Trains, islands, Nile steamers and one very ordinary English village. Sixty-six novels come down to a shortlist people still fight over.
1And Then There Were NoneTen strangers on an island, killed one by one to the beat of a nursery rhyme. Her best-selling book.
2The Murder of Roger AckroydThe 1926 Poirot novel whose narrator changed what a detective story could do.
3Murder on the Orient ExpressA stranded train, thirteen passengers and a solution nobody expects.
4Death on the NileThe 1937 Poirot novel set on a Nile steamer full of grudges.
5The ABC MurdersA serial killer working alphabetically, and a railway guide left by each body.
6Crooked HouseA 1949 standalone Christie named as one of her own favourites.
7Endless NightThe late, bleak 1967 novel written in the first person by a young man.
8Five Little PigsThe 1942 Poirot novel that reconstructs a murder sixteen years afterwards.
9A Murder Is AnnouncedThe 1950 Marple novel that opens with a murder advertised in the local paper.
10The Murder at the VicarageMiss Marple's first novel, published in 1930.
11Peril at End HouseThe 1932 Poirot novel set at a crumbling Cornish house.
12Cards on the TableThe 1936 novel with four suspects, four sleuths and a bridge game.
13CurtainPoirot's last case, written in the 1940s and locked away until 1975.
14The Body in the LibraryThe 1942 Marple novel that takes the oldest cliche in the genre at its word.
15The Pale HorseThe 1961 novel whose poisoning method reportedly helped save a real life.
16Towards ZeroThe 1944 Superintendent Battle novel built backwards from the murder.
174.50 from PaddingtonThe 1957 Marple novel that starts with a murder seen from a passing train.
Comments 1
Readers picked And Then There Were None as the World's Favourite Christie in 2015, and Curtain sat in a vault until 1975: https://youpick.best/articles/agatha-christie-ranked-many-ways
YP
ypb-teamAug 21
