I just saw an article posted on Facebook by my friend Heidi, who is also a librarian. It was from the Strand Magazine and lists the author's favorite Agatha Christie titles. Well, I just couldn't let that stand. I have to answer with my favorites. Why - well, because!
Over the years I have read everything Agatha Christie has written, most of them several times. The one regret she said she had about her characters was that she made them old from the beginning. Her very first title, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduces us to Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police detective. This funny little man with the big mustache became one of her greatest creations. But, he was certainly an old man. And, Miss Marple was an elderly woman. This set limits to Christie's stories that I am sure she never anticipated. Later, she introduced us to characters like Tommy and Tuppence who were in their early twenties, and Mr. Parker Pine, a man in his prime. This gave her the latitude she needed to add in some action along with the "little grey cell" activity of her older sleuths. However, for me, the best stories were told with Poirot or Marple.
One very interesting aspect of Christie's writing was outlined in a documentary I saw many, many years ago. I attempted to locate it online, but I was not successful. Scientists in the film tested the brain waves of a person while reading an Agatha Christie book and were very shocked to find it matched that of a person on an addictive substance. They retested this and found it was consistent with most readers of Christie novels, but not with readers of any other author. There is an actual addictive aspect to reading Agatha Christie. That explains a lot!
But, let's get down to my list of the top ten novels written by Agatha Christie. I will be numbering them down from number 10 to my favorite at number 1. All descriptions are taken from the GoodReads website. Here they are:
Over the years I have read everything Agatha Christie has written, most of them several times. The one regret she said she had about her characters was that she made them old from the beginning. Her very first title, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introduces us to Hercule Poirot, a retired Belgian police detective. This funny little man with the big mustache became one of her greatest creations. But, he was certainly an old man. And, Miss Marple was an elderly woman. This set limits to Christie's stories that I am sure she never anticipated. Later, she introduced us to characters like Tommy and Tuppence who were in their early twenties, and Mr. Parker Pine, a man in his prime. This gave her the latitude she needed to add in some action along with the "little grey cell" activity of her older sleuths. However, for me, the best stories were told with Poirot or Marple.
One very interesting aspect of Christie's writing was outlined in a documentary I saw many, many years ago. I attempted to locate it online, but I was not successful. Scientists in the film tested the brain waves of a person while reading an Agatha Christie book and were very shocked to find it matched that of a person on an addictive substance. They retested this and found it was consistent with most readers of Christie novels, but not with readers of any other author. There is an actual addictive aspect to reading Agatha Christie. That explains a lot!
But, let's get down to my list of the top ten novels written by Agatha Christie. I will be numbering them down from number 10 to my favorite at number 1. All descriptions are taken from the GoodReads website. Here they are:
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| 10. Set at the Jolly Roger, a posh vacation resort for the rich and famous on the southern coast of England, Evil Under the Sun is one of Agatha Christie’s most intriguing mysteries. When a gorgeous young bride is brutally strangled to death on the beach, only Hercule Poirot can sift through the secrets that shroud each of the guests and unravel the macabre mystery at this playground by the sea. |
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| 9. In the village of King's Abbot, a widow's sudden suicide sparks rumors that she murdered her first husband, was being blackmailed, and was carrying on a secret affair with the wealthy Roger Ackroyd. The following evening, Ackroyd is murdered in his locked study--but not before receiving a letter identifying the widow's blackmailer. King's Abbot is crawling with suspects, including a nervous butler, Ackroyd's wayward stepson, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd, who has taken up residence in the victim's home. It's now up to the famous detective Hercule Poirot, who has retired to King's Abbot to garden, to solve the case of who killed Roger Ackroyd--a task in which he is aided by the village doctor and narrator, James Sheppard, and by Sheppard's ingenious sister, Caroline. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the book that made Agatha Christie a household name and launched her career as a perennial bestseller. Originally published in 1926, it is a landmark in the mystery genre. It was in the vanguard of a new class of popular detective fiction that ushered in the modern era of mystery novels |
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| 8. Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckly. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo. Poirot has taken a particular interest in the young woman who has recently narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences or a spate of bad luck. It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life. |
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| 7. The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection. Suspicion naturally falls on the old man’s young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire’s granddaughter. CONTINUED IN PART II http://barblibrarianadultbooks.blogspot.com/2016/04/my-top-ten-agatha-christie-novels-part.html |
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