I’ve never read an Agatha Christie book - which one shall I start with?

[Aberforthsgoat]

Considering I have time to kill now that I’ve lost all my clients... tell me which one I should download first!

And elephants can remember

And cards on the table

And murder is easy

And by the pricking of my thumbs

And after the funeral

And a pocket full of rye

I’m going to stop now

And then there wer none.
The 4.50 from Paddington

Were!

Not a stealth boast, just expressing my love.
I’ve been collecting Planet 3 Publishing AC hardback books for years. I don’t have the full set - I don’t like the T&T books and random others so don’t want those.
I still have all my paperback versions. They’re in the garage and I just can’t bring myself to give them away.

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Ha! Fabulous!

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A generous handful of mine are from the 60’s, they are literally falling to pieces

But i have to replace them with paperbacks of the same height...really need to go to my favourite 2nd hand book store when this is over and replace them

And you are mean to taunt us

Oh, I love Murder is Easy. Might reread that this evening.

I ready nearly all 90 odd books as a child - ( no internet)
So as pp said

Evil Under the Sun is one my favourites. So clever and satisfying.

Enjoy

Rufus
I believe some of the 60’s books are collectors items - because of the cover artwork.

The tv version of and then there were none was excellent

My favourites are
Towards Zero
Nemesis
And then there were none
The moving finger
Ordeal by innocence

You're so lucky to have them all to read fresh op

Which is the one with the swimsuit hung up to dry? (Tricky to word that to avoid spoilers for the new reader but give enough information for the aficionado!). I remember it being incredibly evocative of romantic Cornish history and horribly sinister at the same time like a Tales of the Unexpected story, can’t remember where I read it.

That's in one of the short stories collections, I think there's one with 13 different Miss Marple stories, Rat

Its called The Thirteen Problems

The swimsuit one is one of the short stories in The Thirteen Problems. The Blood-Stained Pavement.

The Body in the Library. Then Death on the Nile. Then Murder is Announced. You have a treat in store, OP!

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is 18p on Kindle on Amazon at the moment. I've just downloaded it and will give it a go!

Thanks👍

The 4.50 from Paddington

I just re-read that one! Not her absolute best but that's a high bar. There were a lot of good things in it. I started it with no memory of whodunnit but worked it out (which probably means remembered) about halfway through. I like Miss Marple just as much as I like Poirot, which helps. I'm also very taken with Parker Pyne, who appears in some short stories, and isn't a detective so much as a problemsolver.

One thing worth saying is that the last few books she wrote were well below standard. Also, she said herself that it was very demanding writing carefully plotted whodunnits (which started off well and just got better and better over the 1920s, 30s, 40s and early 50s - the falling off started after that). So for quite a while early on she alternated whodunnits proper with far less carefully plotted adventure stories/thrillers, which she loved writing and found very easy to write, but to my mind have not worn very well at all. They have a certain period charm, but they're not as satisfying to read as the great whodunnits.

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Oh don’t tell me that!!!

Mine are in a horrific state and they’ve been kept with all the other books

They have a certain period charm, but they're not as satisfying to read as the great whodunnits

I absolutely agree

There are probably about 10 books on my shelf that ive read once but not bothered with since

And i was 11/12 when i started reading them

(At the chilminders, i was the oldest there and she let me sit in her living room and read her agatha christie hardbacks)

Actually i must have been 12 because I remember vividly getting the listerdale mystery from my friend for my 13th birthday

I agree with Val McDermid, Murder at the Vicarage all the way.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/02/best-agatha-christie-murder-vicarage-then-were-none

I think that's the one where I noticed something as I read and thought 'What sloppy proofreading, honestly, standards are slipping' etc etc and of course it wasn't, it was a crucial clue which I had completely missed. Ha!

Inspired by the this thread Then there was none is going to be my next book on my reading challenge. Just need to finish the absolute dribble that I’m currently reading first.