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Agatha Christie wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections over more than fifty years. She remains the best-selling novelist of all time after Shakespeare and the Bible, which is both the most impressive statistic in publishing history or a useful reminder that people have always wanted a good puzzle before bed.
I came to Christie late, I’ll admit. I’d always thought of her as comfort reading — something to pick up in an airport, easy and forgettable. I was wrong about that. The plots are architectural masterworks. Every detail placed, every misdirection earned, every solution both surprising and, in retrospect, completely inevitable. She’s a better craftsperson than most writers who get taken more seriously.
If you haven’t read her, here’s where to start. If you have, here’s where to go next.
The Top Ten
1. And Then There Were None (1939) — ★ 4.26
The best-selling mystery novel ever written, and Christie at her most audacious. Ten strangers are lured to an island, cut off from the mainland, and begin to die one by one — with no obvious killer among them. The premise is so clean and the execution so perfect that it spawned an entire subgenre.
Start here if you’ve never read Christie. It needs no knowledge of Poirot or Marple, it moves fast, and the solution is one of fiction’s great surprises. Even when you’ve been told it’s coming, it lands.
Buy And Then There Were None on Amazon
2. Murder on the Orient Express (1934) — ★ 4.20
Poirot is called to investigate a murder on a snowbound train where every passenger is a suspect. One of the most famous mystery plots ever devised — and, crucially, one that holds up completely even after you know how it ends. The atmosphere is magnificent, Poirot is at his most entertaining, and the reveal is exactly as satisfying as its reputation suggests.
Buy Murder on the Orient Express on Amazon
3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) — ★ 4.20
The novel that made Christie famous — and infamous. Its twist is one of the most controversial in detective fiction: critics accused her of cheating; defenders argue she plays absolutely fair throughout. Both sides have a point, which is exactly what makes it so interesting. Read it without knowing the ending if at all possible. It’s a landmark.
Buy The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on Amazon
4. Crooked House (1949) — ★ 4.09
One of Christie’s personal favourites, and one of her darkest. The Leonides family have gathered in their sprawling house following the patriarch’s murder — and everyone is a suspect in ways that go well beyond the usual Christie conventions. A standalone that shows her at her most unsentimental. This one stayed with me.
5. Death on the Nile (1937) — ★ 4.11
Poirot on a Nile cruise, where a beautiful heiress is shot and every passenger had a reason to want her dead. Christie’s atmosphere and character work are at their height here — it has the best setting of any Poirot novel, and the plot is as tightly constructed as anything she wrote.
Buy Death on the Nile on Amazon
6. The ABC Murders (1936) — ★ 4.10
A serial killer is working through the alphabet, sending advance warning letters to Poirot before each murder. Christie uses this premise to build one of her most tightly controlled plots, with a solution that’s both clever and genuinely affecting. It’s also one of the books that shows Poirot at his most human.
7. Evil Under the Sun (1941) — ★ 4.07
Poirot on holiday at a seaside hotel — which is, of course, the perfect setting for a Christie puzzle. The victim is universally loathed, the suspects are plentiful, and the solution hinges on a moment of real ingenuity. One of the most purely enjoyable books in the Poirot series.
Buy Evil Under the Sun on Amazon
8. A Murder is Announced (1950) — ★ 4.15
The best Miss Marple novel, and it’s not particularly close. A notice appears in the local paper announcing that a murder will take place at a specific address at a specific time — and it does. Christie at her most playful, with Marple at her most quietly devastating. If you’ve only ever read Poirot, this is the one that will convert you.
Buy A Murder is Announced on Amazon
9. Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (1975) — ★ 4.26
Written during World War II and locked in a safe for thirty years, Curtain is the conclusion to Poirot’s story — and Christie’s farewell to her most famous creation. I won’t say anything more about it except this: read it last, after you’ve spent time with the character. It means significantly more that way, and the ending will stay with you.
10. Five Little Pigs (1942) — ★ 4.15
Poirot investigates a murder that happened sixteen years ago — interviewing five witnesses whose memories and motivations have shifted over time. More psychological than most Christie, and arguably her most emotionally resonant Poirot novel. The format allows her to do something different with character in a way that the more conventional detective plots don’t permit.
Buy Five Little Pigs on Amazon
Worth Mentioning
A few more that deserve your attention:
- Witness for the Prosecution (short story, 1933) — possibly the best single piece of short crime fiction ever written. If you read nothing else, read this.
- The Hollow (1946) — unusually character-driven for Christie; the mystery almost takes a back seat
- Endless Night (1967) — her darkest and most unexpected novel, nothing like what you’d expect
- They Do It With Mirrors (1952) — the best Miss Marple after A Murder is Announced
Where to Start
Complete newcomer: And Then There Were None — self-contained, fast, and the best single demonstration of what Christie can do.
Want Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express — the most famous for a reason.
Want Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced — the series at its absolute best.
Want to understand why Christie matters: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd — the novel that changed detective fiction.
One important note on reading order: Christie’s books are largely standalone. The one exception is Curtain — save that one for after you’ve spent real time with Poirot. It won’t mean nearly as much without that history.
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