Agatha Christie published sixty-six detective novels in fifty-five years, and you can read them in almost any order you like. That is worth knowing before the list below, because unlike most long series there is no arc to spoil and no continuity to keep straight.
Editor's Picks
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - the one that made her reputation, and still the best introduction
- And Then There Were None - the cleanest puzzle she wrote, and there is no detective in it
- The Body in the Library - the place to start if you would rather begin with Marple
Does the order actually matter?
Mostly, no. Every novel is built to be a stranger's first. The cast assembles, someone dies, the detective arrives, the solution lands in the last twenty pages and the book closes with nothing carried forward. Poirot does not develop. Marple does not age in any way you could chart. There is no relationship to have followed and no earlier crime to remember.
What publication order does give you is the shape of a career. The early books are puzzle-first and stiff, the 1930s run is the peak, the 1950s and 60s soften and the last few are frankly tired. That is worth watching once you already like her. It is a poor way to begin.
The two exceptions are absolute. Curtain and Sleeping Murder were both written in the 1940s, locked in a bank vault and published in the 1970s so that Christie could end her own detectives on her own terms. Read either early and you have spoiled the only thing in sixty-six books that can be spoiled.
Fifty-five years at the same desk, and the reason she is the easiest author in the world to collect second-hand.
The four doors into Christie
The sixty-six novels divide into four groups, and which group you pick matters far more than which book inside it you start with.
Hercule Poirot - thirty-three novels, 1921 to 1975
The bulk of the work and the obvious place to begin. Poirot barely changes across fifty-four years, so these can be read in almost any sequence. Start with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and save Curtain for the end.
Miss Marple - twelve novels, 1930 to 1976
Quieter, meaner and more interested in what villages conceal. Marple arrives fully formed and does not develop, so order matters even less here. Start with The Body in the Library, and leave Sleeping Murder until last.
Tommy and Tuppence - four novels, 1922 to 1973
The only Christie characters who genuinely age, from broke twenty-somethings to pensioners, in real time as she wrote them. Start with The Secret Adversary and take these four in order, because here order actually helps.
The standalones - the ones with no detective at all
Around a dozen novels with no series character, and they contain some of her very best work. Start with And Then There Were None, then Crooked House and Endless Night.
Twelve books, if you are not going to read all sixty-six
These are the ones that hold up on their own. Every one can be read cold, and between them they cover Poirot, Marple and the standalones from 1921 to 1967.
01The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The one that made her name and broke the rules of the genre while doing it. If you have somehow reached adulthood without having the ending spoiled, stop reading about it and read it.
02And Then There Were None
Ten strangers on an island, no detective, and the cleanest piece of construction she ever managed. The best book to hand somebody certain they do not like crime fiction.
03The Body in the Library
Christie setting out to take the most hackneyed setup in the genre and make it work anyway. It does, and it is the sharpest Marple to begin with.
04Murder on the Orient Express
A closed circle moving through a snowdrift. Famous enough that the solution has leaked into general knowledge, which is a shame, because the execution is superb.
05Death on the Nile
The best of the travel books. A steamer, an heiress and a triangle set up so carefully that the murder feels inevitable twenty pages before it happens.
06A Murder Is Announced
Post-war village England, rationing and lodgers, and a small ad in the local paper announcing a murder. Her best late Marple by a distance.
07Five Little Pigs
A sixteen-year-old murder reconstructed from five accounts of the same afternoon. Closer to a novel than a puzzle, and the answer to anyone who says she could not write character.
08Crooked House
Christie named this among her own favourites and it is easy to see why. A family in one large house, and an ending her publishers tried to talk her out of.
09Evil Under the Sun
A Devon hotel, a beach and a cast of holidaymakers. Slighter than the great ones and all the better for it - this is the one to read on an actual beach.
10Endless Night
Written when she was seventy-six and quite unlike anything else here: first person, modern and genuinely unsettling. Proof she was still capable late on.
11The A.B.C. Murders
A killer working alphabetically through the country, and Poirot up against the one thing he cannot reason with: apparent randomness. The best of the 1930s run after Ackroyd.
12The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The first, written in a hospital dispensary during the war. Stiff and over-plotted next to what came later, but the only place to watch Poirot arrive.
The full Agatha Christie reading order, all 66 novels
Publication order, UK first editions, 1921 to 1976. Short story collections, plays and the Mary Westmacott romances are not included - this is the novels only.
- 01The Mysterious Affair at Styles1921Poirot
- 02The Secret Adversary1922Tommy & Tuppence
- 03The Murder on the Links1923Poirot
- 04The Man in the Brown Suit1924Colonel Race
- 05The Secret of Chimneys1925Superintendent Battle
- 06The Murder of Roger Ackroyd1926Poirot
- 07The Big Four1927Poirot
- 08The Mystery of the Blue Train1928Poirot
- 09The Seven Dials Mystery1929Superintendent Battle
- 10The Murder at the Vicarage1930Miss Marple
- 11The Sittaford Mystery1931Standalone
- 12Peril at End House1932Poirot
- 13Lord Edgware Dies1933Poirot
- 14Murder on the Orient Express1934Poirot
- 15Why Didn't They Ask Evans?1934Standalone
- 16Three Act Tragedy1935Poirot
- 17Death in the Clouds1935Poirot
- 18The A.B.C. Murders1936Poirot
- 19Murder in Mesopotamia1936Poirot
- 20Cards on the Table1936Poirot
- 21Dumb Witness1937Poirot
- 22Death on the Nile1937Poirot
- 23Appointment with Death1938Poirot
- 24Hercule Poirot's Christmas1938Poirot
- 25Murder Is Easy1939Standalone (Battle cameo)
- 26And Then There Were None1939Standalone
- 27Sad Cypress1940Poirot
- 28One, Two, Buckle My Shoe1940Poirot
- 29Evil Under the Sun1941Poirot
- 30N or M?1941Tommy & Tuppence
- 31The Body in the Library1942Miss Marple
- 32Five Little Pigs1942Poirot
- 33The Moving Finger1943Miss Marple
- 34Towards Zero1944Superintendent Battle
- 35Death Comes as the End1945Standalone
- 36Sparkling Cyanide1945Colonel Race
- 37The Hollow1946Poirot
- 38Taken at the Flood1948Poirot
- 39Crooked House1949Standalone
- 40A Murder Is Announced1950Miss Marple
- 41They Came to Baghdad1951Standalone
- 42Mrs McGinty's Dead1952Poirot
- 43They Do It with Mirrors1952Miss Marple
- 44After the Funeral1953Poirot
- 45A Pocket Full of Rye1953Miss Marple
- 46Destination Unknown1954Standalone
- 47Hickory Dickory Dock1955Poirot
- 48Dead Man's Folly1956Poirot
- 494.50 from Paddington1957Miss Marple
- 50Ordeal by Innocence1958Standalone
- 51Cat Among the Pigeons1959Poirot
- 52The Pale Horse1961Standalone
- 53The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side1962Miss Marple
- 54The Clocks1963Poirot
- 55A Caribbean Mystery1964Miss Marple
- 56At Bertram's Hotel1965Miss Marple
- 57Third Girl1966Poirot
- 58Endless Night1967Standalone
- 59By the Pricking of My Thumbs1968Tommy & Tuppence
- 60Hallowe'en Party1969Poirot
- 61Passenger to Frankfurt1970Standalone
- 62Nemesis1971Miss Marple
- 63Elephants Can Remember1972Poirot
- 64Postern of Fate1973Tommy & Tuppence
- 65Curtain1975Poirot
- 66Sleeping Murder1976Miss Marple
Poirot books in order
Thirty-three novels across fifty-four years, from a Belgian refugee in an Essex village to a wheelchair in the same house at the end. Curtain last, always.
- 01The Mysterious Affair at Styles1921Poirot
- 02The Murder on the Links1923Poirot
- 03The Murder of Roger Ackroyd1926Poirot
- 04The Big Four1927Poirot
- 05The Mystery of the Blue Train1928Poirot
- 06Peril at End House1932Poirot
- 07Lord Edgware Dies1933Poirot
- 08Murder on the Orient Express1934Poirot
- 09Three Act Tragedy1935Poirot
- 10Death in the Clouds1935Poirot
- 11The A.B.C. Murders1936Poirot
- 12Murder in Mesopotamia1936Poirot
- 13Cards on the Table1936Poirot
- 14Dumb Witness1937Poirot
- 15Death on the Nile1937Poirot
- 16Appointment with Death1938Poirot
- 17Hercule Poirot's Christmas1938Poirot
- 18Sad Cypress1940Poirot
- 19One, Two, Buckle My Shoe1940Poirot
- 20Evil Under the Sun1941Poirot
- 21Five Little Pigs1942Poirot
- 22The Hollow1946Poirot
- 23Taken at the Flood1948Poirot
- 24Mrs McGinty's Dead1952Poirot
- 25After the Funeral1953Poirot
- 26Hickory Dickory Dock1955Poirot
- 27Dead Man's Folly1956Poirot
- 28Cat Among the Pigeons1959Poirot
- 29The Clocks1963Poirot
- 30Third Girl1966Poirot
- 31Hallowe'en Party1969Poirot
- 32Elephants Can Remember1972Poirot
- 33Curtain1975Poirot
Miss Marple books in order
Twelve novels. Marple arrives fully formed in 1930 and barely changes, so these are even more freely readable than the Poirots. Sleeping Murder is the one to save.
- 01The Murder at the Vicarage1930Miss Marple
- 02The Body in the Library1942Miss Marple
- 03The Moving Finger1943Miss Marple
- 04A Murder Is Announced1950Miss Marple
- 05They Do It with Mirrors1952Miss Marple
- 06A Pocket Full of Rye1953Miss Marple
- 074.50 from Paddington1957Miss Marple
- 08The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side1962Miss Marple
- 09A Caribbean Mystery1964Miss Marple
- 10At Bertram's Hotel1965Miss Marple
- 11Nemesis1971Miss Marple
- 12Sleeping Murder1976Miss Marple
Tommy and Tuppence books in order
Four novels, and the one run where order genuinely helps. The Beresfords are the only Christie characters who really age, across fifty-one years.
- 01The Secret Adversary1922Tommy & Tuppence
- 02N or M?1941Tommy & Tuppence
- 03By the Pricking of My Thumbs1968Tommy & Tuppence
- 04Postern of Fate1973Tommy & Tuppence
When you finish the sixty-six
The short story collections are the obvious next stop, and there are fourteen of them. The Labours of Hercules is the best - twelve cases chosen by Poirot to match the twelve labours, and far wittier than that sounds.
Then the plays. The Mousetrap has run continuously in London since 1952, and Witness for the Prosecution is the better piece of writing.
If it was the puzzle you wanted, her Golden Age contemporaries are the place to go: Dorothy L. Sayers for better prose, Josephine Tey for something stranger, John Dickson Carr for locked rooms.
And if it was the villages, our cosy crime guide covers the modern inheritors, most of whom are working directly from Marple.
Other reading orders and starting points
Long series are easier with a map. These are the running orders and starting points we keep for the authors readers ask about most.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to read Agatha Christie in order?
No, and almost nobody does. Each novel sets up its own cast, its own house and its own solution, then closes the door behind it. There are two exceptions and both are at the end: Curtain is Poirot's last case and Sleeping Murder is Miss Marple's.
How many books did Agatha Christie write?
Sixty-six detective novels, published between 1921 and 1976. There are also fourteen short story collections, around twenty plays, and six romances written as Mary Westmacott. The list on this page is the sixty-six novels.
Which Christie novel should I read first?
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd to see why she matters, And Then There Were None for the best pure puzzle, or The Body in the Library if you would rather start with Marple than Poirot. All three work cold.
Should I read Poirot and Miss Marple separately?
It is the easiest way to do it, which is why both are listed separately on this page. They never appear in a novel together, so the two runs are entirely independent.
Why do some Christie novels have two titles?
Her UK and US publishers frequently renamed books. Five Little Pigs was published in America as Murder in Retrospect and Murder Is Easy as Easy to Kill. This list uses the original UK titles.
Are the newer Poirot books by Christie?
No. Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly (2014) is a novella she wrote in the 1950s and later expanded into Dead Man's Folly, so it is not a separate novel. The continuation novels from 2014 onward are by Sophie Hannah, with the estate's permission.
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