Agatha Christie

[BabeRuthless]

God knows why, but I've never really read her before & have suddenly realised what I'm missing out on. Read "And Then There Where Three" which I loved & I understand there's a few more stand alone ones.

Where do I start with Miss Marple & Poirot? Does it matter if I read them out of order?

There are a few stories where reference is made to similarities in another case, or an old friend reappears, but they are pretty much stand alone stories and it doesn't matter to read them out of sequence.

Enjoy!

no but keep a record of which ones you have read or you'll suddenly realise half way through that you 've read that one before.

Do you mean "And then there were None"?

You need to read Cards on the Table before The Pale Horse

And one of the Poirot books names several murderers from previous books, but I can't remember which offhand.

I'll let you know if I remember...

her autobiography and her book afbout accompanying her dh on archaeological digs are good reads too IMO

It doesn't matter what order, really.

But you might like to start each with the first book in which they appeared (so your introduction to them on the page is indeed their debut) For Miss Marple, the first full length on is "Murder at the Vicarage", for Poirot "The Mysterious Affair at Styles".

I'd also recommend "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" early on.

You can read them in any order if you like. They are mostly all connected up. Inspector Japp is mentioned in the Tommy and Tuppence story "The Secret Adversary." He appears in a lot of Poirot stories. Poirot connects with Ariadne Oliver in several stories, who in turn connects with Rhoda Dawes in the same story, who connects with Mark Easterbrook in The Pale Horse. He then connects with Mrs Dane Calthrop, who was in that story and The Moving Finger, which was a Miss Marple story. Ann Beddingfield in "The Man in the Brown Suit" connects with Colonel Race, who connects with Poirot in Cards on the Table and I think Death on the Nile. Superintendant Battle connects with Poirot as probably being the father of Colin Lamb, who appears in The Clocks with Poirot and Battle also appears in Cards on the Table. Battle also appears in a few stand alone or very short series stories, including The Secret Adversary and The Seven Dials Mystery.

impressive bullet. do you have a family tree type chart above your bookcase? 9i'd rather like one of those)

No, I just like reading them. A lot.

bullet impressive!
My fave is 'After the Funerall' which I read first when I was about 13. In fact... think I'll re-read it tonight

That one is good, even if it does have a ridiculous explanation as to how the murderer got away with it. But not as ridiculous as the third murder committed on "Death on the Nile".

Wow, thanks for all your replies. Especially to you bullet234. I did mean "And Then There Were None" and have no idea where I got the "Three" from (blames son for talking while I was typing).

Might do "Death on the Nile" next & do all the best known ones first. Our local library seems to have an excellent selection so I'm spoilt for choice. The book geek in me is so excited!

Well, there's Three Act Tragedy, that might have been it.

That could have been it. My mum loves her & we always had some of the books around the house. Kicking myself now for all the time I wasted in my teens doing daft stuff when I could have been reading.

There is also a lovely book of Miss Marple short stories which are great too!!

I never read them in any order and I still wouldn't have any idea which book came before or after another. Apart from And Then There Were None I think the Miss Marple and Poirot stories are miles better than the rest. Tommy and Tuppence are dire.

I love Agatha Christie, huge soft spot for Miss Marple as they were the first ones I read (lent by my great aunt, who was very Marplesque). As well as Poirot and Tommy and Tuppence there are also a number of short stories including Harley Quinn which are good and a book of short stories with a supernatural theme which are really good.

I like the Tommy and Tuppence books - at least the early ones.
I think i might have to invest in some Agatha for my holiday. I've read tons but mostly from the library years ago.

Oh yes, The Hound of Death was very good.
And for a real Bluebeard chiller, read "Philomel Cottage" in "The Listerdale Mystery and Other Stories."

I had the great honour and priviledge (sp) of meeting Joan Hickson nearly a quarter of a century ago when the BBC filmed The Moving Finger at my fathers farm. She told me what a gorgeous dog i had!!

I re-read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd recently (as in first read 25 years ago) and was surprised and shocked. And am surprise and shocked that I was surprised and shocked ... remembered how good she was. Nemesis is my favourite - very chilling. But actually, I loved them all. Loved Joan Hickson and David Suchet. Introduced ds1 to DS at Christmas with Murder on the Orient Express; it was fab.

I hate to say this, but I like the cheesy ones about conspiracies, like They came to Baghdad, and The Secret of Chimneys. Actually, I like them all. Nobody writes as well as she did in this genre now

sieglinde - agreed. Have tried others, like Marjorie Allingham, but none like AC. I prefer DLS as novels, but as sheer escapism, nothing like AC.

OOOHHHH I love this thread! I am a huge Christie fan(see my posts re baby names). My all time favourites are-
Nemesis
A caribean mystery
At Bertrams Hotel
By the pricking of my thumbs
Cat amongst the pigeons
Evil under the sun

I could go on-love nearly all of them. My one exception would be The Blue train and I read that christie herself didnt rate it.

I don't think it matters which order they are read in. You do sometimes pick up on characters you have encountered before but it isn't necessary IMO to have read about them before. For instance in Evil under the Sun, one character mentions that Cornelia Benson (who is in Death on the Nile) had spoken to her of Hercule Poirot so she was thrilled to meet him. If you had read Death on the Nile first, you would know who she is referring to but if you had not, it wouldn't make any difference IYSWIM to your understanding of Evil under the Sun. The book also has Colonel Weston in it with whom HP worked on another case which is alluded to in passing - I like it was Peril at End House but not entirely sure

She had a bit of fun with that kind of thing I have the impression