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?

Any of you Christie fans rate Parker Pyne?

It's just that if you come across a character from a previous book before you've read that book, when you do read it, you'll know from the start they weren't the murderer...

I agree withe the recommendations to read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - I've never been so shocked and surprised by a story before!

Parker Pyne never appealed to me

I like Parker Pyne, but, I must admit, in contrast to others, I adore Tommy and Tuppence. I'm sad they have so few books between them.

Is there any more Parker Pyne than the collection of short stories where he travels to the middle east?

There is a PP set in London. It's around here somewhere, I'll try and dig it out. Have yet to read a Christie I didn't like although I have my favourites. Love They Came to Bagdad and The Secret of Chimneys. Murder on the Orient Express is quite simply brilliant and must be read before Cards on the Table (another face). My very 1st Agatha was Murder at the Vicarage when I was 13.
I'm very excited at the moment as I'm off to London next week to see Mouse Trap. Ican'twaitIcan'twaitIcan'twait!!!

I can't stand Tommy and Tuppence, except for the one with the batty aunt in the nursing home, can't remember the title. That one is fab.

My absolute favourites

Hallowe'en Party (Poirot)
Cat Amongst the Pigeon (Poirot)
Curtain (Poirot - but the last one do NOT read early on, no spoilers for other books but you need to know him well as a character to appreciate it. And you'll need tissues - or am I odd?)
Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple - scary)
The Pale Horse (Marple)
The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side (Marple)

My favourite is 'Why Didn't They Ask Evans?' Not Poirot or Miss Marple, but I just love the storyline and have re-read it so many times.

First read it when I was eight and still love it.

Think I've read almost all of them. Best part about Agatha Christie is that you can re-read them and often you don't remember who the murderer is, so you can enjoy the story all over again.

I do not like the Curtain story, but I do know that she wrote in 1940, when she was worried she would not survive the Second World War. So I don't consider it as part of the Poirot set, more something she wrote to get it off her chest (she disliked Poirot).
Incidentally, Sleeping Murder was also written in the 1940s, for the same reason, which is why it has an old fashioned feel to it even though it was first published in 1976.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans is hilarious in the way that Frankie has a handy doctor friend willing to blatantly lie and deceive so she can gain access to a house where the suspect is.

Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the perfect detective novel, just spectacular. Probably read it after you have read a few other AC books, and are comfortable with her style, the shock is even greater.

Here is a useful summary of the order of the books, and the detectives featured in them
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie_bibliography

I love the ones with Poirot and Hastings - bless Hastings he never has a clue, does he?

OOOH Just remembered two other absolute corkers - Five Little Pigs and Sad Cypress. Both brilliant (and brilliant fairly recent TV adaptations too).

I love Agatha Christie, I started by reading Death on The Nile when I was on holiday in Egypt and it went on from there. I must have read over half of her books, my dad has the whole collection, which he has read several times so I just borrow one when I have the urge.

The Pale Horse isn't a Miss Marple (at least, the book isn't, god knows what they might have done on TV)
It does have Mrs Dane Cslthrop in it, who also appears in The Moving Finger - were you thinking of that one?

Oh no, good point the book isn't (haven't read it for years). For the TV adaptation they put her in it.