Agatha Christie - where to start

[BeverlyGoldberg]

I want to start reading Agatha Christie and wondered which would be a good book to start with. Is there a particular order I should read her books in?

No you can read them in any order, but you could read Poirot's Curtain after you read all the other Poirots. I like "Why didn't they ask Evans". Classic Cludo set-up Christie novel.

Sleeping murder and a body in the library were favourites of mine. Murder on the orient express is also very good.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first Poirot mystery. The Murder at the Vicarage is the first Miss Marple, and establishes the quintessential village setting which has spawned a whole sub-genre of mystery stories.

Each story standsalone and she doesn' t generally give away plot information from one book to another. But the books do cover a long timespan - Styles was set during WW1, and her last books were published in the 1970s - and she does take note of social change, and Poirot and Miss Marple both age over the course of the books. So it can be useful to read them in publication order, or at least be aware of the publication dates.

No particular order but you should read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd sooner rather than later, I think. It's one of the reasons she became so well known.

Her own life is interesting, too. She drew a lot on her own experiences for the settings for her books.

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I wasn't sure if they stood alone. Looks like I'll be engaging in a Kindle spree tomorrow!

Murder at the vicarage or Body in the Library are both good starts for Miss Marple. I was only thinking the other day I fancied reading one. When I was at primary school I would read Miss Marple constantly!

The first one I read,in my teens, was Evil Under The Sun, and I can still remember my amazement at the denouement in the final chapter! I was hooked from then on.

I wish I could read all these again for the first time...

I'm binging on Poirot books at the moment. Wonderful writing, incredibly readable but fantastic whodunnits. I've read the first couple of Marple too. Also great.

And I had the box set of Poirot Series 1 for Christmas too, with the excellent David Suchet!

Does anyone else read the Hamish MacBeth books by M C Beaton? They're great for Agatha Christie fans.

Have wondered about the Hampshire MacBeth books......Thanks, Lilac

This site has reading orders for the various stories