Dame Agatha Christie's Top 10 mysteries

Frida Nisan 28, 2022

Continuing the theme of Agatha Christie Week, in the Guardian newspaper yesterday, longtime Christie expert John Curran (author of the recently released work AGATHA CHRISTIE'S SECRET NOTEBOOKS) gave his list of the "top 10 mysteries" from Dame Agatha Christie's prolific writing career. You can read his descriptions and reasoning in the article itself, but for starters, here is Curran's Top 10:

1. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
2. Peril at End House (1932)
3. Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
4. The ABC Murders (1935)
5. And Then There Were None (1939)
6. Five Little Pigs (1943)
7. Crooked House (1949)
8. A Murder is Announced (1950)
9. Endless Night (1967)
10. Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (1975, but written during the second world war)

What do you think of that list? Are your favourites on there? Which Christie books do you think deserve to be in her "top 10"?

And speaking of the great Dame, and the recently discovered notebooks that have shed more light on her plotting, writing, and more - the Guardian also had another great article earlier in the week by Scottish crime queen Val McDermid, who has done fairly well in the genre herself (22 bestsellers, 10 million copies plus sold, awards such as the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger). Although McDermid's crime novels are a lot darker and more gruesome than Christie's, she was surprised to find her writing had a lot in common with Christie.

Thoughts and comments welcome...