For my 400th Friday Forgotten Books post I thought I would recommend a couple of books with some of the best Agatha Christie novels included in them. HarperCollins published two omnibus volumes of the mysteries where Hercule Poirot’s trusty side-kick, Captain Arthur Hastings, is a key character in the solving of the crimes.
Volume 1 presents:
The Murder on the Links (1923)
The Big Four (1927)
Peril at End House (1928)
Volume 2 presents:
Lord Edgware Dies (1933)
The ABC Murders (1936)
Dumb Witness (1937)
Curtain (1975)
I enjoy Hastings’s First Person narration. Although Christie wrote 33 mystery novels featuring Hercule Poirot, only eight of them include Captain Hastings. What is your favorite Agatha Christie novel?
It’s strange–although I’ve read all of Christie’s Poirot novels and short stories–I always think Hastings plays a major part in most of them because of the TV adaptations with David Suchet as Poirot and Hugh Fraser as Hastings. I forget that many of the adaptations sort of shoehorned Hastings in as a foil for Poirot.
Of the novels in this set, I like LORD EDGEWARE DIES (which I believe is also titled THIRTEEN AT DINNER) the best. It’s got a big cast of characters, some interesting red herrings, and a neat puzzle plot. If you’re asking about favorite Christies in general, I like DEATH ON THE NILE (which has a vein of melancholy fatalism running through it); DEATH IN THE CLOUDS (because Christie provides a huge, obvious clue as to the killer, but she provides it so smoothly most readers don’t see it–her sleight-of-hand and misdirection were amazing); and ENDLESS NIGHT (really like nothing else she wrote, probably the closest she ever came to writing a noir story).
Deb, great choices! THIRTEEN AT DINNER (aka, LORD EDGEWARE DIES) was one of the first Agatha Christie mystery I ever read back in the Sixties. It thrilled me and triggered a Christie binge where I read a dozen more of her mysteries. DELL paperbacks of Christie’s works were plentiful and cheap back then.
Re THIRTEEN AT DINNER, unfortunately I had a HUGE SPOILER before I read the book. One of the very first books on Christie – I read it in 1972 – was G. C. Ramsey’s AGATHA CHRISTIE: MISTRESS OF MYSTERY. He gave away the murderer in both this and THE MIRROR CRACK’D with one sentence, which I will not reveal here, but if you’ve read both books and remember them you should be able to figure out.
I’m in the Marple camp (even despite At Bertram’s Hotel, my nominee for the worst Christie). A Murder Is Announced is my favorite.
Art, I’m a big fan of Miss Marple, too. Every new mystery Christie published in the Sixties ties for “Worst.” I suspect Christie was suffering from the effects of dementia or Alzheimer’s when she wrote those later books.
I asked Jackie and she said she likes the Tommy & Tuppence books(I knew that!) as well as THE A.B.C. MURDERS and ROGER ACKROYD. If you watch much television you will recognize the A.B.C. gimmick being used quite often.
My vote for the worst has always been THIRD GIRL, but I agree that most of the ’60s titles were tired.
I like them all. Even the bad ones are good.
Jerry, I think the mysteries Christie published in the 1940s might be her best work. But over a 50+ year career, Christie’s work was amazingly consistently good.
Never a fan of Christie. Read some back in the 60’s but nothing since. Always felt some class snobbery through out her books which never appealed to me.
Steve, the British class structure was firmly in place in the Christie books. But I always saw Poirot has the “Outsider” who disrupted the culture.
Oh, crap. I accidentally deleted what I was writing. Oh well. Anyway, Jackie likes the early Tommy & Tuppence and “young adventurers” books more than I do, but you can’t go far wrong with Poirot (until the last one or two). In volume 1, I’d go with PERIL AT END HOUSE, at least partly because that was the first Christie where I figured out (not guessed!) the ending before the surprise twist was revealed. Volume 2 has some great ones, and THE ABC MURDERS is a favorite of mine, along with titles like AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, DEATH ON THE NILE, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, and so many others.
For those who don’t know, LORD EDGWARE DIES = THIRTEEN AT DINNER. DUMB WITNESS = POIROT LOSES A CLIENT.
Now to see what everyone else picked.
Jeff, great choices! I have copies of DUMB WITNESS (aka, POIROT LOSES A CLIENT) in several editions with completely different cover artwork.
The first Christie book I read was AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, which has had other titles, as well. It’s still my favorite, maybe because it was the first.
Me too, and it is a favorite (I’ve read it a couple more times, seen several mostly awful movie versions plus a stage adaptation), not just because it was my first but because it is one of the best!
I read ATTWN a loooong time ago, Jr. High maybe, and haven’t, unlike many Christies, revisited it. Maybe I ought to – I snagged a nice hardback facsimile edition in the free book room at Bouchercon. However, like Ackroyd, it’s one where you can’t forget the Reveal, no matter how many years have gone by.
Art, I have several Christie short story collections still to read. She was very good in shorter lengths as well as novels.
I have that same problem with The ABC Murders, Art.
I don’t have a problem with most of Christie’s layer output (ENDLESS NIGHT, a very good book, was published in the mid-sixties), but her last couple of books–ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER and POSTERN OF FATE–really had some holes (ELEPHANTS irritated me because the “old” characters are always just vaguely remembering something–perhaps that’s how Christie was feeling by then). CURTAIN had been written years before and left with her publisher to be published posthumously.
Later
Deb, I agree with you on ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER and POSTERN OF FATE: weak.
My favorite was Murder of Roger Ackroyd. My jaw literally dropped at the end of the book. I’ve enjoyed all the Christies, and I’ve read them all. I agree about some of the later ones being less noteworthy than the early stuff, but I can’t remember which ones.
I watched the latest (BBC) adaption of then there were none and enjoyed it.
OT: I saw Manuel (andrew sachs) of Fawlty towers has passed away. That remains one of my favorite series.
Maggie, I’m a fan of the BBC adaptions of the Poirot novels. But some of the episodes took liberties with Christie’s texts.
I’ve read all or most of the Poirot and Marple novels and stories, and most of the other books, though not any of those as by Westmacott. Like Deb, I would have said Hastings was in more than 8 books. I like Peril At End House, Mystery of the Blue Train, ABC Murders, A Murder Is Announced, What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw! (UK = 4:50 From Paddington), and others. Really it’s hard to choose.
Rick, Agatha Christie wrote a number of classic mysteries. Like you, I find it hard to pick the “Best” among them.
When I was young (more than 50 years ago …) I also read all the Poirot and Mrs Marple novels and probably more – can’t remember them all …
And later I enjoyed the films – especially Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford portraying Mrs M.
Considering that Agatha wrote many of the books in the 1920s they’ve aged well.
Wolf, like Wodehouse novels, the Christie mysteries are timeless.
It’s been many decades since I read one, but Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None/Ten Little Ni**ers always appealed to me, as did Curtain.
Bob, Agatha Christie wrote several “Nursery Rime” mysteries that included TEN LITTLE INDIANS and A POCKET FULL OF RYE.
The first one I read was ROGER ACKROYD and I had no idea she was breaking rules with it. I thought it was terrific and read every one after that. Looking back from forty years on, some of the charm is lost here and there. I do notice a lot of snobbery. Too often a lower middle class woman is the criminal. Too often she is overly drawn toward the rich. But many of them hold up as the finest puzzles every devised. She is certainly the queen of crime. No one will ever take that title away. Favorites are AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, FIVE LITTLE PIGS, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, CURTAINS.
All good choices.
Orient Express and Murder on the Nile I also enjoyed very much – and the films too!
Sometimes I wonder whether Agatha thought about films when she wrote those novels.
I also just remembered the film with Miss Marple about the murder on board that “school ship”, that was funny too!
Wolf, it always astonishes me that Agatha Christie could come up with two so very different characters as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
I wonder if the adventure of the Christmas Pudding is in very many short story collections. That was a very hard one to find, when I was first collecting her (in pb) and I’m not sure what happened to mine, as I’d like to re-read it.
One thing about getting older, re-reading books is easier as many times I’ve forgotten the ending. Will never forget the ending to Ackroyd!!!
Maggie, I’ve never forgotten an ending to a Christie. You’re right about Ackroyd!
Although Margaret Rutherford’s portrayal of Miss Marple was absolutely nothing like the Miss Marple of the books, apparently Christie must have liked them–she dedicated one of her novels to Rutherford. I find it better to watch those movies while pretending they have absolutely nothing to do with Christie’s creation.
Interesting side note: Actress Joan Hickson–the quintessential Miss Marple on television–had a minor role in one of the Margaret Rutherford Marple movies.
Deb, Joan Hickson is the quintessential Miss Marple to me (and many others including yourself, I suspect). I loved those BBC episodes.