Favourite Agatha Christie book?

[Elizabethbd]

What is your favourite Agatha Christie book, and why?

Yes! Totally agree.

I've read them all at some point in my life - many as a teenager- and it's impossible to pick a favourite. I might do a big Reread In Order. Some do stick in the mind more than others. I read Endless Night aged about 14 and it made a big impression.

Roger Ackroyd and And Then There Were None were groundbreaking, though. Oh, and Murder on the Orient Express, of course.

Oops, sorry! Too late to edit it now. Apologies to anyone who hasn't read it yet!

I have a soft spot for Murder at the Vicarage, as that was the first one I read. Murder in Mesopotamia is great - all the detail of the archaeological work which Agatha Christie must have seen plenty of.

And I’m glad to see others rate Nemesis because that was a great one - sad as well

In terms of the best I agree that And Then There Were None, Orient Express and ABC Murders are excellent.

I do have an extreme soft spot for Tommy and Tuppence and The Secret of Chimneys, even though objectively they're quite silly.

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas
And Then There Were None
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Death on the Nile

Agree with many others about And Then There Were None; it is excellent. But my favourite is probably Black Coffee. It’s one of her plays, and I first read it as a teenager and have loved it ever since. I don’t often see other people mentioning it when Christie comes up though so I don’t think it’s that popular.

Endless Night is very good as one of her lesser known books. Glad to hear this is going to have a new tv adaptation out soon.

And I’m glad to see others rate Nemesis because that was a great one - sad as well

The BBC adaptation was great too, although it didn't follow the book exactly. The climactic scene between Margaret Tyzack and Joan Hickson is spine chilling. (There are superb roles for older women in the books.)

I think Agatha's skill as a playwright is one reason her books adapt for tv so well - even in her novels she was thinking as a dramatist.

My favourite is Dead Man’s Folly. Used to read and reread it as a teen. It’s not her best though.

I like Dead Man's Folly because Mrs Oliver is in it, and because the setting is Agatha's own house, Greenway.

Excellent thread. And Then There Were None I think has to be the best so far. I do love Murder on the Orient Express though, classic for a reason.

After the Funeral and Peril at End House are both criminally underrated, in my opinion.

I was just going to say After the Funeral. Others that haven't been mentioned that I reread are Appointment with Death and Ordeal by Innocence. I prefer Poirot to Miss Marple. Think the David Suchet adaptations are good.

I think she’s a much better writer than she’s given credit for - read much Golden Age detective fiction and you soon see why she was the Queen.

I tend to prefer her earlier books, but of the objectively less good ones I have have a soft spot for The Pale Horse for its slightly ridiculous 1960s atmosphere and clever murder method. I like N or M? for the silliness of the setup and the atmosphere of the boarding house.

Yes! The first time I read it I spotted the typo and felt very smug that I'd noticed this lapse in copy editing standards. Oops ...

TMORA is unsurpassed for me, but I love And Then There Were None, which I read for the first time before it was called that. I was about 13, stayed up very late to finish it and was then so hyped up I couldn't get to sleep.

MOTOE is a great favourite largely because I saw the 1974 film in the cinema soon after it was released and absolutely loved it. Having said that, I have much sympathy with Raymond Chandler's view: 'Only a halfwit could guess it'.

Another one I absolutely adore is Cat Among the Pigeons, which was one of the first I read. Set in a girls' school, always a huge plus for me. Not her best, but pretty good all the same.

Agreed! I can't explain it either, but it's absolutely the one I always go back to...

Murder on the Orient Express
And Then There Were None
Death on the Nile

I'm rereading just now 😊

Moving finger for me, I’ve read it countless times. I love the village/town it’s set in and the characters

Some of these I haven't read in decades... definitely need a structured reread!

I absolutely love The Sittaford Mystery. (Hated the tv adaptation though, as they added Miss Marple in and she was that silly simpering woman).
At Bertram’s hotel and 4.50 to Paddington.

Love Tommy & Tuppence too, as well as all the classics, So many!!! 🤩

See I am not a fan of 4.50 from Paddington. It starts so well with the scene in the passing train – but then it goes pear-shaped (apart from the excellent Lucy Eyslebarrow) and Miss Marple solves the murder by divine intervention I reckon as there are zero clues.

I love The Sittaford Mystery too

I think she’s a much better writer than she’s given credit for - read much Golden Age detective fiction and you soon see why she was the Queen.

Yes, if you read some of the British Library Crime Classics, it soon becomes apparent that she was head and shoulders above most of them. (They have very attractive covers, though.)

Another one I absolutely adore is Cat Among the Pigeons, which was one of the first I read. Set in a girls' school, always a huge plus for me.

Ahem. (Points to username.)

The school is thought to have been based on Benenden, where her own daughter Rosalind was a pupil - but written before Princess Anne went there!