Agatha Christie Novels - Discuss here

So long we opened this section and we haven't had a thread on the queen of mystery novels, Agatha Christie.

http://www.agathachristie.com/


So lets start. I read my first christie right after 5-6 hardy boys way back in school days. (imo gimme a hardy boy mystery, not case file, and i will still read it) and have been a fan of Agatha Christie ever since.

Some of the best novels in thriller and mystery genre. Poirot ofcourse leads the pack.

My favs.
Among Poirot:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - One of the earliest of Poirot cases, and frankly one of the best. You just cannot predict who did the murder(and if you did, you deserve applause ) Class Apart.

Murder on the Orient Express
One of her most famous novels. Actually more people recommend this over the Roger Ackroyd one, i won't though. Murder on the Orient Express is a class mystery in its own right and more importantly its of a different pattern. You don;t have a case where there are 3-4 main guys and finally the 5th least suspecting guy is the murderer. A must read anyway.


Apart from the above two, to be fair all novels are while being brilliant mysteries, almost of the same type. (obviously with exceptions like the the big four) You always have a crime scene with almost everyone having a motive(or no one having a motive as in the case of Peril at the end house but i won't rate that one highly as i actually saw through the plot before the end, was pretty clear) I guess thats one criticism of poirot novels(and almost all of other authors too of the same genre.) Christie actually made the remark herself through poirot in one of her novels Cards on the Table which was different from the rest of her novels in the sense that there were only 4 clear cut possible murderers and it was a case of 1 among them(with a very good ending mind you)

To complete my top 5 i will say

Murder in Mesopotamia
Completely dramatic ending. Great mystery.


Death on the Nile
Intricate plot with lots of love triangles most tragic. Great ending nevertheless.

Dumb Witness
Also known as Poirot Loses a Client, a different kind of murder as the victims plea of help reaches poirot 3 months after the actual death and the deduction from that point on is great. Not for everyone as the characters aren't that strong, but the ending is as always great




PS: My sincere request, don't read The Big Four. In my opinion of the most terrible of Poirot's novels. Horrible plot and totally outrageous.



Among the other Christie Novels, i have tried but have never got down to reading Miss maple's mysteries. (an old woman investigating a crime isn't exactly my idea of a mystery ) If anyone has read, suggest some novels. Is it worth reading?

And non-character novels, no doubt about it, don't miss And then there were none. Mystery at its best. (its actually on my toplist)





I just found out, one of Poirot's better novels is actually available on Project GutenBerg.
Enjoy
The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - Project Gutenberg
^^I have read this novel. I think the initial plot is terrific. There is a hotchpotchness of evidence and it looks totally outrageous that this is a serious mystery of mention. It develops pretty well though. I don't remember the ending so no comments Read it though, its a great FREE read

Excellent I've read Roger Ackroyd and Orient Express. Both are simply awesome. Will start on the others soon.

I also can't stand miss marple. She justs sits at home knitting her sweaters, and in the end just announces the murderer. Lame


P.S. - I enjoyed the Three Investigators much more than Hardy Boys.

PS to PS
I think the Three investigators were great (the ghost to ghost hookup and that secret trailer shack. Damn we need a thread for that

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Safin's Signature:

Have Fun, Take part in debates, Read jokes, Ogle at Celebs; Just follow the Rules!

“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.”

check out few perry mason books they will be awesome read for sure

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Systemic Anamoly's Signature:

I have read most of Poirot's in school days...but i wanna read 'em once again..the trouble is finding 'em now..earlier had access to a big school library..

SO yeah, thanks for the mysterious affairs..any others tht r available legally??

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Private Ryan's Signature:

I used to read Agatha Christie... a LOT of Agatha Christie, but I haven't read much of her in 7 years or so... that is because I can't stand her anymore.

hmm and what are you reading now?

btw thats normal. As i said even with poirot, it tends to fall in the same pattern after 10 readings

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Safin's Signature:

Have Fun, Take part in debates, Read jokes, Ogle at Celebs; Just follow the Rules!

“There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.”

I've read almost all the Agatha Christie books.. But like KK said.. Just can't stand her anymore!

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skylark's Signature:

Life is BLACK and WHITE..

Dammit girl, what is it with you and your ever changing avatars?

Umm...Ive read quite a lot of Poirot and enjoyed them.

Having said that...one, I positively dislike it when she takes digs at Sherlock Holmes (hehe, hardcore Holmes fan here) and second, to a lesser extent, her stories are always relying on coincidences in the right times and right places....

Anyways...maybe outside BookWorm forum, but if you guys can, catch the David Suchet's Poirot series DVDs (or dvdrips floating around).