Agatha Christie's 66 mystery novels rated

Whew, @nxnwrocks , that is all of them! I don't think I could do that without some long and hard thought--and, moreover, I haven't read all of AC's spy thrillers--so, if you'll allow me instead to re-post some "top 10" thoughts that I've previously posted elsewhere...

10. The A.B.C. Murders (1936): marvellous, one of her smartest jobs, with an excellent manhunt for a mad (or apparently mad) murderer. The identity of said murderer is breathtakingly brilliant, with incredible misdirection. If Hastings, in one of his last appearances, if more than a bit annoying in his thickheadedness, the Alexander Bonaparte Cust parts more than make up for it. The clues, let me say, are first-class. A classic.

9. Murder on the Orient Express (1934): her most famous, probably due to the movie, which is fun but slow-moving for long stretches. The book, mercifully, is far better; the interviews actually increase the tension of being stuck on the snowbound train with a murderer who stabbed a loathsome American gangster in his locked cabin. The solution may be far-fetched, but (Raymond Chandler notwithstanding) we are too busy marvelling at it to worry. And pure magic is evoked by one of the simplest lines in all Christiedom: “The Orient Express had started on its three-days’ journey across Europe.”

8. Murder is Easy (1939): though little-known, this is a masterful tale of witchcraft in a small town, sort of St. Mary Mead turned on its head, with detection by ex-policeman Luke Fitzwilliam, Supt. Battle, and a number of amateurs. The characters are excellent and the detection delightful; the book becomes genuinely unnerving at the end, akin to Carr; and the identity of the murderer is one of Christie’s best surprises. Unfortunately, what keeps this book from the top 5 is the lack of clues; there is no single clue that will allow the reader to deduce the villain; but said reader may be having too much fun to complain.

7. A Murder is Announced (1950): the only Marple on my list, but it’s probably the best of the Marples, with an excellent plot, a fast-moving story, and good characterization. The murderer announces his crime in the local paper, leading to an excellent why problem; indeed, the revelation of the motive may be even more ingenious than the revelation of the murderer. One of Christie’s best.

6. Endless Night (1967): a shocker, to such an extent that the reader may actually be angry upon finishing the book. It is without a doubt the darkest and most sinister book she ever wrote, prefiguring, in fact, some of Ruth Rendell. The characterization is superb, and the plot (borrowing in part from her Marple short “The Case of the Caretaker”) pulls the rug out from under the reader’s feet and leaves him reeling. Brilliant. As Nick Fuller realized, note similarities to Death on the Nile.

5. Five Little Pigs (1943): the first and best of the “murder-in-retrospect” theme, one of Christie’s favorite plots. Along with The Hollow (1946), this book has Christie’s greatest characterization, but here the detective story is not forgotten: the cluing is ingenious, and the identity of the murderer is a brilliant shock. A deep, fascinating book, which should be required reading for all of AC’s detractors.

4. The Pale Horse (1961): one of her best, fun and spooky, with witchcraft right around the corner. I suspect this is AC’s tribute to John Dickson Carr (she was thinking of her fellow detective-writers around this time, as we know from 1963’s The Clocks), just as One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940) seems her tribute to H.C. Bailey (I would have loved to have seen a tribute to Ellery Queen! ). The hero-narrator, the heroine involved in the mystery, the witchcraft background, the apparent impossibility of the crimes–these all seem Carrian, albeit filtered through Christie’s own style and sensibilities. The method is brilliant, and the murderer’s identity is diabolically clever. Some readers may long for Poirot, but I felt the team of Insp. Lejeune and amateur Mark Easterbrook more than make up for his nonappearance here.

3. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926): her first masterpiece, maybe still her most daring (or most foolish, depending on how you look at it) solution. There are a number of likable characters, ranging from narrator James Sheppard and his sister Caroline (the latter a proto-Miss Marple) to the Ackroyds and Capt. Paton and the rest of them, and Christie fools us with our presumptions about detective stories. Some revisionists (and Robert Barnard) consider this only a mediocre and traditional Christie, but can anyone deny the sheer shock value of the twist, her most surprising? And, even considered apart from that twist, no one can compete with the masterful juggling of times and alibis.

2. Ten Little n****rs/Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None (1939): my first Christie–wow. The characterization is brilliant, the story is beautifully told and captivating, and the murderer’s plot is ingenious. This is a story of human beings trapped alone on an island with their consciences and their emotions, all of them murderers and one of them the murderer–a mad agent of perhaps divine judgment. Far, far better than any of the movies based on it; the end chapters, before the murderer’s confession, are tenser than almost anything Christie ever did, with the possible exception of Endless Night, and marvellously written. Read it.

1. Death on the Nile (1937): “What can one say about perfection itself?” mystery critic Nick Fuller asks rhetorically in his review. Well, what can one say that hasn’t already been said? It may well be the best detective story of ’em all, with undoubtedly the greatest alibi of ’em all–so simple, so smooth, and yet so undetectable until Poirot reveals all. The plot and characters are convincing and memorable. Though all of the characters are well-drawn, the plot hinges around the triangle, one of Christie’s favorite themes, and this is her best use of it. We are shocked by our preconceptions–not about detective stories, as with Roger Ackroyd (or Hercule Poirot’s Christmas), but about human relationships. Her masterpiece.

Interesting, Bargle, because I'm American, but my edition (also American) is titled Five Little Pigs. I wonder if they more recently re-printed it here under the British title. 

I've only read A Pocketful of Rye, and I thought it was pretty much a waste of my time. It's one of those books that has such a unsatisfactory resolution that it has an extra reveal at the end, where one letter clarifies everything that went before, and proves the guilt of the murderer. It's as if Christie wasn't confident enough to leave it, and thought "fuck it, it's either this to wrap it up, or 'it was all just a dream'".

I might well give her another go sometime, I guess I prefer 'crime fiction' to 'murder mysteries' though. I had a similar reaction to the Sherlock Holmes stories I've read, and I keep meaning to pick those up for another shot sometime.

I suppose I’ve more or less been on a “little-known” kick, but here’s a new one: what would you consider your favorite little-known Christie books? That is to say, not a Murder on the Orient Express or an And Then There Were None (or even a Five Little Pigs) but a One, Two, Buckle My Shoe—something like that. (Naturally, though, “little-known” is subjective—or, as I’ve phrased it before, “the million-dollar question.”) My own offhand choices:

The Pale Horse (1961)

One of her best (I rated it very highly above) and, I suspect, her tribute to John Dickson Carr. Likeable protagonist and spooky witchcraft background, along with a very ingenious central gambit to disguise the identity of the murderer. Mrs. Oliver (alone here, without Poirot) is, for once, amusing rather than annoying, and she provides a central clue.

The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

A Wodehousian romp with murders thrown in, a first-class problem, and a shocking least-likely suspect with some connection to Ackroyd. Why isn’t this one better-known?

The Sittaford Mystery (1931)

Not as good as the two previous, perhaps—opening and ending are great, but the middle section is a bit of a slog—but the plot is one of her most ingenious; surprising similarities to The Pale Horse, written thirty years later.

Murder is Easy (1939)

Would be one of her finest jobs were it not for the dearth of cluing. Still, one of her best-written and fastest-paced books.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)

Her finest iteration of a trick she used a few times, but so well-disguised that it seems novel. Writing is rather stilted, not up to her usual quality, but the plot’s brilliant (the impersonation! the clues! the trick with the Birlstone Gambit!), and there’s that magnificent scene in the church.

Towards Zero (1944)

Would make a great play—the build-up to a murder rather than its aftermath. (A trick she did use in a play, Verdict, though less successfully.) The murderer’s plan and alibi are excellent; this person’s identity, less so. Still, remarkably well-written and -characterized, à la Ten Little Indians. I prefer stolid Supt. Battle to Poirot or Marple. (For that matter, I also prefer Tommy and Tuppence, and Insp. Lejeune in The Pale Horse.) Note similarities to After the Funeral.

Endless Night (1967)

Proto-Rendell (which is why I was always surprised that Rendell disliked Christie so much), also somewhat proto-Halter. Utterly brilliant character portrait of the likeable, roguish narrator, as his carefree life descends into horror. One of her very best—interesting similarities to Death on the Nile, as Nick Fuller noted.

The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1930)

Her best short-story collection, with some particularly fine characters in Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin (who may be only an aspect of Satterthwaite’s mind?). Christie’s first attempts at romance, here mixed with mystery—very effective indeed, with the right amount of the supernatural, and uncharacteristically lyrical.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1934)

Ironically enough, the best Tommy and Tuppence book has neither Tommy nor Tuppence but, rather, their identical twins, Bobby Jones and Frankie Derwent. This book is sheer ‘20s lark (inexplicably published in the ‘30s)—the sort of thing that Barzun called “how jolly all this murdering is!” Good, solid fun.

After the Funeral (1953)

One of her smartest jobs. Nigh-impossible to guess the identity of the very surprising villain, yet all the clues—many some of Christie’s best—are there. Poirot doesn’t do much detective work, unfortunately, but sends out a private eye to do it for him—Christie’s boredom with him, or what? Effectively gloomy atmospherics. Stylistic similarities with Taken at the Flood, but a better detective story.

OK, whew, that was ten of ‘em! My honorable mention here is Curtain, which has one of her greatest plots but is, sadly, rather dull in the telling (and under-characterized). I recommend reading it because it is the last of the Poirots, and that plot is ingenious, but it’s not much fun.

At the risk of bumping this old thread yet again, I recently finished N or M?, which I’d put off for a while after reading it was mediocre. I thought it was great: Tommy & Tuppence are tons of fun—a little older but none the worse for wear—and I still find them Christie’s best sleuths.

This isn’t (despite what the back-cover said) really a thriller, at least no more than Murder is Easy was; it’s a detective story disguised as a spy novel, much like early Le Carré (Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, even partly Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), in which the question is “who is the mole?”

Great surprise culprit—I guessed the trick that AC was going for early on but got cleverly sidetracked into applying that trick towards the wrong suspect, an excellent misdirection technique. The writing and dialogue are cheery and fun to read—a sharp contrast to the last Christie-esque book I read, Sophie Hannah’s execrable “authorized continuation,” The Monogram Murders. N or M? would probably go on my top 10 Christies list, which will now have to be revised yet again:

Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Pale Horse, Five Little Pigs, and Endless Night all stay (in more or less their same positions), but the other four all get bumped, for better or worse. The new four would probably be (7) The Seven Dials Mystery, (8) Towards Zero, (9) N or M?, and (10) The Sittaford Mystery.