget solving crimes? Miss Marple happens to be a guest at the spa where Scherz had been working, and so Inspector Craddock decides to involve her in the investigation. Joan Hickson, Christie’s own preferred choice to play the role, starred as Miss Marple in the BBC’s 1985 adaptation. A Murder Is Announced is widely considered the best Miss Marple case, a fascinating psychological portrait and a poignant portrayal of the postwar era in the English countryside. It was Agatha Christie’s 50th novel and a sign that her talent knew no bounds.

‘Death on the Nile’ (1937)

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Cruises can be deadly, even for the luckiest of people. Wealthy, beautiful and young Linnet Doyle is the picture of the perfect bride, celebrating an even more perfect honeymoon in Egypt with her husband, Simon Doyle. No one pays much notice to the fact that he had previously been engaged to Linnet’s former best friend, Jacqueline de Bellefort. No one, until Jacqueline herself shows up aboard the same Nile River cruise Linnet and Simon are on. She is bound to be the prime suspect when Linnet appears dead. Except, she could not have done it. How lucky then, that Hercule Poirot happened to also be a passenger on the ship, and is set to solve the mystery.

Death on the Nile is Christie at her most glamorous and exotic. Instead of taking place in the English countryside, the story transports the reader into a luxurious boat and into the temples of Abu Simbel. Equally beautiful is the photography for the 2022 adaptation of the story, directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Gal Gadot as Linnet, Emma Mackey as Jacqueline, and Armie Hammer as Simon. The story’s ending is one of the most consequential of all of Christie’s. With jealousy, friendship and romance as its themes, it is truly a story about obsession, set in a location that has obsessed humanity for millennia.

‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ (1926)

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It is difficult to explain what makes The Murder of Roger Ackroyd so outstanding as a murder mystery without giving away its ending. Just believe me. Suffice to say, it is often considered Christie’s masterpiece and, in 2013, the British Crime Writers’ Association voted it the best crime novel in history. This is all as a result of its final twist, which made it one of the author’s most controversial stories.

Meet Dr James Sheppard. He is the local physician of King’s Abbot, a small English village, as well as the story’s narrator. Dr Sheppard lives a life that “never (has) anything out of the ordinary” until he is asked to certify the death of the wealthy widow Mrs Ferrars. Rumors claimed Mrs Ferrars had poisoned her own husband and ended her life out of remorse. It made sense to everyone, except Roger Ackroyd, a wealthy widower who was engaged to her. Ackroyd knows she was being blackmailed but, just as he is about to read the letter that contains the identity of the blackmailer, he is murdered in his study. Secrets slowly unravel, building up to an ending that shatters all the rules of detective fiction. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd paved the way for Gone Girl, Memento, and The Silent Patient.

‘And Then There Were None’ (1939)

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Ten people are gathered on a remote island. Upon arrival, a message recorded on a gramophone accuses all of them of being responsible for someone’s death. On the dinner table, there are ten figurines and an old nursery rhyme is framed in each room. Once the recording ends, one of the guests, Anthony Marston, finishes his drink and dies from cyanide poisoning. The next morning, Mrs. Rogers is found dead in her bed. Slowly, the guests continue to die, with each death echoing a line of the rhyme. After each passing, one figurine disappears from the table, like a slow tic tac that warns the remaining guests of their impending fate.

And Then There Were None is a work of art when murder mysteries are concerned. With no detective in sight, it is up to the guests to investigate each other while trying to keep themselves alive. In a way, it is also the Russian doll of whodunnits. In addition to figuring out the person who is killing the guests, the reader is also compelled to discover each character’s backstory and the death each of them is responsible for. Agatha Christie considered it a better piece of craftsmanship than anything else she had written. She took on the writing “because it was so difficult to do that the idea fascinated me.” Now, it fascinates the world.

And Then There Were None

Release Date

2015 – 2015-00-00

Network

BBC One

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  Justice Lawrence Wargrave

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  Maeve Dermody

  Vera Claythorne

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  Paul Chahidi

  Isaac Morris

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  Celia Henebury

  Leslie MacArthur (voice)