Suggestions for an Agatha Christie novel for my book group please!

[BaconAndAvocado]

I’ve never read any AC but always meant to!

I need to choose a book for book group and thought I would suggest something completely different to our usual fare.

Any suggestions for a good one please?

Isn’t Roger Acroyd regarded as one of her best. My favourite is Cat among the pigeons. My absolute comfort read.

Well, that might make a talking point about what we do when older books reflect the attitudes of the times when they were written. Re-write, bin, or read - but critically?

I haven't studied AC's output exhaustively but it's my impression that there was indeed a lot of casual antisemitism in the pre-war titles, a lot less, possibly none, in the post-war titles.

This is a very interesting article about Dorothy L. Sayers and antisemitism. momentmag.com/curious-case-dorothy-l-sayers-jew-wasnt/

That's a fascinating article. Sayers always strikes me as fundamentally well-meaning even if clumsy (she compares a lesbian to a dog that's an excellent ratter but refuses to have puppies and you wince reading that now but she is really trying to be inclusive). Christie, on the other hand was a nasty piece of work.

Cards on the Table is my absolute favourite. Otherwise Five Little Pigs or Death on the Nile. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is also great - but it's in some ways atypical of the 'classic' Christie formula, so not necessarily the best for a book club of Christie novices

The Sittaford Mystery is an example of a story being altered beyond recognition to make a good TV drama. You also have a radio play which follows the book with Stephen Tomkinson. (I think). Three versions should provoke discussion.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, or 4.50 from Paddington.

Does it have to be one of her detective novels? The Rose & The Yew Tree is terrific.

Five Little Pigs is, for me, one of the few AC novels that is solvable by the reader, if you read what is written. so many rely of person A actually looking similar to person B, because they're actually related, or Poirot going off to London to find marraige records etc. so the reader' always at a disadvantage.

Roger Ackroyd, or the under-rated posthumously published (but mostly written many years previously) Sleeping Murder which is very good.

Her books written as Mary Westmacott are also worth a look - I suggest Absent in the Spring.

The Secret of Chimneys is very funny, with a lot of interesting detail about 1920s, when it was written. Be warned that it does include some anti-Semitic stereotypes, though (e.g. about financiers being Jewish) - "only" what was normal for the time, but still uncomfortable reading now.

I found The ABC Murders fascinating - it's a proper serial killer one and therefore a big departure in tone. It's a lot darker in feel than some of the others.

I quite like reading AC, but agree there is very little to discuss for a book group.

If you want a Golden Age detective novel, I would read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers. It has a truly wonderful sense of place, great characters and a denouement you never see coming. You could talk about how society has changed - rural communities, the role of religion - or how she uses voice to delineate character, or how justice is sought and symbolised, or any number of things, really.

Gaudy Night is my favourite book of hers, but I think The Nine Tailors is perhaps her finest standalone book.

I'd go for Ackroyd. It's masterfully constructed, giving plenty of scope for discussion in a group setting.

I like Peril at End House as a mystery but there is some anti semitism in a couple of lines.

As a side-note, the BBC radio adaptations, with June Whitfield as Miss Marple, and John Moffat as Poirot, are brilliant - better than the books. They are regularly re-broadcast on R4 Extra.

Christie, on the other hand was a nasty piece of work

Was she? Her attitudes were of her time, just as our are. No doubt future generations will look back and condemn many of our beliefs. Does that mean that we are all nasty pieces of work?

If we won't read authors whose views on race/religion/women's rights/LGBTQ rights don't conform to modern ideals, then Dickens, Tolstoy, Austen and pretty much every other writer will be on the prohibited list.

For a book club book I would choose Ordeal by Innocence. Even if members have seen the TV versions, the book is different and a non Poirot/Marple.

I love five little pigs but I don’t agree that she cheats. She just makes you look the other way. HP Christmas is a cracking example of this - where he gets the butler to look at the calendar, and all the stuff about people looking alike and folk getting muddled about who’s who.

Haha great user name @LadyPeterWimsey

Agree re Nine Tsilors, I also love Murder Must Advertise if you can get past 43yo LPW climbing a fountain and diving in! The office stuff is spot on.

Meant to say tho, we did Nine Tailors in my book club (my choice) and people hated it. One friend memorably commented “I don’t know why I am reading this book?” Hey ho

I agree. The first time I read one book (won't say which) I felt very smug because I spotted what I thought was a careless mistake - a character referred to someone by name, but in the context I thought that person couldn't possibly have been the one meant. A hundred pages later and I had egg on my face as this was, of course, a vital clue, which the detective had spotted immediately.

I think Hercule Poirot's Christmas would be appropriate. Not the brilliantist, but sticks in the mind. Has a good sense of place.

Death on the Nile is my favourite, for the characterisation. It's a bit long involved, though, for your purpose, and well-dramatised, so will be known, in terms of the ending.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd has an interesting narrative structure for those who are high brow.

The funniest is 'The Moving Finger' and I think it might be a very interesting one for a club - an easy read - and interesting social history piece. You could talk about small village society then; social mores. The central theme of the poison pen letters is one with modern significance, since people do say and do things anonymously, which they wouldn't do face-to-face. Like on this forum, lol.
Yes, ' The Moving Finger' is the best, I think, as a strong central construct and not too much extraneous matter. If members were too busy to read it all, they could get a feel of it, and guess the murderer, from having read up to the middle. Not frequently dramatised, so ending will be a surprise.

It's a brilliantly clever book, but I'm not sure it's the ideal starting point, for a Wimsey newbie. Avoiding spoilers....it's unconventional as a crime novel, and bell-ringing changes aren't everyone's cup of tea, though I agree with @LadyPeterWimsey that it is really atmospheric and full of historic interest.

I'd go for Strong Poison, as the best intro - first appearance of Harriet, and you don't need to know any of the Lord Peter back story to enjoy it to the full.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow It is unconventional as a detective novel, which is why I wondered if a book group that doesn't read a lot of detective fiction might like it. (I completely skim over the bell-ringing stuff myself. ). But I take your point.

And I do agree about Strong Poison too, which is brilliant fun with the occasional panic on his part and mine that LOW won't solve it in time.

@clary

@clary

(Sorry, MN is playing up for me.)

At that heresy, I would say you should get a better book group, but my book group would hate it too. How boring it would be if everyone agreed...