# Agatha Christie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 26, 2024, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809 "2024-07-26T05:54:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/21 "2024-07-26T20:46:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Maybe _And Then There Were None_, although I don’t think it’s as dependent on a spoilable twist. Oh yeah-- and I’ve seen both film versions, but not read it. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/22 "2024-07-26T21:37:20Z")
I’ve read all of Christie’s books over the past 50 years and have reread most of them. @SpoilerVirgin that’s a good top 10 list! Two of my faves that haven’t been mentioned yet: _Death on the Nile The Moving Finger_ - one of Christie’s own favorites, along with _Endless Night_ About novels from the 20s, some of Christie’s are gems, but others are turkeys, like _The Big Four_ and _The Man in the Brown Suit_. About the other “Queens of Crime” of the Golden Age, **Josephine Tey** is wonderful, and there are 2 of hers that I like even better than _The Daughter of Time_, her most admired book: _Brat Farrar_ and _The Franchise Affair_. **Dorothy L. Sayers** has some powerful stuff, but can be kind of uneven, and some readers find Lord Peter Wimsey annoying. _Strong Poison_ and _Murder Must Advertise_ are my favorites of hers. **Ngaio Marsh** was originally from New Zealand, but only a few of her books are set there; most of them, like _Artists in Crime_, _Death in a White Tie_, _Night at the Vulcan_ and _Killer Dolphin_ are set in London. And an underrated author, **Patricia Wentworth** , has a female sleuth, Miss Silver, who predates Miss Marple by 2 years and possibly inspired Christie. Among my favorite Miss Silver books (there are 32) are _Danger Point_ (USA: _In the Balance_), 1941 _The Chinese Shawl_, 1943 _The Traveller Returns_ (USA: _She Came Back_), 1945 _The Case of William Smith_, 1948 _Miss Silver Comes to Stay_, 1949 _Poison in the Pen_, 1955 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/23 "2024-07-27T03:56:08Z")
I’ve listened to a number of Christie’s Poirot short stories (on YouTube) read by Hugh Fraser (the guy who played Captain Hastings in the David Suchet Poirot series) and I think he’s very good, talented at different voices and accents, and his Poirot voice is, I think, better than Suchet’s – less mannered, for example. I don’t know if these particular recordings are available on Audible or not, I haven’t really paid attention. But if you come across any, I recommend them. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone beats Joan Hickson’s readings of the Marple short stories, especially the Tuesday Murder Club stories (the ones I remember best). Hickson didn’t look anything like my mental image of Miss Marple, but on audio she is perfect. Again, I don’t know if these are available on Audible. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/24 "2024-07-27T04:55:41Z")
One of my favorite Poirot novels that hasn’t been mentioned yet: _The ABC Murders_. It has one of Christie’s greatest plot twists. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/25 "2024-07-27T11:21:33Z")
I don’t think she invented the idea (what follows is definitely a spoiler, please don’t click on it if you haven’t read the book) (killing several random other people for no reason other than to bury the “real” murder and its motivation) and once you’ve been exposed to that plot device elsewhere this one is pretty easy to spot, but still I think she did it best. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/26 "2024-07-27T12:13:50Z")
Read the book, and know the device, and can name several times it was used, and also the inverse of it, imitating the MO of an active serial killer in order to kill one person you want to get rid of, but I cannot think of an example before Christie used it. In fact, she invented a serial killer before the term even existed. I’m not sure there were novels about “real” serial killers-- that is, real in the context of the book, not real-life-- albeit, _The Lodger_ came out in 1913 and _The ABC Murders_ came out in 1936. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2024, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/27 "2024-07-27T12:19:56Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > One of my favorite Poirot novels that hasn’t been mentioned yet: _The ABC Murders_. It has one of Christie’s greatest plot twists. I wonder if they are really plot “twists” when the genre pretty much demands that some kind of secret be revealed at the end. I mean, in the first of the _Prime Suspect_ series, and this isn’t a spoiler, the “twist,” if you want to call it that, is that the police find the correct suspect almost immediately, but do not have evidence to convict him, and cannot arrest him. The suspense comes from watching to see if the police can get the evidence to arrest him before he strikes again. Honestly, I half-expected to find out at the end that they’d had the wrong guy all along, just because that’s what would have happened in any other police/mystery show. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2024, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/28 "2024-09-05T12:39:10Z")
I actually prefer New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn to Christie. I also have enjoyed the Flaxborough Chronicles by Colin Watson. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/29 "2024-09-07T10:33:42Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Tommy and Tuppence, my favorite of her detectives. There was TV adaptation of their stories over here (but I have to say Francesca Annis’s hats tended to steal the show). There are several full episodes on Dailymotion: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8pkvg2](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8pkvg2) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/30 "2024-09-07T20:28:00Z")
I loved that series! Almost no one else seems to remember it. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/31 "2024-09-07T20:51:52Z")
> [@glee](#): > > 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. 🕶 Agree with this, though I got so tired of reading about “cornflower blue eyes” and “eyes like drowned violets.” Also, her treatment of the “lower” classes can be infuriating, as is the fact that if a story/novel has an Irish character they’ll invariably turn out to be a baddie. Her snobbishness makes reading her books a trial for me. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/32 "2024-09-08T00:44:17Z")
Don’t read any of the original editions of Nancy Drew books from the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/33 "2024-09-08T18:15:50Z")
Oh, and I have, and they’re not as bad as AC. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/34 "2024-09-08T18:34:03Z")
I read a lot of Christie when I was a teenager but my recommendations would be the usual ones: Roger Ackroyd, And then there were none, Curtain etc. My most recently consumed Christie-based media product was actually the 1950s film version of Witness for the Prosecution directed by Billy Wilder and starring Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich. Highly recommended and an outstanding performance by Laughton in particular. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/35 "2024-09-08T18:58:16Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Oh, and I have, and they’re not as bad as AC. Have you read [_yikes_] _The Clue in the Old Album_? Also, in the 1930s, Nancy belonged to a country club that you just know was restricted. > [@Lantern2](#): > > My most recently consumed Christie-based media product was actually the 1950s film version of Witness for the Prosecution directed by Billy Wilder and starring Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich. Highly recommended and an outstanding performance by Laughton in particular. Love that movie! saw it around age 11, and was totally sucked in-- made my husband watch it when he was about 38, and halfway through, he says “So, really she’s lying and he did do it.” Jerk. Did you know Laughton and Elsa Lanchester were married? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/36 "2024-09-08T19:03:49Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Did you know Laughton and Elsa Lanchester were married? Yeah. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Have you read [_yikes_] _The Clue in the Old Album_? > > Also, in the 1930s, Nancy belonged to a country club that you just know was restricted I haven’t read that particular one, but everywhere the “good” characters in AC went it was restricted, as well. Everything in their world was restricted. Maybe she’s not worse, but she’s not any better. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/37 "2024-09-08T19:41:50Z")
I’ve read _The Clue in the Old Album_. (Shudders) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809/38 "2024-09-08T20:13:05Z")
O.k. now I’m curious. I’ll have to find an online version somewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/agatha-christie/1004809.md?page=1)