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?

Glad to see so much love for The Moving Finger on this thread - my favourite even though others are arguably more accomplished. Also love Five Little Pigs and Cat Among the Pigeons, which incorporates this glorious summary of Macbeth in a child's essay:

Macbeth ... liked the idea of murder and had been thinking of it a lot, but he needed a push to get him started. Once he'd got started he enjoyed murdering people and had no more qualms or fears. Lady Macbeth was just greedy and ambitious. She thought she didn't mind what she did to get what she wanted. But once she'd done it she found she didn't like it after all.

Others have listed plenty of good ones. Someone recently gave me “The ABC Murders” after they’d read it and it’s a fast paced yarn. Not the most complex of her plots, imo, but an enjoyable read.

“Sleeping Murder,” “A Murder is Announced,” and “Nemesis” are more involved and great reads.

It’s just so amazing that she wrote so many.
I started reading her books almost 40 years ago as a teenager and still find lots I’ve never read.
I’m doing the Agatha Christie 2025 readalong this year and read Three Act Tragedy last month. I’d never heard of it but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a clever story.

My top ten, in no particular order:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Peril At End House
After the Funeral
Crooked House
The Hollow
A Murder is Announced
A Pocket Full of Rye
Dumb Witness
The Murder at the Vicarage
Hercule Poirot's Christmas

I cannot overstate my adoration of Agatha Christie.

This. so cleverly written. Astounding

Five little pigs

Sleeping Murder - and the TV version with Joan Hickson - NOT the later one, which is utter rubbish by comparison. The JH version is so creepy!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER Oh yes, the acting is amazing, especially the murderer, truly frightening. I'm not giving anything away, of course. :-)

I also thought that "Nemesis" with Joan Hickson had a really strong cast, v. creepy.

I've started reading "Death on the Nile" and although I know the plot, it's still drawing me in.

I love Sparkling Cyanide, Towards Zero, Three Act Tragedy, The Sittaford Mystery, The Body in the Library and a Murder is Announced.

A murder is announced. Five little pigs. The moving finger.

Her books are quite often on Kindle Unlimited, which is a nice way of revisiting ones I’d forgotten about. Dumb Witness came round recently and Mrs McGinty’s Dead.

My favourite is The Pale Horse because of the witchcraft/supernatural element ar the beginning.

My facs are The pale horse and a murder is announced

Love
why didn’t they ask evens?
death on the nile
the mirror cracked from side to side
The murder of Rodger Akroyd

I can’t remember death on the links but i do remember enjoying it.

That's Towards Zero.

Does anyone know which book is about someone who gets murdered because they’ve recognised someone living incognito locally from a newspaper article about historical murders?

Mrs McGinty's Dead?

Yes. I got mixed up with Towards Zero.
That's where a man who was a murderer as a child is recognised by a lawyer.

One of the later books, possibly Curtains, names murderers from earlier cases - apparently Agatha Christie didn’t expect that readership would continue after the books original publications!

I guessed the Roger Ackroyd murderer quite quickly, just because so many people had raved about the anazing twist and that was the best twist I could think of.

Curtain, the last Poirot book, although it might be worth saving it until you’ve read more of them.