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Original poster

Scariest book by Agatha Christie, IMO? "And Then There Were None".

105 replies

Jacksmama · 27/08/2009 04:27

I love Agatha Christie. Have read nearly every one of her books and am currently working my way through the ones I'd missed. I love the suspense in her stories, and also the fact that nothing she writes (at least, that I have read) is ever over-the-top gruesome or horrific (a la Stephen King, for example - and I just want to mention that before I had DS, I was a huge SK fan).

There was a short story in "Surprise, Surprise" that I read recently which gave me chills as I was reading it, and I was lad to finish it and go on to something else that was a little less, well, really frightening. I'm not used to reading AG in bed at night and being afraid to turn out the light!!

"And Then There Were None" was like that for me. It was like a train wreck - I couldn't not look - had to keep reading, and last night, when I finished it around midnight I was so frightened by how the narrative at the end of the story where the murderer confesses to the deeds and how he did it, I couldn't sleep for hours!! I had to get DS and snuggle him in bed with me, with the light on, before I could doze off.

Anybody else find that story particularly disturbing?

OP posts:
Original poster
Jacksmama · 27/08/2009 18:05

LOL. I don't have anything against lesbians but I do object to murdering lesbians. Or murdering lesbians, as it were.

So what is everyone's favourite Christie?
Mine has to be Cat Among The Pigeons.

And, can anyone recall in which story Miss Marple solves the mystery of the gill of picked shrimps?

(What is a gill of picked shrimps?? - says the seafood hater.)

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hocuspontas · 27/08/2009 18:18

So many favourites - And Then There Were None probably tops. After the Funeral, Sittaford Mystery, Peril at End House, Endless Night.

I need to re-read a few where I have forgotten the endings - Five Little Pigs, Cat Among the Pigeons, Murder in Mesopotamia... How exciting!

Saltire · 27/08/2009 18:23

I don't like the Tommy and Tuppence books either. Prefer Poirot to Marple, and I think David Suchet is fab as the character on tv. One of the books, Ordeal by innocence was made into a Marple tv episode but Marple doesn't appear in the book.
One of my favourites is Endless Night, again doesn't have Marple or Poirot in but is good

LaDiDaDi · 27/08/2009 18:36

I read them all as a teenager (freak) and loved them.

Can't remember a favourite now but I often watch the adaptations on TV, great if you've got a dark winter afternoon to fill (and otherwise occupied dc).

HumphreyCobbler · 27/08/2009 18:54

Isn't Ariandne Oliver based on herself?

I like The Moving Finger best, it has some rather good characterisation and has a real feeling of suspense. I was pleased to find that she considered it one of her better books when I read her autobiography (which is brilliant, you should read it).

steamedtreaclesponge · 27/08/2009 20:14

Oh, I love Cat Among the Pigeons too, and The Moving Finger. And Hercule Poirot's Christmas. But I also love some of her silly spy ones like The Secret of Chimneys and the Seven Dials Mystery. I'd be hard-pressed to find a favourite!

I always thought Mrs Oliver was based on herself too.

Is the gill of pickled shrimps somewhere in the Thirteen Questions?

hannahsaunt · 27/08/2009 20:28

AC adored Joan Hickson apparently and I thought she really was the incarnation of Miss Marple that I had in my head. The Geraldine McEwan remakes were absolutely dreadful.

I read them all mainly in my teens (though my first was The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and other short stories when I was 8). Should really go back and read some of them again.

Scariest? Nemesis did it for me - never have liked clematis.

lottiejenkins · 27/08/2009 20:35

I'll give a vote for Sleeping Murder! I met Joan Hickson when they filmed The Moving Finger at my parents farmhouse. The daughters body was dragged across our kitchen floor by the stepfather and put in a prop gas cooker! JH was lovely by the way very like her MM character!!

Ceasnake · 27/08/2009 20:52

God, I LOVE Agatha Christie. I think I've also read almost all of them.

Nemesis is my absolute favourite. I love the way she gradually unravels the mystery with the 'ghostly' help of Mr Rafiel at her side. Very scary - I think it's one of the few AC books where you get a sense of a deeply psychologically disturbed murderer.

I love all the Marple books, I think she's a wonderful character. I love the way she's unshockable and is so much more than the fluffy old lady that she first appears.

Sleeping Murder also excellent. I enjoy Poirot but not so keen on Tommy and Tuppence. Cards on the Table is a great Poirot/Ariadne Oliver story.

And Then There Were None probably the most frightening. I'd like to see a new TV adaptation of that one. Endless Night is also very dark indeed.

Have just re-read the Parker Pyne stories which are much more comedic and lighthearted.

UnquietDad · 27/08/2009 23:02

I assume we are no longer allowed to refer to "And Then There Were None" by its original title? What would happen if we did? Would we end up in the Daily Mail?

Anyway, yes, it's very good. Excellent how she keeps the murderer's name until, literally, the last page.

I have always had a soft-spot for "4.50 From Paddington". Read it at about the age of 15 and was impressed that the murderer was, well, someone not telegraphed. Although the method of discovery was a little contrived.

One I guessed was "They Do It With Mirrors". Just made too obvious, with the breathlessness etc. As was "At Bertram's Hotel" - too many clues (the dim light)...

Saltire · 28/08/2009 08:51

Julia McKenzie is taking over the role of Marple, apparently the shows (ITV1) have been seen in either Canada or USA already, but I don't know when we will see them, the first series of episodes with her in comprises -A pocket full of Rye, Why didn't they ask Evans (not a Marple book) and Murder is easy. I don't know when they will be shown in the UK, they ahve started filming thesecond series of episodes with JM!.
I don't know if JM will be any better than GM, although I have seen pictures and she does fit in more with the image of Marple

steamedtreaclesponge · 28/08/2009 11:22

I've been thinking about how they change the adaptations and I suppose one reason for it is that in lots of Marple books she doesn't actually appear very often. I re-read The Moving Finger yesterday and I think she's only in about three scenes - she asks a couple of questions and then explains it all at the end. I suppose viewers might get a bit annoyed if they settled down for a nice evening of Marple-watching only to find she doesn't appear until the last 15 minutes!

UnquietDad · 28/08/2009 12:21

Joan Hickson is the definitive Miss Marple.

I'm annoyed by ITV calling it "Marple". What, do they think viewers can't cope with a woman detective being called by an old-fashioned title? They couldn't get away with "Ms Marple" so they just dropped it altogether?

HumphreyCobbler · 28/08/2009 12:51

Do agree about Joan Hickson, can't bear to watch any of the others.

UnquietDad · 28/08/2009 13:08

Did you know Steven Moffat and Gareth Roberts (Doctor Who writers) are doing a Sherlock Holmes TV series brought into the present day for 2010? It has "walking that fine line between genius and disaster" written all over it...

steamedtreaclesponge · 28/08/2009 13:21

Now that I find impossible to imagine.

hocuspontas · 28/08/2009 13:28

Was it they who wrote the Agatha Christie episode in Dr Who? I really enjoyed that.

UnquietDad · 28/08/2009 13:28

Yes, Gareth wrote that one.

Original poster
Jacksmama · 28/08/2009 16:35

I started reading Nemesis yesterday - so far, not creepy yet... by what page number can I expect to be scared?

OP posts:
steamedtreaclesponge · 28/08/2009 16:40

Aha, just you wait...

VintageGardenia · 28/08/2009 16:41

I used to love AC in my teens, loved the clothes in the adaptations and the cliffside hotels in Greece and so on.

Not the scariest exactly but an image I have never been able to get out of my head is from Lord Edgware Dies - he is found slumped over his desk in the library (natch) and has been stabbed with a corn on the cob fork. Vivid, vivid image for me.

(Having written this out, will probably turn out to be completely wrong book or different implement - having been haunted for 20 years by a mistaken image ).

hocuspontas · 28/08/2009 16:49

The books I grew up with were published by Fontana and the images on the front covers were exceedingly gruesome.

This one - A Caribbean Mystery was especially nightmarish

Original poster
Jacksmama · 28/08/2009 16:52

Ohhhh - I have all of those!! Lots of reading to look forward to!!

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VintageGardenia · 28/08/2009 16:55

I would love a steamedtreaclesponge.

I had some Fontana ones but also the classic dark green Penguins printed on v. thin paper.

procrastinatingparent · 28/08/2009 16:56

HumphreyCobbler - I re- read Elephants can Remember or whatever it is called the other day (I have not read AC for years), and I decided that Ariadne Oliver was AC herself so I'm glad someone else thinks so too. Also agree that her autobiography is a really good read _ I think I enjoyed her books more after reading it and discovering where lots of her ideas had begun.

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