Agatha Christie Archives

Reading Agatha Christie - Here are 5 of the most exciting and essential reads that I can recommend.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Agatha Christie holds the record for the best-selling fiction author of all time. Her books (78 novels) have been published in 44 different languages and have sold over 2 billion copies worldwide. But where do you begin if you want to start reading Agatha Christie?

Dame Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay, England. She wrote her first poem in 1901, and 15 years later, she released her first novel, The Mysterious Affair At Styles, which featured the now infamous detective, Hercule Poirot. According to this article, she was a part-time archaeologist, an expert on poisons, and only second in popularity to Shakespeare.

Now, just over 100 years since her first book was published, it can seem intimidating to start reading her vast catalogue of books. Where do you start? How do you read them – in order of publication, by series? What should you avoid? I’m here to help you out.

As a lover of the classics, I could not believe how long it took me to read my first Agatha Christie book. It was just a few days before Halloween in 2017 that I picked up Murder on the Orient Express. The book was the movie edition, so I’m fairly certain I planned to read it before the movie, but I never actually did get around to the movie.

I absolutely loved my reading experience with this book. Poirot is such a cool character, and Agatha Christie writes her books – most of them at least – in a way where I can never guess who the killer is. I love the mystery of it all. With Murder on the Orient Express, the book is broken up into parts, which I really liked. It was a unique reading experience, and I can honestly say I’m so glad that I picked that book up to read!

This Agatha Christie Reading Challenge is self-imposed and ongoing. I don’t want to say I’ll finish this in a year or even two years. It’s been nearly 6 years, and I still read her books off and on when I feel like picking them up. I try to read the books in order of the series, so with Poirot, I did start at book one eventually, and with Miss Marple, I’ve only ever read the first book (so, of course, I need to revisit it one day). I’ve then read a handful of her standalone, but there is such a huge catalogue of books that this will definitely take some time!

Note: This is by no means all of what Agatha Christie has published, but this is what I’m focusing on right now. Maybe one day, when I finally catch up with these, I’ll dive into even more of her catalogue.

Category: Agatha Christie

Reading Agatha Christie: 5 Exciting and Essential Reads

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge