The Christie novels were the first mysteries I read -- in junior high, I think -- and they led me to a lifetime love of the genre. Your review was delightful to read, Cathy -- thank you! I have to add that I absolutely fell in love with David Suchet while watching all the Poirot episodes and then viewing interviews of him "in real life." A brilliant actor and a highly intelligent and decent man.
Thanks very much for this appreciation, Cathy. I did not discover Agatha Christie until after I retired, then read every one of her books that I could find. I think that I would not have appreciated her novels so much before living in the UK for several years because she had a very good ear for the way the English express themselves. And the characters who make some of the most xenophobic comments often turn out to be the villains.
She was a very able writer and some of her books are really well written. *The Crooked House*, which was apparently one of her favourites, is genuinely shocking. The bit about the amnesia is a stretch. Her 1922 *Secret Adversary* - a very bad book - features a woman who feigns amnesia! A few years later she came down with it herself . . .her amnesia didn't prevent her from using the name of her husband's new partner. When she wrote her autobiography she apparently didn't mention it. She claimed to have been the first European woman to surf. That's something.
Christie’s attitude towards the women in her novels was part of why I never particularly liked her writing. I’ll take Dorothy Sayers any day. The writing is better and smarter and I don't get annoyed by her. I also thought she was funny and her Montague Egg stories were great.
I like to watch a Christie but I want to read Sayers.
Thank you, Cathy. Having not only read many of Christie's books, but devoured every episode of David Suchet as Poirot and Joan Hickson as Miss Marple (so much better than anyone else who's played the role), I appreciated this "crisp, elegant, and readable" appreciation very much.
Thanks for this. By the time I was nine, I’d read most of her books and it was as if “British mysteries” were imprinted in my brain. Sixty years later, I’m still reading her books and those of other British mystery writers. And anyone who makes “writing” look as easy as she did, is a genius in my book (no pun intended).
This reminds me of when I was TDY to Howard AFB in Panama. I hadn't read anything of hers before, but after reading one of her novels, which I couldn't put down, I kept on going back for more until I read everything the base library had! She grabs your attention from the beginning and keeps you captive 'til the very end.
Thanks for this article - an unexpected treat. I wish that there had been more of Miss Marple maybe resulting in a little less of Poirot. I'm now going through the collected short stories about Poirot - lots of ingenuity but also some repetition. Hastings seems to appear and disappear for no reason - in contrast, the Poirot TV series kept him all the way through. Similarly Ms Lemon while in the novels and short stories Poirot is served by a variety of butlers. The TV Ms Lemon is odd but very bright, always well dressed and with very distinctive spit curls. In the short stories she's presented ad ugly, not very bright and a drone typist.
I was just recently telling some folks about how Murder on the Orient Express can be seen as admiration of the US melting pot of nationalities, and how a lot of that probably just flat out doesn't hit modern US readers. Such a fun novel.
I also feel the best mysteries in Poirot novels usually center on the romances that Poirot finds. The best novels don't just have a good "find the murderer," but have a pretty solid, "repair or build up a relationship" story that is usually as rewarding as the other.
I admit to never having read any of her novels, but whenever I see there's a movie on tv of one, I know I'm in for a rare, good evening of tv watching.
We just watched the 3 part Netflix 2026 version of The Seven Dials Mystery, and it was fabulous! In fact, we may just rewatch it tomorrow night. It’s 3 one hour episodes with a stellar cast that includes Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. This adaptation changes the story a wee bit from the book, but since you haven’t read the book, it doesn’t matter. Enjoy!
I saw "Ten Little Indians" as a pre-teen in 1965. I enjoyed it so much that I read the novel "And Then There Were None" afterwards. OMG - I still remember at how utterly shocked I was at the ending of the novel, so completely different from the "happy ending" of the movie. There was a recent TV series made of the book, which is closer to the novel's ending, but it still leaves out the final (and best) scenes of the book, where the frustrated police cannot come up with a scenario that explains all the murders. Finally we get the startling "message in a bottle" that reveals the killer's surprising motivations and how it all happened. Absolutely brilliant. Agatha Christie is one reason why grew up to be a passionate lover of books, which I remain to this day. Thank you Cathy!
Is she a great writer? I would say so. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd represented a first in the mystery genre. If And Then There Were None isn’t the best example of a “locked room” mystery, it’s one of them. Witness for the Prosecution has a great twist which also shows Christie’s perceptiveness about human nature. Although there were common elements in her works, such as the richness of the supporting characters and misdirection in her plots, she managed to keep her writing fresh.
The Christie novels were the first mysteries I read -- in junior high, I think -- and they led me to a lifetime love of the genre. Your review was delightful to read, Cathy -- thank you! I have to add that I absolutely fell in love with David Suchet while watching all the Poirot episodes and then viewing interviews of him "in real life." A brilliant actor and a highly intelligent and decent man.
Thanks very much for this appreciation, Cathy. I did not discover Agatha Christie until after I retired, then read every one of her books that I could find. I think that I would not have appreciated her novels so much before living in the UK for several years because she had a very good ear for the way the English express themselves. And the characters who make some of the most xenophobic comments often turn out to be the villains.
She was a very able writer and some of her books are really well written. *The Crooked House*, which was apparently one of her favourites, is genuinely shocking. The bit about the amnesia is a stretch. Her 1922 *Secret Adversary* - a very bad book - features a woman who feigns amnesia! A few years later she came down with it herself . . .her amnesia didn't prevent her from using the name of her husband's new partner. When she wrote her autobiography she apparently didn't mention it. She claimed to have been the first European woman to surf. That's something.
Christie’s attitude towards the women in her novels was part of why I never particularly liked her writing. I’ll take Dorothy Sayers any day. The writing is better and smarter and I don't get annoyed by her. I also thought she was funny and her Montague Egg stories were great.
I like to watch a Christie but I want to read Sayers.
Thank you, Cathy. Having not only read many of Christie's books, but devoured every episode of David Suchet as Poirot and Joan Hickson as Miss Marple (so much better than anyone else who's played the role), I appreciated this "crisp, elegant, and readable" appreciation very much.
Still adore her books. She is the queen of detective fiction and has inspired so many others.
Thanks for this. By the time I was nine, I’d read most of her books and it was as if “British mysteries” were imprinted in my brain. Sixty years later, I’m still reading her books and those of other British mystery writers. And anyone who makes “writing” look as easy as she did, is a genius in my book (no pun intended).
This reminds me of when I was TDY to Howard AFB in Panama. I hadn't read anything of hers before, but after reading one of her novels, which I couldn't put down, I kept on going back for more until I read everything the base library had! She grabs your attention from the beginning and keeps you captive 'til the very end.
“…for those of us who have seen the 1989-2013 ITV Poirot, there will never be a more perfect version of the Belgian detective than David Suchet’s.”
This 👆
Thanks for this article - an unexpected treat. I wish that there had been more of Miss Marple maybe resulting in a little less of Poirot. I'm now going through the collected short stories about Poirot - lots of ingenuity but also some repetition. Hastings seems to appear and disappear for no reason - in contrast, the Poirot TV series kept him all the way through. Similarly Ms Lemon while in the novels and short stories Poirot is served by a variety of butlers. The TV Ms Lemon is odd but very bright, always well dressed and with very distinctive spit curls. In the short stories she's presented ad ugly, not very bright and a drone typist.
I was just recently telling some folks about how Murder on the Orient Express can be seen as admiration of the US melting pot of nationalities, and how a lot of that probably just flat out doesn't hit modern US readers. Such a fun novel.
I also feel the best mysteries in Poirot novels usually center on the romances that Poirot finds. The best novels don't just have a good "find the murderer," but have a pretty solid, "repair or build up a relationship" story that is usually as rewarding as the other.
I admit to never having read any of her novels, but whenever I see there's a movie on tv of one, I know I'm in for a rare, good evening of tv watching.
We just watched the 3 part Netflix 2026 version of The Seven Dials Mystery, and it was fabulous! In fact, we may just rewatch it tomorrow night. It’s 3 one hour episodes with a stellar cast that includes Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. This adaptation changes the story a wee bit from the book, but since you haven’t read the book, it doesn’t matter. Enjoy!
I saw "Ten Little Indians" as a pre-teen in 1965. I enjoyed it so much that I read the novel "And Then There Were None" afterwards. OMG - I still remember at how utterly shocked I was at the ending of the novel, so completely different from the "happy ending" of the movie. There was a recent TV series made of the book, which is closer to the novel's ending, but it still leaves out the final (and best) scenes of the book, where the frustrated police cannot come up with a scenario that explains all the murders. Finally we get the startling "message in a bottle" that reveals the killer's surprising motivations and how it all happened. Absolutely brilliant. Agatha Christie is one reason why grew up to be a passionate lover of books, which I remain to this day. Thank you Cathy!
Is she a great writer? I would say so. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd represented a first in the mystery genre. If And Then There Were None isn’t the best example of a “locked room” mystery, it’s one of them. Witness for the Prosecution has a great twist which also shows Christie’s perceptiveness about human nature. Although there were common elements in her works, such as the richness of the supporting characters and misdirection in her plots, she managed to keep her writing fresh.