Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Today is a freebie, and it's also Agatha Christie's 125th birthday, so thought I'd share my favourite of her books with you!
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - I love the introduction of both Poirot and Hastings here, they really spring to life as wonderful characters straight away. Also, Poirot delays announcing that he's solved the mystery for a considerable amount of time so that he can match-make, which is adorable.
Curtain - Back to Styles for Poirot's last case, and it's a stunning end to the series. The last chapter sends chills down my spine when I read it - perfect characterisation.
Hallowe'en Party - This isn't one of the best, if I'm honest, but I think it's the ONLY one where I got the solution ahead of the reveal the first time I read it! It has a soft spot in my heart just for that.
Labours of Hercules - Poirot takes on 12 cases based on the ancient labours of Hercules. So much fun for fans of classical mythology!
Murder on the Orient Express - Not only one of the best ever crime novels, but it also inspired First Class Murder, Robin Stevens's wonderful third book in the Murder Most Unladylike series, so gets bonus points for that!
Peril at End House - I love Hastings and wish he'd been in more of the Poirot novels! This is one of my favourites because it has him, Japp, and an intriguing solution.
N or M? - The only one in my top 10 not to star Marple or Poirot, I love this story of Tommy and Tuppence (a massively underrated pairing) searching for a traitor in World War II in a seaside hotel.
At Bertram's Hotel - My favourite setting (except for maybe the Orient Express) for any of Christie's books, as Miss Marple takes a holiday in London at Bertram's Hotel, an old-fashioned place with elderly patrons. But not all is as it seems...
Nemesis - The last Miss Marple book to be written has one of my favourite showdowns of all the books.
The Thirteen Problems - My favourite collection of Miss Marple stories, this sees her join her nephew Raymond, Sir Henry Clithering (a former Scotland Yard commissioner) and three others in a club who discuss unsolved crimes. In each of them, Miss Marple correctly guesses what happened, to the astonishment of the rest.
Any other Christie fans out there? Do you agree with my top 10?
Today is a freebie, and it's also Agatha Christie's 125th birthday, so thought I'd share my favourite of her books with you!
The Mysterious Affair at Styles - I love the introduction of both Poirot and Hastings here, they really spring to life as wonderful characters straight away. Also, Poirot delays announcing that he's solved the mystery for a considerable amount of time so that he can match-make, which is adorable.
Curtain - Back to Styles for Poirot's last case, and it's a stunning end to the series. The last chapter sends chills down my spine when I read it - perfect characterisation.
Hallowe'en Party - This isn't one of the best, if I'm honest, but I think it's the ONLY one where I got the solution ahead of the reveal the first time I read it! It has a soft spot in my heart just for that.
Labours of Hercules - Poirot takes on 12 cases based on the ancient labours of Hercules. So much fun for fans of classical mythology!
Murder on the Orient Express - Not only one of the best ever crime novels, but it also inspired First Class Murder, Robin Stevens's wonderful third book in the Murder Most Unladylike series, so gets bonus points for that!
Peril at End House - I love Hastings and wish he'd been in more of the Poirot novels! This is one of my favourites because it has him, Japp, and an intriguing solution.
N or M? - The only one in my top 10 not to star Marple or Poirot, I love this story of Tommy and Tuppence (a massively underrated pairing) searching for a traitor in World War II in a seaside hotel.
At Bertram's Hotel - My favourite setting (except for maybe the Orient Express) for any of Christie's books, as Miss Marple takes a holiday in London at Bertram's Hotel, an old-fashioned place with elderly patrons. But not all is as it seems...
Nemesis - The last Miss Marple book to be written has one of my favourite showdowns of all the books.
The Thirteen Problems - My favourite collection of Miss Marple stories, this sees her join her nephew Raymond, Sir Henry Clithering (a former Scotland Yard commissioner) and three others in a club who discuss unsolved crimes. In each of them, Miss Marple correctly guesses what happened, to the astonishment of the rest.
Any other Christie fans out there? Do you agree with my top 10?
These are really good choices. I tried to come up with my own top 10, and I learned that although I love Miss Marple, my favorites are almost all Poirots:
ReplyDeleteThe Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Murder on the Orient Express
The A.B.C. Murders
Cards on the Table
Death on the Nile
Dumb Witness
And Then There Were None
Evil Under the Sun
Cat Among the Pigeons
Curtain
Reading this, Jim, makes me realise how many Christies I have read, though nowhere near all of them. You certainly have some of the classics on that list. N or M? is fun, but for me, there's nothing quite like the very first Tommy And Tuppence book, The Secret Adversary - which is available free on Project Gutenberg, by the way, as is Styles. Of the Miss Marple books I'd like to add The 4.50 From Paddington as a favourite, and Sleeping Murder. It's fascinating to watch Miss Marple at work, playing dumb so the villains underestimate her. With the Poirots, I'd add Murder In Mesopotamia. I remember thinking, by the way, how late in Cat Among The Pigeons that Poirot appears. Yet it works. It gives the author time to set up her other characters and the situation.
ReplyDeleteOoh this is just what I needed! I've only read And Then There Were None which I absolutely loved but I had no idea where to start with her other books! This list is definitely going to help me pick what to read next :)
ReplyDelete