Agatha Christie: Five Favourites

The works of Agatha Christie offer something of a paradox. We know when we open the book what we’ll find, we know the familiar old tropes and characters. And yet these expectations are constantly skewed and subverted by Christie so that we are swept along right until the final twist. There is however one certainty with Agatha Christie – pure entertainment. Here are five of my favourites…

The ABC Murders

Demonstrating her unique skill of skewing the significance of something ordinary for sinister consequences, Christie gives us The ABC Murders in which a murderer works through his victims in alphabetical order. Amid the panic and frenzy, the murders have evoked across the country, Poirot must apprehend the killer before he reaches the next letter.

And Then There Were None

The reassuring presence of Poirot or Miss. Marple is absent in this novel in which ten people are invited to a deserted island by a mysterious host. It emerges that each guest is responsible for a death in some way and an avenging angel begins picking them off one by one. Christie is masterful at creating the sense of paranoia in the book which will have you looking over your shoulder as you read.

Five Little Pigs

This is a neglected Christie classic that deserves more praise. It takes place sixteen years after the death of Caroline Crale, a woman who died in prison after being convicted of killing her own husband. But her daughter believes she was innocent and asks Poirot to dredge up the past and re-examine the circumstances of the fateful day.

Sleeping Murder

In Sleeping Murder Christie explores memory and trauma. It focuses upon a new bride whose new home evokes a sense of unexplained terror in her. As irrational as her fear seems, there is far more truth to her imaginings than first meets the eye. Luckily, Miss. Marple is her new aunt-in-law…

After the Funeral

“It's been hushed up very nicely ... but he was murdered, wasn't he?" So says Cora Lansquenete, sister of the late Richard Abernethie at his funeral. The claim is laughed off - such outbursts were to be expected from eccentric Aunt Cora. But when Cora is murdered it certainly seems as if she was on to something. Cue family secrets, counterfeit wills and hidden resentments.

What is your favourite Agatha Christie book?