Agatha Christie: Where do I start?

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Having never read a single word by Agatha Christie before...

― Jeff LeVine (Jeff LeVine), Monday, 20 March 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

You might focus on all the books involving one detective, like Poirot or Miss Marple. I don't think it matters what order you read them in, really.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 20 March 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, what Jaq said. I read practically all of Christie's books when I was 14. It's great fun but I can't really remember any of it. I never do with thrillers... Really strange.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Monday, 20 March 2006 20:25 (nineteen years ago)

Same with me Nathalie - consumed them all when I was 13-15 but barely remember them. Except for the play The Mousetrap, seen far too many times in community theater.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 20 March 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I read some when I was a wee lad, but none after that. I remember reading a little while later the Raymond Chandler essay ("The Simple Art of Murder"?) where he explains why teh hard-boiled dectective story is superior to the parlor room mystery and then I felt I never had to look back.

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, I admit it, I am a crime fiction rockist.

― The Day The World Turned Dayglo Redd (Ken L), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:01 (nineteen years ago)

I own some books that were once the property of Raymond Chandler, but I've never read anything by him.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

Jaq, which ones?

― Witche (witchy), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

Evelyn Waugh's Black Mischief, Henry Christopher Bailey's Mr. Fortune's Trials (inscribed by either him or his wife Cissy, for his birthday (July 23) in Vancouver BC - 1931, two years before he was first published), and one other one, titled something like "Six and One". I haven't catalogued it yet.

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 20 March 2006 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

Having read half a dozen or so Agatha Christie when I was in my early 20s and reading lots of crime fiction, I'd so that there is no reason whatsoever to read her, in that (a) Raymond Chandler was right, (b) her characters are one-dimensional (at best), (c) her predjudices become obvious after a while and the murders are always committed by people of whom she disapproves, and (d) others have done her kind of murders better (Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Marjory Allingham, to name just a few).

However, if you must I'd suggest trying a Poirot and a Marple, to see which you prefer.

― andyjack (andyjack), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 10:53 (nineteen years ago)

Whoops, make that "I'd say" rather than "I'd so".

― andyjack (andyjack), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 10:54 (nineteen years ago)

I'm particularly fond of Let Sleeping Murder Lie for being very, very creepy. Of all of the relatively disposable mysteries of hers that I read, that one does stand out. Maybe it's just called Sleeping Murder here in the States? I forget, maybe I read a UK copy.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

it's just sleeping murder in the us.

andy's suggestion of dorothy sayers is a good one. although i loved a.c. as a pre-teen, her books really don't age well and if i just started to read them now i'd probably think, "what the hell is this reactionary nonsense?". the sayers books, on the other hand, are not only involving mysteries but great novels independent of all the whodunit business.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

I do sort of agree with andy except that I don't think the characters of Poirot and Miss Marple are one-dimensional at all, but the 'bit players' in each mystery are I guess. Despite the broad strokes and rampant classism I think Christie does explore human motivation pretty well, and holds the attention which is what's required from a mystery author really. Novels for a rainy afternoon and nothing more or less.

Where to start: I just read The Thirteen Problems which is really just a collection of stories, but it's technically the first Miss Marple book and will give you a very good idea of what to expect from the full-length mysteries.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

No question that Marsh & Sayers & PD James are better recs than Christie!! But this thread is not about them. :)

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

I think the problem with Christie she spread her talents far too thin. Any author who produces so many books within their lifetime(Christie wrote something like eighty novels) is going to end up churning out stuff which is sub-standard, as unfortunately she did rather often.

Another problem is the amount of padding her novels occasionally suffer from, with characters endlessly reiterating what we already know just to fill out the page count. Her short stories are better in this regard, because they get to the point quicker with less faffing about and obvious red herrings.

If you have to read any of them, I'd recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, for the genuinely unexpected twist ending, and The ABC Murders, which has Poirot tackling a serial killer.

― Philip Alderman (Phil A), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 17:35 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for the suggestions - particularly comments about individual books. Before titles were mentioned though I gave in and ordered Murder on the Orient Express. If it's not completely unbearable I will try a couple more.

― Jeff LeVine (Jeff LeVine), Tuesday, 21 March 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

I actually prefer Tommy and Tuppence Beresford characters to Poirot and Miss Marple, especially "N or M?".

But if I had to choose only 3 books by Christie it would probably be aforementioned The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The ABC Murders and Murder on the Orient Express.

― scnnr drkly (scnnr drkly), Wednesday, 5 April 2006 20:53 (nineteen years ago)

I'd suggest starting with a Poirot, a Marple, and something else - I'd recomment Parker Pyne Investigates.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Sunday, 9 April 2006 08:32 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

i know christie sometimes falls short, but i will never be able to say a bad word about her. where some don't go the distance, others more than make up for it.

the sheer ambience of her novels is heroin for me. just like a kate bush album. romantic.

A Murder is Announced is my favorite book. Ever.

― Ramzi Awn (rra123), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 00:52 (nineteen years ago)

i had my first class of the semester today: 'Popular Fiction and Cultural Theory', dealing with murder at the vicarage and f moretti's essay 'clues'. it was pure hell.

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 3 October 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

aww - that soundsa kinda interesting!

― Ramzi Awn (rra123), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 01:01 (nineteen years ago)

Come on Tom spill the beans - was the lecturer uncharismatic, was the subject too high-falutin, were the seats uncomfortable?

― sandy mc (sandy mc), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 07:44 (nineteen years ago)

i would but i keep forgetting this is my college email

― tom west (thomp), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 08:16 (nineteen years ago)

You don't want to dissuade us from going to your school?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

so i just finished "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!" aka "4:50 from Paddington" (i think that's the aka name)

it was great but the ending/tying-up-loose-ends-to-solve-the-mystery bit was def hurried - it left plenty room for questions

still love the dame a whole lot.

― Ramzi Awn (rra123), Wednesday, 4 October 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

why was it hell, tom? moretti's essay seems alright to me.

― Josh (Josh), Thursday, 5 October 2006 02:31 (nineteen years ago)

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