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The 10 Best Books by Agatha Christie

Discover the greatest works from the thriller master

By Borba de SouzaPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 4 min read
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The 10 Best Books by Agatha Christie
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Born September 15, 1890, in the UK, Agatha Christie has written more than 60 mystery novels and more than a dozen short story collections, as well as a few other non-police books (among them her autobiography, published posthumously in 1977) . In 2015, the official website of the Queen of Crime set out to discover which are the best books by Agatha Christie. For this, it carried out a worldwide survey with the author's fans, who could choose their favorite books among all the works produced by her.

So, with all of that in mind, we've prepared a selection of the top 10 best books by Agatha Christie for you to read, with reviews from avid readers like me and you.

After receiving more than 15,000 votes from readers in over 100 countries, the 10 most voted books were as follows.

If you want to purchase any of the books listed below, click on the titles. They are affiliated links that will take you directly to the store.

Curtain: Poirot's Last Case: Hercule Poirot Investigates

The tenth place on the list went to Curtain, one of the last books published by Agatha Christie and also the last case of Hercule Poirot, her most famous detective. In the book, Poirot, now old, returns in search of a murderer to the Styles mansion, the same location as the first case he solved. This case is described in Agatha Christie's first novel.

Five Little Pigs

The crime in The Five Little Pigs, the death of the famous painter Amyas Crale, took place 16 years before the investigation carried out by Poirot and narrated in the book. At the center of the plot are the love triangle experienced by the painter and the tensions generated by him. This work gives special emphasis to the psychological aspect of the characters when compared to others by the author, the second part of the book being composed of chapters told in first person by different narrators.

Evil Under the Sun

In Evil Under the Sun, Hercule Poirot is forced to interrupt his summer vacation when a murder takes place. To find out who the murderer is, the reader is guided with Poirot through an analysis of the alibis and motives that each of the characters in the plot would have for killing.

4:50 from Paddington

Traveling in the first class of a train departing London, Elspeth McGillicuddy calmly observes the landscape until the moment she witnesses a crime: she glimpses a choke through the window of the train that crosses with her going in the opposite direction. After the incident, no corpse is found and no one believes the story except Miss Marple, the nice and famous lady who proposes to investigate the case.

A Murder Is Announced

The story begins when an advertisement in the newspaper invites the inhabitants of a small English village to witness a murder at Letty Blacklock's house. Thinking it was just a joke, neighbors come to the place without imagining that the announcement would end up coming true. This is yet another case investigated by Miss Marple that, to help the police solve the crime, she will need to be suspicious of everyone present.

The ABC Murders

In this plot, a mysterious assassin who identifies himself only as "ABC" challenges Poirot by sending letters that inform the detective of the upcoming murders he will commit. Apparently random, the crimes follow only one rule: they are carried out following the alphabetical order of the victims' names and the cities where they happen.

Death on the Nile

In Death on the Nile, Poirot has to unravel, during a holiday trip, the murder of young heiress Linnet Ridgeway, who was traveling on her honeymoon aboard a cruise on the Nile River. As the plot unfolds, the interests of others in Linnet's fortune and misfortune become more evident, and the puzzle becomes more and more complex.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

With 8% of the total votes registered in the poll, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd entered the podium of Best Novels by the Queen of Crime, winning the third position. When the title character of the book is found dead in his own home, retired detective Hercule Poirot steps in to look for a possible link between this and two other crimes. Narrated in first person by Dr. Sheppard, the town's physician, the book is one of the most ingenious ever written by Agatha Christie.

Murder on the Orient Express

With 16% of the vote, Murder on the Orient Express took second place among readers' most loved Agatha Christie books. The story is set in a luxury train that is forced to stop in the middle of its journey due to a heavy snowfall. In the middle of the night, a man is murdered and Detective Poirot must find out which passenger is responsible for the act. The book will be adapted for cinemas, which will be released in 2017.

And Then There Were None

With 21% of the vote by fans of Agatha Christie's best of her books. And no wonder: it is the best-selling detective novel of all time, with more than 100 million copies sold worldwide. In the plot, ten suspects find themselves isolated on an island where murders are committed in sequence and following the verses of a children's song. History has no detective to solve the case. The book, a huge success, has already gained adaptations for TV, cinema and theater.

What did you think of the choices? Comment which one is your favorite among Agatha Christie's books!

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About the Creator

Borba de Souza

Writer and business founder that enjoys writing about history and culture.

Founder of Small Business Hacks https://www.youtube.com/c/SmallBusinessHacks and https://expatriateconsultancy.com. My published books: https://amzn.to/3tyxDe0

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