Agatha Christie

Cafe Society
1

I’m looking for Agatha Christie recommendations, but specifically, I’m listening to her on Audible right now, in my car to and from work, and once a week, when I have an hour-long drive, which is why I decided to go ahead and post even though I know there have been other Agatha Christie threads.

I usually listen to news in my car, but that hasn’t been working out for me recently, and why belongs in another forum. So, don’t ask here. You can PM me.

I’m looking for opinions, because I think opinions here would help me. While it’s true I can get books for a credit, and get anthologies pretty cheap, she wrote so many books that I can buy lots on Audible anthologies, and still not have all her books.

I’m not going to say what I have liked so far, because I want your opinions, not guesses of what I will like. I will say that I have gone though periods of reading her in the past (when I read 5 or 6 novels in a row), and there were lots of triggers-- when I saw the Angela Lansbury The Mirror Crack’d on TV because it was finally out on a streaming service, for example.

Most recently, it was tipped off after I listened to Josephine Tey’s books (I read them in print as a teen).

If it happens that anyone has listened to any of Christie’s books, and thought a particular recording was very good, please mention that, but if your comments are based on a print reading, they are just as welcome. FWIW, I listen to unabridged versions of the novels only.

Feel free to suggest authors besides Christie.

Feel free to discuss her short stories too, although with the exception of “Witness for the Prosecution,” I tend not to like her short stories so much.

This is not just to pass the time-- it does that, but it also keeps me alert. Listening to music in my car does not work for me. It either distracts me, or makes me sleepy. Besides, I don’t actually like music that much.

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I love all Christie.

The later cases of Miss Marple is a great anthology.
Many many Poirot anthologies. The short story one is nice. They’re not really all that short.

Tuppence and Tommy books are often in 4 book anthologies. Not sure they are unabridged.

You have scads to choose from.

Have you heard any of the Mr. Harley Quinn books?
A bit different for Christie.

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I’ve read 71 Agatha Christie novels. :wink:

Her characters tend to be stereotyped / one-dimensional, but the books give an interesting look into class in England (i.e. from parlour maids to Dukes) in the 1920s and 30s.
Her plots are magnificent. :sunglasses:

The reason I read so many of her books was because the first one I came upon was ‘The murder of Roger Ackroyd.’
Read it!

4

BBC Radio did a Poirot series several years ago, with John Moffatt as Poirot. These are not readings, but full cast presentations, like an old school radio drama. The only one I have listened to is the adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, but I thought it was quite good. I would be surprised if at least some of these are not available on Audible.

I see from wikipedia that there was a similar series of Miss Marple adaptations starring June Whitfield.

I second the recommendation of Tommy and Tuppence. They aren’t as famous as Poirot or Miss Marple among Christie’s series detectives, but I enjoy them. Skip the final Tommy and Tuppence novel, though, Postern of Fate. It was the last book Christie wrote, and unfortunately shows the signs of her aging. The plot is rambling and confused, and full of details that don’t go anywhere. Best forgotten.

5

It’s a good question, and I’ll be watching the thread to see what other people reply, but I don’t have any recommendations of my own.

Some authors or books work particularly well in audio form, or have been given performances that transcend the material, so that audio is the preferred way to experience them; but in my very limited experience this hasn’t been true of Christie. The few Christie audiobooks I’ve listened to have been well done, but I think I prefer reading her with my eyes—though, as I said, my experience is limited. I do see that Audible (currently) has a few of her books (mostly earlier ones) as part of their “Plus” collection, so you wouldn’t have to spend a credit for them.

6

The one that holds a soft spot in my heart is Mrs. McGinty’s Dead. Poirot has to stay in a dilapidated guest house, which charmingly puts him out of his comfort zone. The plot revolves around four old photos of mysterious women, one of whom must have an unlikely connection with the little village where the murder occurred; it’s not much to go on but of course the fun is getting to know all the funny people, including a long cameo by recurring character Lady Novelist Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, an obvious and mocking self-portrait by the author. For style and humorous prose, it’s one of her best.

7

This is great, and exactly the sort of thing I hoped would come up.

I know what you mean, and I think it’s because you want to be able to flip back through them and double-check things, see if you missed a clue, or look at something again because you have suddenly realized its significance.

However, I’m content not to do this, even though I would be doing it with a paper-and-print book.

8

I read all her novels, and haven’t listened to audio. My advice is that while a few stand out, most of them are solid and would be good for your purpose. I suggest just getting what’s available, with a mild bias towards starting with the earlier books and moving to the later ones, as there are a few character developments, especially in her latest works.

Of course, if there are particularly good recordings out there, go for it. But also, have you checked your library? The libraries I have access to have a decent number of ebooks, and I think they do audio books, too.

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I recently listened to this biography written and read by Lucy Worsley, you may have seen her BBC presentations. She has a bit of a lisp or something but I like listening to her read.
Agatha Christie an elusive woman

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No worries-- I’m a huge fan of Sarah Vowell, and love to listen to her read her own books, and by now, I think I’d really enjoy listening to her read historical works too. I wish she’d do a feminist annotated major works of Roger Williams, just based on some times she’s invoked him to make a point about something, or made a side comment involving him. Then, of course, I’d want her to record it.

I’m not sure what’s up with her voice, but it sounds like she has a repaired cleft palate, and if you can manage to find an image of her in her 30s, when she first came to media attention, she looks like she has a repaired cleft lip. More recent pictures look like she’s had further surgery to improve the look, and doesn’t really look like she had a cleft lip anymore.

At any rate, she is still very expressive, and I love to listen to her voice. I’m sure I could appreciate any voice that was expressive and well-paired with the material.

Fer Cripes’ sake, Marlene Dietrich could sound sexy singing off-key with a rhotic speech impediment. You can make anything work.

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I don’t have the capacity to play anything on CD, unless I buy a CD player and plug it in, and I don’t relish dealing with that. I like stuff I can download to my phone, and then play while I go.

Audible will run in the background, so I can still use GPS, my bank account, and other apps. Some audio programs won’t run in the background, and so I can use GPS-- that’s a no-go.

Audible will also play with the screen off, so I can put my phone in my pocket and listen while I do really boring tasks at work. I won’t butt-dial anyone because the screen has to be on.

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My library has the biography mentioned above, and a few dozen Agatha Christie novels that it will let me borrow on my phone, all in “audio book” format. I don’t know if that’s Audible or some other format, because i don’t do ebooks. But it’s a download to my phone, not a physical CD. Check your local library i bet they have stuff, too.

13

I haven’t listened to any in audio format, but I have read every Agatha Christie mystery, most of them multiple times. My current project is to re-read each one as it comes into the public domain.

My overall favorite is Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? as much for the romance and the humor as for the mystery. Here’s the rest of my top ten:

Crooked House
Death Comes As the End
Endless Night
A Holiday for Murder
Murder is Easy
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Murder on the Links
The Pale Horse
The Secret Adversary

All of these have Christie’s great twist solutions, except for Murder on the Links and The Secret Adversary, which are more about the characters and the romance. The Secret Adversary introduces Tommy and Tuppence, my favorite of her detectives. I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them.

14

My favorite is Cat Among the Pigeons with Hercule Poirot, although he only shows up at the end. My second favorite is A Murder Is Announced with Jane Marple, who is much more involved in the plot.

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I read Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? under the title The Boomerang Clue when I was about 12, and it was the first Christie book I read.

I just renewed my BritBox subscription to have access to some of the dramatizations of the books, because in the “Marple” series, they have inserted Miss Marple into some of the standalone books, and this is one; I’m interested in seeing how that works out. I thought the book worked quite well as it was, but I’m aware that pretty much the criticism of it was some form of “It lacks a proper detective.”

One thing about Christie, which is also true of Josephine Tey is that their narratives are fun, so even as you enjoy the plot, and maybe try to figure out who did it, the narrative itself is like sledding down a hill when you were a kid.

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Also worth a listen, and freely available on Audible Plus if you’re a member, is a short-ish lecture series by Maureen Corrigan called The Mysterious Case of Agatha Christie.

I also see there are several Christie-related podcasts available through Audible, including one called “Agatha Christie, She Watched” discussing the various movie and TV adaptations of Christie’s work; but I can’t vouch for any of those.

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One more thought: a case could be made that you should read/listen to her most famous works, like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express, first, if you haven’t already done so, because those are the ones you’d be most likely to inadvertantly encounter spoilers of if you’re not careful.

18

Another vote for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – that one is my favorite. I also really liked Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? – such a great title and I liked the departure from the detective formula. I also agree with the Tommy and Tuppence suggestions.

In general I preferred:

  • The novels over short stories: The plots are thin in the short stories.
  • The mysteries over the spy stories: The spy stuff felt more outdated than quaint.
  • The older novels over the newer ones: I prefer the older settings more than 60’s London.
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I saw the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express sometime in the 80s, and it hadn’t been spoiled for me. I’ve since read it, and I actually enjoyed the film more (I also saw the 2017 film :dizzy_face: did NOT enjoy that more than the book). Agatha Christie herself said that the 74 film was her favorite of all the film versions of her books.

Haven’t read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, but it was spoiled long ago-- by my mother; I think I was about 8 at the time, and I made some comment that in mystery books in the first person, the one person you know didn’t do it is the narrator (paraphrasing whatever I said at 8). My mother’s counter-argument was to spoil that book.

I can’t think what other books are as famous as those two-- maybe Murder at the Vicarage, or the novella Three Blind Mice. Managed to read the second unspoiled, and saw the first on a London stage when I was 10, with my mother, who managed not to spoil it this time.

I don’t know that there is a book I know the ending to, but have not read, other than a couple I’ve seen dramatized on TV.

Nonetheless, you make a good point, and as I research the books, I’m more likely to stumble over spoilers.

I have never cared for the short stories-- they seem to be written for a different audience than the novels-- an audience with different sensibilities.

Given the choice between two novels or movies that are similar, I always pick the older one, and I really hit gold if the older one is from about 1920 - 1949.

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Maybe And Then There Were None, although I don’t think it’s as dependent on a spoilable twist.