Tales of mystery and intrigue have captured the imagination of society since before the dawn of written language. However, complete narratives which centre around a deadly crime wouldn’t emerge until, well, society had formed a basic judicial system through the centralisation of power.
While the majority of homo sapiens have been able to determine right from wrong for quite some time now (though this certainly remains up for debate), it can be argued that it was the progressive civilizing process which, according to German sociologist Norbert Elias, took place in Western Europe from the late Middle Ages, which truly made sin something to be reviled and subsequently punished. Trickery, theft, deceit and even murder – well, that’s just awfully bad manners.
Messing with the Holy Father is one thing, but Catholic didactics state that pretty much anything can be forgiven. On the other hand, putting your reputation in society at risk, or – at worse – your freedom? The motivations and capacity for murder suddenly become far more interesting. Then, add a sense of mystery to the mix, which requires us to determine whether seemingly normal people could be capable of committing heinous acts via a meta-fictive game of Guess Who, and you’ve got any bookworm hooked.
The invention of the mystery genre is credited to Edgar Allen Poe and his great Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841), who debuted detective C. Auguste Dupin. This was soon followed by Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1982) – but it was Agatha Christie who seemed to take the murder mystery genre to an entirely different realm with her debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) which introduced the world to the eccentric and indefatigable Hercule Poirot.
While Poirot was instantly beloved by readers across the globe, Christie proceeded to introduce us to an unlikely detective character by the name of Miss Marple. An elderly spinster who has spent the entirety of her life in the small village of St Mary Mead, Miss Marple’s comedically pessimistic, unsentimental nature and busybody personality makes her a wonderfully accessible detective figure. This cunning detective may be a meddler, but she’s a world-class problem solver with a penchant for mystery.
Putting an unbeatable, remarkably clever detective at the forefront of crime fiction novels acts as a safety net – our fear of the unknown is cushioned by the innate knowledge that the mystery simply must be solved, no matter how many times we’re encouraged to doubt our simply ingenious protagonists. Yet it is also those moments of fallibility, where we are reminded of Miss Marple’s humanness or Poirot’s self-doubt, that make us feel that we too could be veritable detectives. In this sense, no one does it better than Christie.
The renowned author went on to write approximately 66 novels, 14 short stories and one play in her lifetime. Christie’s books have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, and it’s truly no wonder that she has been crowned the official Queen of Crime.
There are some ultimate superfans of the Mystery Monarch out there, so please don’t take this as a prescriptive guide to Christie’s best novels – they are, of course, subjective. We considered the best-selling Christie novels of all time, the obscure favourites, and the critically acclaimed, to put together this (un)comprehensive list. Keep scrolling to get Mousetrapped.
And Then There Were None
Perhaps the most beloved novel to come from the Queen of Crime herself, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is the story of a motley bunch of 10 strangers who are picked off one by one while on a remote island near the Devon coast. The year is 1939, and Europe is on the precipice of war. Hosted by two mysteriously absent, yet highly generous benefactors referred to as Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen – when the first member of the party is killed, the remaining survivors must piece together the unravelling events before they too meet a most terrible fate.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Crooked House
Just like And Then There Were None, Christie’s Crooked House monopolises the power of murder within an enclosed environment. The Leonides are a loving, happy family who reside in a sprawling, though rather unkempt, mansion in an outer suburb of London. When the head of the household, Mr Aristide, is murdered with a deadly barbiturate injection, all roads point to the old man’s rather junior widow. Christie herself had called it “one of her best,” so it’s certainly worth the read.
Buy now £8.27, Amazon
The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
Think of Witness for the Prosecution as the equal opposite of Crooked House. The young, wealthy and beautiful Emily French is brutally murdered in her London townhouse, and the only reasonable suspect is an older, married man by the name of Leonard Vole – to whom Ms French left her entire fortune.
Buy now £7.89, Amazon
Hercule Poirot
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd follows Hercule Poirot as the lead detective attempts to unravel the mystery of a man who knew too much. Ackroyd was in love with a young woman who he knew had killed her previous lover, and he also knew someone had been blackmailing her. Distraught when he learns of the news that she has committed suicide, Ackroyd is given one last clue via the evening post – but the poor soul is stabbed in the neck before he can finish reading it.
Buy now £9.99, HarperCollins
Murder on the Orient Express
A novel which arguably served as the blueprint for classic Whodunnits for years to come, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express encapsulates all of the most thrilling tropes associated with the detective fiction genre with seamless and page-turning efficacy. Plunge into the gruesome story which unfolds after the Orient Express stops dead in its tracks due to a snowdrift, following which a billionaire tycoon is found dead in his train cabin with a dozen stab wounds. Hercule Poirot attempts to reveal the murderer, who remains on the train with all of its passengers - before it is too late. Delve into the other 38 Poirot-centric mysteries that were published during Christie's lifetime once you've finished this one.
Buy now £9.15, Amazon
Death on the Nile
Murder and mayhem are never too far from Hercule Poirot, and his hopes of a relaxing steam cruise along the River Nile are quickly dashed upon the murder of a young, charismatic newlywed named Linnet Ridgeway. Shot through the head, it simply can’t be a coincidence that Poirot overheard a fellow passenger exclaim, “‘I’d like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger", – or can it?
Buy now £7.73, Amazon
The Hollow
A Christie classic involving the gathering of friends old and new, Lucy Angkatell decides to stage a murder to entice the infamous detective. Yet when the victim’s fate becomes all too real, Poirot must piece together the facts, and understand why Dr John Christow’s final, gasping word was ‘Henrietta’ – when his wife’s name is Gerda.
Buy now £4.50, Amazon
The A.B.C. Murders
When The A.B.C. Murders was first published in 1936, the narrative which dealt with the psychology behind serial killers was one of the first of its kind. With the country in a state of panic over a series of gruesome murders which are being meticulously conducted in alphabetical order - A for Mrs Ascher in Andover, B for Betty Barnard in Bexhill, and C for Sir Carmichael Clarke in Churston – Poirot must look past the trail of seemingly deliberate clues to put an end to the bloodshed.
Buy now £3.29, AbeBooks
Miss Marple
The Murder at the Vicarage
The novel which introduced the marvellous Jane Marple to the world, The Murder at the Vicarage follows the murder of the widely disliked Colonel Protheroe in the quaint English village of St Mary Mead. Discovered dead in the vicarage study, the homestead is abuzz with questions and suspects alike – but one unlikely detective emerges above the rest to solve the mystery good and proper.
Buy now £9.19, Amazon
A Murder Is Announced
The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn can’t quite work out whether the latest announcement in the town’s Gazette is some kind of practical joke. It simply reads: “A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.” Like sheep to slaughter, local crowds can’t help but gather at that fateful time to understand the fuss – when all at once, the lights go dark.
Buy now £3.65, Amazon
The Body in the Library
Another drawing-room classic, The Bantrys wake one morning to find the body of a young woman clad in eveningwear and smeared, heavy makeup strewn across their library floor. Without a clue of how she could’ve gotten there, The Bantrys can think of only one person to call.
Buy now £1.65, Amazon
4.50 from Paddington
An almost supernatural murder mystery thriller, the distraught Elspeth is counting on Miss Marple to help her solve the cold-blooded killing she witnessed as two trains simultaneously passed side-by-side. Yet with no suspects, no other witnesses, and no corpse to be found – could this be the case to finally stump our beloved detective?
Buy now £2.03, Amazon
