Agatha Christie was more hit-and-miss with her plays than with her novels. In one of the hits, “The Unexpected Guest” (1958, novelized by Charles Osborne
In the Twenties, Agatha Christie showed she could competently write puzzle mysteries in the vein of Arthur Conan Doyle and the established masters. In the Thirties
“The Floating Admiral” (1931) is billed as “the most unusual mystery ever written,” and it may indeed be. It’s a “round-robin” novel. Think of it
“Endless Night” (1967) is often ranked as the Agatha Christie novel that most fits the horror label. Although I give a slight edge to proto-slasher
Agatha Christie didn’t write as many cozy village murder mysteries as the stereotype suggests. But “A Murder is Announced” (1950) is one of them, with
Agatha Christie wrote “By the Pricking of My Thumbs” (1968) for the many fans who wrote her letters asking what’s up with Tommy and Tuppence.
“And Then There Were None” (1939) is a widely acknowledged classic, often noted as being one of Agatha Christie’s elite puzzles. Indeed, it is that
“Towards Zero” (1944) is one of those Agatha Christie novels I consider to be a snack more than a full-course meal. I breezed through it
The 1930s was Agatha Christie’s decade for mastering plotting, but in the 1940s she consciously became a better character writer. Even amid other strong entries
“Crooked House” (1949) is one of the colder Agatha Christie novels, and it’s not accidental. But it is subtly achieved. It’s set in a crooked