What are the best Agatha Christie books?

Well!?

Haven’t re-read it but I remember liking Curtain, Poirot’s last case.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the most classic. Also Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None. The Mirror Crack'd. Death on the Nile. But you 've probably seen all the movie/tv versions.

Here's one to avoid: Passenger to Frankfurt. A later Christie, no Poirot or Marple, and very muddled. IIRC, Postern of Fate wasn't good either.

Gutenberg has ePub format of “the secret adversary” and it introduces you to Tommy & Tuppence.

I forgot she wrote action sequences (like early Dr Who special effects).

The Pale Horse

A Murder is Announced

Death Comes as the End, a murder mystery in ancient Egypt! (Christie’s husband was an archaeologist.)

R3 R5 I agree

Some of the short story compilations are good, fast reads.

MORE

Dear reader, you should get out of your old-fashioned rut and try something more challenging, such as--

I remember enjoying Nemesis

R13, that’s a high school mean girl dare. I’m telling Becka. Yeah.

The most classic are The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The ABC Murders, Murder on the Orient Express, and And Then There Were None. Death on the Nile, A Murder is Announced, Crooked House, and The Body in the Library are all first rate. Try her short stories as well. Other classic British writers include Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and P.D. James

Martha Grimes, for Americans and I won’t mention the fucking cats who solve crime. Punch that writer in the cunt for everyone.

Peril at End House is another first rate Poirot from the 1930s.

Agatha C is an acquired taste. I would say read anything, if you like it, read more. You may want to start with her earlier novels and work up to present day, or just read whatever you fancy. I've read them all, they aren't very page heavy.

My personal favorite is Death on the Nile, but all of those recommended in R16 are good choices, as is R18's Peril at End House. In general, my favorites are the Poirot mysteries from the interwar years. When people think of Agatha Christie, I suspect these are the first books that come to mind.

If you have never seen any of the movie of TV adaptations, I'd say the place to start is Murder on the Orient Express. It's classic Christie, classic Poirot and, if you're not already spoiled, a damn good mystery.

^^^ "... movie OR TV adaptations ..."

R16 good list

Pale Horse, Sleeping Murder, the ABC Murders, and By the Pricking of my Thumb are what I’d consider the genuinely chilling ones.

Most of the Miss Marples are “cosier.”

I just started re-reading all the Miss Marples in order.

Sad Cypress, Evil Under The Sun, Crooked House and Murder Is Easy are my favourites.

Avoid the crap she churned out when she started to go a bit senile: Passenger To Frankfurt, Postern Of Fate, The Hound

My favorite is still the first one I read, And Then There Were None.

Very tidy and puzzling until the end.

MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD was a groundbreaking fiction novel. It took the murder mysteries in a different direction.

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and DEATH ON THE NILE and CROOKED HOUSE are twists on the whodunnit.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE.

Dame Agatha wrote CURTAIN during her very prolific period as the final Hercule Poirot novel. She requested in note be published until after her death.

The Pale Horse and Sleeping Murder are two of my favorites. I also enjoyed Nemesis, The Twelve Labors of Hercules, Death Comes as the End, along with the other classics already mentioned.

Her short stories are also a good way to start.

Witness for the Prosecution.

Crooked House, another vote for that.

I don’t get what’s so groundbreaking about Crooked House, unless it’s the identity of the murderer. I thought it was a claustrophobic bore.

"And Then There Were None."

It was retitled from "Ten Little Indians." Because, you know, many took offense.

And, of course, "Ten Little Indians" was retitled from the original "Ten Little N*gg*rs." Because, you know . . .

Last time I looked, the original, hardcover, first-edition of "T.L.N." was available on eBay. For $6,500.

My favorite is "They Came to Baghdad," not for Poirot or Marple, for there is no detective per se, but for its mesmerizing opening chapter.

The best Tommy and Tuppence is "N or M?".

Miss Marple = "At Bertram's Hotel," another very atmospheric novel. The adaptation with Joan Hickson is best.

The Poirots mentioned are great, but so are "The ABC Murders," "Cat Among the Pigeons," and any number of short stories.

As for non-murder enjoyable stories, I really like the Mr. Parker Pyne ones.

Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on Orient Express, And Then There Were None, etc. all have been done to death. I personally like more obscure ones, like The Man in the Brown Suit, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, Hickory Dickory Dock, the ones that don’t have a groundbreaking twist, but are somehow more enjoyable for that.

There are two or three different tv adaptations of "Why Didn't They Ask Evans?" The first one is from the Tommy & Tuppence TV series of the late 70s-early 80s.