Agatha Christie fans!

CleanYerPlate · 20-12-2011 4:17pm #1

Probably a stupid question but are Agatha Christie novels available in Easons?

Also which is your favourite book by Ms Christie? My sister loves these old murder mystery novels and tv shows so I wanted to get her something to do with Poirot or Miss Marple.

hatful · 20-12-2011 9:40pm

'Endless night' is a favourite of mine. It's not a standard Agatha Christie novel, she tried a different approach and in my opinion it worked. 'And then there were none' is also brilliant and the final Poirot book. Happy reading

For your sister I would go for 'And then there were none' just to be on the safe side... unless she's read it of course.

Porrohman · 23-12-2011 1:14pm

I only started reading Agatha Christie recently. It’s something I should have done years ago but better late than never I suppose. Anyway I have read two Poirot books “The ABC Murders” and “Murder on the Orient Express” and enjoyed them both. I like her style of writing and they were easy reads. I don’t know if they’re in Easons or not but I’ll definitely be getting more of her books.

rpe · 23-12-2011 1:20pm

All her books are great. I would recommend Crooked House and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

billiejosie · 24-12-2011 1:46am

I absolutley adore Agatha Christie books, nothing comes close!

If you were thinking of getting any of her books, I would go with either Then There Were None (my favourite) or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. They are murder mysteries but not the usual predictable plot lines. Enjoy!

politicsdude · 28-12-2011 3:23pm

you can't beat poirot

The Black Oil · 26-01-2012 12:50am

Is there a recommended order for reading her books? I started 'The Big Four' recently, enjoying it so far, a big improvement on James Patterson, which is like drinking a glass of milk that's been left out of the fridge for a few days.

Martin567 · 26-01-2012 3:34pm

I've read all 66 Agatha Christie crime novels over the years. I'm sure Easons have them but I would imagine Hodges Figgis stock the best selection (if you're in Dublin). Their crime section is amazing.

"And Then There Were None" is the biggest selling crime fiction novel ever and one of the biggest selling books of any type ever - over 100 million copies sold. It's not a Poirot novel however, I think hatful may be confusing it with "Curtain" which was Poirot's last case.

Black Oil - I'm glad you're enjoying "The Big Four" but I have to tell you I would rate it as one of the weakest books she wrote. You'll probably agree if you read many more. I've included a link to all her books below where you can see the year they were written. It's not essential at all to read them in this order but it is a good guide.

Some of her later books are not the best although "Endless Night" is certainly an exception. "Styles" and "Roger Ackroyd" are the best from the 1920's. I would recommend everything she wrote from 1930 to 1950 inclusive. This was the prime of her career and the consistent brilliance is amazing. From 1950 onwards, it's a bit more hit and miss.

Apart from those already mentioned, I would particularly recommend "Murder is Easy", "Towards Zero" and "Five Little Pigs" which is one of the very best Poirot's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie_bibliography

de Faoite_girl · 26-01-2012 8:21pm

Hi Martin567,

Thanks for all this useful info on Christies books. I haven't read any of her books since I was a teenager but I might give it another go soon.

The Black Oil · 01-02-2012 12:33am

Martin, thanks for that. I'm about 2/3 of the way into 'The Big Four' now and can see what you, though I'm still enjoying as a first read and the Hastings/Poirot banter is good fun. Are a good few of the books narrated by Hastings, then?

Martin567 · 01-02-2012 2:35pm

Black Oil wrote: »

Martin, thanks for that. I'm about 2/3 of the way into 'The Big Four' now and can see what you, though I'm still enjoying as a first read and the Hastings/Poirot banter is good fun. Are a good few of the books narrated by Hastings, then?

There were about 8 or 10 Poirot novels narrated by Hastings. Most of these were the earlier ones but he was brought back again for 'Curtain', the final Poirot book.

From one of her biographies, I think her first book deal was for about 6 novels. Apparently, she was a bit naive and committed herself to a poor deal from her own point of view. The last two novels covering this deal were written purely for contractual reasons as she just wanted to move on. These books were 'The Mystery of the Blue Train' and 'The Big Four'. If you read many of her other novels from that time, you'll see that these two are by far the weakest.

Greysonphil · 01-02-2012 3:09pm

adore her works. really great to read and think over

mari2222 · 01-02-2012 3:17pm

These were reprinted so often that your local charity shop undoubtedly has a few.

The Black Oil · 02-02-2012 10:17am

Well, I finished The Big Four. Decent, but I think the second half of it sort of descended into Hollywood mode.

hatful · 03-02-2012 6:37pm

Martin567 wrote: »

I've read all 66 Agatha Christie crime novels over the years. I'm sure Easons have them but I would imagine Hodges Figgis stock the best selection (if you're in Dublin). Their crime section is amazing.

"And Then There Were None" is the biggest selling crime fiction novel ever and one of the biggest selling books of any type ever - over 100 million copies sold. It's not a Poirot novel however, I think hatful may be confusing it with "Curtain" which was Poirot's last case.

Black Oil - I'm glad you're enjoying "The Big Four" but I have to tell you I would rate it as one of the weakest books she wrote. You'll probably agree if you read many more. I've included a link to all her books below where you can see the year they were written. It's not essential at all to read them in this order but it is a good guide.

Some of her later books are not the best although "Endless Night" is certainly an exception. "Styles" and "Roger Ackroyd" are the best from the 1920's. I would recommend everything she wrote from 1930 to 1950 inclusive. This was the prime of her career and the consistent brilliance is amazing. From 1950 onwards, it's a bit more hit and miss.

Apart from those already mentioned, I would particularly recommend "Murder is Easy", "Towards Zero" and "Five Little Pigs" which is one of the very best Poirot's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie_bibliography

Oops sorry poor grammar on my part what I meant was my favourites were 'And then there were none' and also the final Poirot book in the series (I couldn't remember the name). I will check out your recommendations

eskimocat · 07-02-2012 7:42pm

I have been collecting Agatha Christie books for the past 24 years. I set myself the task of building her entire collection, buying only second hand books and not paying more than £2(Irish pounds) or €3 Euro for them. They were to be collected on an random basis, ie no planned shopping trips for them. It meant that every time I came across a second hand book stall/shop/sale my heart would take a little leap and I would rummage quite happily for books 'missing' from my collection. I have at various times owned the entire collection, but through lending or loosing volumes, have had the pleasure of rummaging again. Of course such a slap dash approach to collecting has also meant repeated copies of the same book being purchased, however I always use these to tempt others into reading Ms Christie. I also have collected some quite old versions, and while they are far from pristine, they are often my favourite. I have collected her books in different countries around the world, delighted to add a foreign cover to my Agatha collection. I love both Poirot and Marple equally and Tommy and Tuppence less so.

At the moment I am missing one book to re-complete the collection... and for the life of me cannot remember which one it is.... guess i will just have to rummage around to see what turns up...
Thank you Agatha...

The Black Oil · 15-02-2012 7:35pm

Have made a start on Taken at the Flood.

Dub. · 16-02-2012 3:37am

Her books are available right now as part of a twice monthly partwork.

All hardbacks, all replicas of the first editions.

I`ve got the first four, Murder of Roger Ackyroyd, Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder at the Vicarage.

Next one up is the ABC murders.

http://www.hachettepartworks.com/our-titles/agatha-christie-book-collection

Film company · 25-01-2019 2:37pm

Hi Guys.
I want to bring my wife to the play in the Gaiety and it is quite dear, as is my wife. Is I was thin king of getting a group booking so looking for 8 people to join us. The group deal is 10 people with a discount of 5 quid each for a Saturday night show and then drinks after to hang out and talk. Would anyone be interested? It is in March.

Agatha Christie fans!

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