Best Agatha Christie Books

[Lyannaa]

I’ve just read And Then There Were None and really loved it. It’s the first book I’ve read of hers.

But AC has written so many books - which ones are the best in your opinions?

Yes! That’s it, thank you so much. I need to read that one again.

Most of the Poirot and Miss Marple ones are good. I like ABC murders and Sleeping Murder. The Tommy and Tuppence ones are the least good, IMO.

The Tommy and Tuppence ones are the least good, IMO.

I like Secret Adversary and N or M. Partners in Crime is a collection of short stories. It's the later ones, when T&T are getting old and Agatha was past her peak, that are not so good, imo.

I like Mrs Oliver. Shows Agatha was well aware of her own foibles and didn't take herself too seriously.

Endless Night and Crooked House - neither are Marple or Poirot stories.

I’m currently reading Towards Zero, which is good (so much better than that shite tv adaptation).

ABC Murders also good - actually there’s so many to chose from. The Marple/Poirot short stories are well worth reading too.

Just read them all!

Absolutely this.

Thank you all so much

Death on the Nile - brilliant setting and plot.
The Hollow - I just like the characters and typical country house setting
The 4.50pm from Paddington
Murder on the Orient Express

I'd avoid the Tommy and Tuppence ones - I've read and reread all the Poirots and Miss Marples, and they are so much better!

Endless Night

The pale horse.

At Bertram's hotel.

ABC murders.

She was a genius at her genre, so many great reads. My DF has a huge collections of her paperbacks, I might go and choose a few to re-read next time I visit. Great thread OP.

Towards Zero is good (ignore the recent adaptation)

The Mysterious Mr Quinn

Crooked House

Her short story collections are good.

Any Poirot/Marple ones are good. The Poirot ones with Mrs Oliver in are the most fun. Death or the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express are classics for a reason.

She was a genius at her genre, so many great reads.

Yes. When you read some of her contemporaries, who were really successful in their day, you realise just how good she was.

It's interesting to read her autobiography, too, and see how many of her own experiences she used in her novels. Her house, Greenway in Devon, features in two books.

ABC Murders is my favourite to read. Some of the others get a bit bogged down but ABC Murders is fast moving.

Another vote for Endless Night here. Also a huge thank you to the OP for starting this thread and reminding me how brilliant Agatha Christie's writing is. I read them all in my late teens/early twenties, inspired by a few I found on my grandfather's bookshelves. I am off on a solo cruise in April, and will download a few to my ebook and indulge myself in some nostalgic and wonderful reading!

The Miss Marples are the best imo. Love the mirror cracked, Sleeping murder, Nemisis.

Also The Seven Dials mystery, its utterly bonkers but in a good way, I love Bundle in this

So many…

Cat among the pigeons
The Pale Horse
N or M
Death on the Nile
Murder on the Orient Express
The Hollow
A murder is announced

I may have just ordered a bundle of old Agatha Christie paperbacks on eBay! Thanks for this thread, OP.

The Pale Horse
Five Little Pigs
Sleeping Murder
Sad Cypress
A Murder is Announced

I had completely forgotten Ariadne Oliver!
I loved Dead Man's Folly but I see now there are a couple with her in that I have not read.
I did most of my AC reading as a teenager. For me the stand outs were:
A murder is announced
Why didn't they ask Evans?
Cat among the pigeons
4:50 from Paddington

That would be mine as well.

Mrs McGinty’s Dead is of my favourites but completely overlooked usually.

Also love A Murder is Announced.

Death on the Nile
Murder on the Orient Express
And Then There Were None
A Murder is Announced
Murder is Easy

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was RUINED for me before I read it when I looked up Agatha Christie in our encyclopedia and it gave the bloody murderer away.

Yes, those are exactly my favourites too.
Also, And Then There Were None.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was RUINED for me before I read it when I looked up Agatha Christie in our encyclopedia and it gave the bloody murderer away.

I remember when Agatha Christie died, her obituary in one of the quality dailies - probably the Telegraph - gave it away. The letters page exploded. The obituarist was unrepentant. He - I think it was a he - said he thought he was justified because he did it in order to demonstrate Dame Agatha's genius.