Happy Birthday, Agatha

For the 125th birthday of one of my favorite “comfort reading” authors, here are my top ten Agatha Christie books:

10. Murder at the Vicarage 

I am not the biggest Marple fan, but her stories are good. This, her first novel-length mystery is a good place to start.

9. Mysterious Mr. Quin

I like Christie’s other sleuths: Race, Battle, Pyne, Oliver, but Quin is especially interesting. These are more than mere puzzles.

8. Poirot Investigates 

Poirot solving mysteries in a series of short stories, ala Sherlock Holmes. Many of these mysteries are greats.

7. Cards on the Table 

A variation on the locked room mystery. A man is killed while multiple detectives are in the room and no one realizes it happens. Christie brings four of her sleuths together into one story.

6. And Then There Were None 

Some people don’t know that Agatha Christie invented the slasher genre.

5. Peril at End House 

For the archetypal English manor mystery some might choose Poirot’s first adventure, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. As I recall this one is a bit more interesting, just.

4. The ABC Murders 

A British Cozy involving a serial killer? Christie invented so many of the genre’s tropes.

3. Murder on the Orient Express 

The twist on this one is likely common knowledge due to the film, but I won’t ruin it here.

2. Death on the Nile 

This is the source of my favorite film adapted from a Christie novel. The plot is intricate and nearly perfectly executed. Only Poirot could thwart this killer.

1. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 

Another twist ending that shouldn’t be ruined. Go read it if you haven’t.

Honorable Mentions: The Man in the Brown Suit, The Mystery of the Blue Train, Halloween Party, Cat Among Pigeons,  The Body in the Library, After the Funeral, Evil Under the Sun, Curtain...