A Beginner’s Guide to Agatha Christie

I’m on a journey of reading all of Agatha Christie’s published works and am taking along you with me! I’ve started with her Hercule Poirot series and am currently reading the Poirot books in publication order. Going forward, this post will act as a landing base that will update along with my journey, and one that you can come back to again and again as I read more of Agatha Christie’s books!

Who was Agatha Christie?

An English author who wrote during the Golden Age of mystery
Authored over 60 full length novels, even more short stories, and plays
Coined the “Queen of Mystery” due to the enduring influence she’s had on literature and the mystery genre
Her debut novel was “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, the first book in the Hercule Poirot series
Most famous for her Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple series, but has written multiple mystery series and stand alone novels
Served in the Great War (WWI) as a nurse and used her knowledge of poisons to influence her plots and storylines
Her second marriage was to an archeologist who she traveled to dig sites with in the Middle East, these travels inspired multiple novel settings

Why are people still reading her books?

Agatha Christie has truly stood the test of time. Not only in her spectacular influence on literature, but due to her own personal collection of works. Her books are a combination of successful plotting, shorter page length (averaging around 250 pages), unique storylines, endearing characters, and low content concerns.

Where should you start?

I’ve been there, overwhelmed to try and figure out where to start with Christie’s vast collection of works. I personally started with Hercule Poirot because I had already read a few books from the series as “one off” books. While I’ve yet to read any other series, I’ve heard great things about Miss Marple! Here is an overview of different places you can start reading:

Start with Poirot if:

You like detective stories
You like recurring characters
You want your mystery with a side of humor (mustache jokes abound)
You want an iconic Christie experience

Start with Miss Marple if:

You enjoy quaint village settings
You want more character observations
You like endearing, elderly characters
You want your murder mysteries to lean more cozy

Start with a standalone if:

You want to sample Agatha Christie
You don’t want to feel committed to a long series

Note: While there are multiple series, all of Agatha Christie’s books act as stand alone novels. Sure you may get a teeny bit more character depth reading Hercule Poirot in order, but you can absolutely pick up a popular Poirot novel as a stand alone (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, etc.) and be just fine.

Do you need to read the books in order?

The short answer is no, but there are benefits (like more character development and inside jokes!)

As noted above, her novels can absolutely work as stand alone novels. Before I started on my quest of reading the Hercule Poirot series in publication order, I had already read a few of the Poirot novels at random, as well as one true stand alone. If you have questions about how all of her titles are published within her series, as standalones, and her short stories, I highly recommend grabbing this Agatha Christie Reading Tracker as it has helped me tremendously in making sense of her vast work.

The biggest piece of advice I’ve seen floating around the internet for Poirot is: start with book 1, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, and read “Curtain”, the final book of the Poirot series, last. Then, however you decide to read all the novels in between doesn’t necessarily matter (if you don’t want it to!)

My recommendations on where you should start

This section will evolve as I read more of her books, but with what titles I have currently read to date:

Best place to start with Poirot in publication order:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot #1)

Most famous standalone:
And Then There Were None

Best for new mystery readers:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot #4)

What to expect from Agatha Christie

I had a friend recently tell me she thought Agatha Christie was an olddddd classical author, like from the 1700’s. She was surprised when I told her that Christie was writing up into the 1970’s, almost up to her death. As a modern reader its hard to get a grasp on what to expect from an author that is considered a modern classic, here are a few expectations:

Things you will love as a modern reader:

shorter novels with good pacing
clever twists
no on page explicit sexual content

Things you might find challenging:

“older” language you may not be used to depending on your current reading taste
historical attitudes and worldviews
less character depth than contemporary mysteries

Are Agatha Christie novels appropriate for Christian readers?

If you’ve been around the block with my content, you know I love reading a wide range of books in multiple genres to review from a Biblical Worldview. While I personally think it depends on the reader and personal convictions, as a rule, Christie has mild content in her books.

Here are a few categories worth noting for the content conscience Christian reader:

Secular Worldview: Christie is writing from a secular worldview, however, since she was writing in the 1920s-1970s, the content is much more mild than what you would find in a contemporary mystery novel
Language: The majority of Christie’s books have some uses of mild language as well as God’s name in vain. While the use of God’s name in vain might be a strong deterrent for some Christian readers, others may find that it is in line with the culture and time period in which she wrote. So far there have been two books that have used the B- word (rhymes with witch), which I consider to be a moderate use of language on my rating scale.
Occult references: There are a few books that reference occult practices or beliefs. I have not found that these are glorified in any way, rather a way to mislead the reader or pivot the plot. So far, I have found that these references are akin to Scooby Doo, the mask is pulled off in the end and there is no real spiritual or paranormal themes.
Murder: Yes, the majority of her titles deal with a mystery surrounding a murder, so it is central to the plot. Sensitive Christian readers may not want to seek out narratives surrounding murder. Other themes that crop up from time to time include extramarital affair and themes of suicide.
Themes of Justice: Specifically as I read the Poirot novels, I find that he is a private investigator that is very black and white. He wants to see justice delivered wherever there is a guilty party, which will come as an encouragement to Christian readers with a high sense of right v. wrong.

Agatha Christie Resources

Upcoming Guides:

Beginner’s Guide to Poirot (coming soon)
Poirot’s Rankings (coming soon)
Favorite Poirot books for first time readers (coming soon)
Where to buy Agatha Christie books (coming soon)

Products I love:

My Personal Reading Journey

Current Progress:

15 Poirot novels
18 Poirot short stories
2 stand alones
Co-host an Agatha Christie book club
Ongoing Youtube series

As a reminder, this post will be updated as I continue to read through Agatha Christie and post more guides to her books! Please comment with your questions, I would love to answer them or use them to inspire a guide in which others can also benefit!

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