Over a career that spanned six decades, Agatha Christie wrote 66 detective novels, and she always managed to keep her readers guessing whodunnit right up until the dramatic final reveal. Christie died in 1976, but her books still sell millions of copies every year, and she’s gained even more fans since her stories were made into movies and television shows.
In today’s post, we’re ranking our top 10 favorite Agatha Christie mysteries. are presented below with what we hope will be convincing evidence for our verdict:
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10th: endless night
This dark and creepy mystery is narrated by a handsome and impulsive young man named Mike. Mike dreams of building a house on the grounds of the idyllic Gypsy Acre and living there happily ever after with a beautiful woman. But the locals insist that Gypsy Acre is cursed and warn Mike and his new wife to get out.
Endless Night is unlike most of Christie’s books in that the central crime doesn’t occur until more than halfway through. however, the author still manages to give her characteristic shocking twist. she amazingly, she wrote an endless night in just six weeks.
9no: five little pigs
The Five Little Pigs in this novel (also published under the alternative title Murder in Flashback) are the five suspects investigated by Hercule Poirot for a murder that occurred 16 years earlier. Five Little Pigs is the 21st novel featuring Inspector Poirot, one of the most beloved literary detectives of all time.
8th: fool witness
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The Foolish Witness wasn’t as highly praised as most of Christie’s work, but we included it anyway. Who doesn’t love a story with a dog, especially one wrongfully accused of causing the death of its owner? Fortunately for Bob, the innocent fox terrier, Hercule Poirot is on the case to clear his name.
7th: the mystery of the seven spheres
Published in 1929 and featuring a younger-than-usual cast of characters, the mystery of the seven spheres begins with a party and a prank gone wrong. The heroine of the story is an amateur detective, Bundle Brent. She is a vivacious and witty society girl who also appears in Christie’s earlier novel, The Secret of the Chimneys.
6th: the mysterious affair of styles
This cleverly plotted mystery first appeared as a weekly series in The Times before being published as Agatha Christie’s first novel. With plenty of clues, red herrings, and potential suspects, the mysterious Styles affair firmly established Christie as the queen of mysteries. It’s also our first introduction to the eccentric Inspector Poirot as a refugee recently arrived from the great war.
5th: the abc murders
in another poirot case, the abc murders unfold with a series of murders, in which the initials of the victims and the place of death are in alphabetical order. Placing an ABC rail guide with each body suggests the work of a serial killer for no reason. But Inspector Poirot suspects otherwise.
4th: death on the nile
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Newlywed socialite Linnet Doyle is found dead in her cabin on an Egypt cruise. She apparently stole her valuable pearl necklace, suggesting a simple motive. But, as all Agatha Christie fans know, nothing is what it seems. Death on the Nile is one of Christie’s most famous mysteries and has become a West End play. it has also been adapted for radio, television and the big screen. the most recent film version stars kenneth branagh and was released in february 2022.
3rd: murder on the orient express
Most of the action in Murder on the Orient Express, or to use its American title, Murder on the Calais Coach, takes place aboard a luxury train traveling through the Balkans. the train is stopped at night by a snowdrift, and in the morning, one of the passengers is brutally murdered. Providentially, Hercule Poirot is also on board, and he begins to investigate each of the passengers.
2nd: the murder of roger ackroyd
Inspector Poirot is supposedly retired, but he wanders away from vegetable farming to investigate his friend’s death. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is widely considered Christie’s best novel and certainly contains one of her most shocking endings.
1st: and then there wasn’t
despite their deplorable original title, and then neither wins our vote for best christie book of all. A group of unrelated people are invited to stay on a small island. one by one they begin to be killed, with the macabre deaths following the sequence of a rhyme that hangs on the wall of each guest’s room. Christie described and then there was none as the book she found most difficult to write. however, it was worth the effort, selling over 100 million copies!
did we skip your favorite agatha christie book? if so, don’t shoot, strangle, or poison us! Tell us in the comments which christie mystery you like best and why.
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