Agatha Christie Books In Order

Publication Order of Hercule Poirot Books

Publication Order of Hercule Poirot Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Hercule Poirot Collections

Publication Order of Miss Marple Books

Publication Order of Miss Marple Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Miss Marple Collections

Publication Order of Tommy and Tuppence Books

Publication Order of Tommy & Tuppence Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Superintendent Battle Books

Publication Order of Ariadne Oliver Books

Publication Order of Colonel Race Books

Publication Order of Harley Quin Books

Publication Order of Harley Quin Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Parker Pyne Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Plays

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Tommy & Tuppence Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

About Agatha Christie:

Agatha Christie was born in Ashfield. Agatha grew up in the town of Torquay in southwest England. She taught herself how to read at five years old even though her mother didn’t want her to do so until she was eight. She was home-schooled, which was a lot more uncommon at the turn of the 20th century than it is now. Her father was her primary teacher, but her mother was a storyteller—and gave strong encouragement for Agatha to write.

Although she became a prolific writer, she claimed she really did not have much in the way of lessons other than arithmetic. Although she did not have the social experience of public school, she studied dance and piano as a teenager. She was too shy to perform. Her first published writing happened when she was 11. It was a poem about electric trams. She was very clever at inventing ways to keep occupied.

She has been quoted as saying, “There is nothing like boredom to inspire you to write.” She had written a number of short stories by the time she was 17. In 1910, at 20, Christie spent winter months in Egypt with her mother. Her time there influenced the rest of her life.

In 1914, she married Archibald Christie, who was a Lt. Colnel. Archibald returned to military service right after their marriage, and Agatha was later to say that she felt her married life really began in 1918—when her husband was stationed in London. She began writing detective fiction while working as a nurse during World War 1. The confusion and sadness of the patients she tended affected her deeply, and her knowledge of poison and drugs is seen again and again in her novels.

During quiet periods at the hospital, she started writing in response to her sister’s statement of long past that she could not write a detective story. The author’s mother died in 1926, not long before Archibald left Agatha for another woman. He was in Spain when her mother died and seemed completely indifferent to her feelings and grief. He told her of his affair and love for Nancy Neel (an acquaintance) immediately upon returning from Spain.

The couple seemed to overcome this and try to stay together. They moved to Styles. But after a few months, she left her house and disappeared after a huge fight. There was an extensive search, with some thinking she was dead and others speculating she was alive. When it was discovered she was indeed alive, there was speculation that she did it to either spite her husband or gain publicity for her latest novel. This episode of Agatha’s life is perhaps the most talked about and less known.

She later married Max Mallowan, an archeologist. They spent over a decade in Assyria, at an archeological dig. They travelled back to England at least once a year. Mallowan and Christie bought several homes and lived in several flats over the years. Their final home was a large Georgian house near Torquay, not far from Agatha’s childhood home. In 1936, Mallowan was part of an expedition which dug up seventy cuneiform tablets.

The couple traveled back and forth between England and the Middle East quite extensively. Agatha returned to serving as a nurse during World War II. Her one child, Rosalind, was named after a female hero from a Shakespeare play. Rosalind had a significant share in Agatha’s company that controlled the rights to her works. In 1954, Christie had three plays she had written running at the same time. Her novels and her plays did so well that she had to form a company to avoid excessive taxation. Her most famous play was The Mousetrap. She said she had more fun writing plays than writing books. Christie wrote so many novels some say she lost count.

She was named a Dame of the British Empire in 1971. There is speculation that Agatha suffered from dementia in her later years even though she kept writing. Changes in the vocabulary and dialog of her later novels have been said by some to support this theory.

There is an increasing preoccupation with older people in her writing, especially the novels Elephants Can Remember, and Postern of Fate. She died in 1976. She spend much of her life avoiding the public, according to some because of the way the press found her and wrote about her when she was “hiding” after leaving her first husband—an incident she never spoke of or wrote about. She had her way and wrote her life story herself. She began writing her life story in 1950 and finished it in 1965. Her autobiography was published in 1977.

Writings

Her first novel was published in 1920, but it wasn’t until 1926 when her novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, gained recognition that her novels hit the best-selling lists. After this novel, 75 subsequent novels hit the best-seller lists in England and the United States. It featured perhaps her best-known character, Hercule Poirot.

He was a Belgian detective in many of her books. Poirot was described by the author as “a small man, muffled up to the ears of whom nothing was visible but a pink-tipped nose and the two points of an upward-curled mustache.” His detection methods spring from his ability to get people to talk and inventing fictitious backgrounds for himself in order to make this happen. This character was so popular, and some say so well written, that he is mentioned in textbooks that teach crime scene analysis.

Another character Christie used in novels was Miss Jane Marple. Like Poirot, this character has had significant impact. She is considered the source of what is termed, “The Spinster Detective.” The nice little old lady who is cunning and intelligent—who makes sense of crimes by comparing them to events in normal life. Of her novels that were made into films, two stand out: Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile.

The latter was even made into a video game. Murder on the Orient Express is perhaps her most famous piece. It has been a novel, a play, a movie, a TV movie, and a radio show. In addition to her detective stories, Christie is the author of many poems, and some romances. Absent in the Spring, for example, was published in 1944 under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott.

26 Responses to “Agatha Christie”

1. Bob Mitchell: 5 months ago

   I think it’s so hilarious that Agatha Christie didn’t like Hercule Poirot. She didn’t like his pompous attitude and other mannerisms. Did anyone tell her she could change all that? To quote from Evil Under the Sun “There was a very important person (in his own estimation at least) staying at the Jolly Roger.” Many examples in all her books.

   Reply
2. Readerdick: 3 years ago

   Agatha Christie also wrote a few novels under the name Mary Westmacotte. Several of these may still be available through your library

   Reply
3. Kathy Lennox: 3 years ago

   I am working on re-reading everything she wrote by date –
   I never tire of the amazing ability she had to write these treasures!

   Reply
4. Job Blog: 3 years ago

   ^ A chapter each was completed by: Canon Victor Whitechurch, George and Margaret Cole, Henry Wade, Agatha Christie, John Rhode, Milward Kennedy, Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Edgar Jepson, Clemence Dane and Anthony Berkeley. G. K. Chesterton contributed the prologue.

   Reply
5. Anita Gilbert: 4 years ago

   I have seen two TV program versions of “The Pale Horse” They are vastly different. Did Agatha Christie rewrite the story? Are there such extensive rewrites of her work by others for television programs? Thank you

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6. jcase16: 6 years ago

   I’m looking to read a ton of agatha christie books. I’m trying to figure out what makes the most sense for an order in which to read them. Would you read them by their groupings listed above or would you read them in a different order?

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7. Jeremy: 8 years ago

   Is reading with this order important?

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   • Kay_W: 6 years ago

     not really. she sometimes references other mysteries, but nothing is given away. some books have recurring characters that showed up in other books, but again, not important.

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8. cocoonofbooks: 8 years ago

   Was just going to say the same thing

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9. Jo Christie: 8 years ago

   I have one called Thirteen for Luck which isn’t on the list…

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   • genroku: 8 years ago

     Should that be “Thirteen for Lunch”? 🙂

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   • Wayne Fowble: 8 years ago

     I know The Lord Edgeware book had an American version “Thirteen at Dinner”

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   • David Grewe: 8 years ago

     Maybe this from from WiKi will help.

     “Lord Edgware Dies is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1933 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Thirteen at Dinner. Before its book publication, the novel was serialised in six issues (March–August 1933) of The American Magazine as 13 For Dinner.”

     Thriteen At Dinner was also the name of the Movie based on the book “Lord Edgware Dies”

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   • nightMair Creative: 7 years ago

     I too have 13 for Luck and it’s def not 13 at Finner as I have that one too. 13 for luck is a collection of Poirot Maroke Harley Quinn Parker Pune, Tommy and Tupoence and Inspector Evans. I’m sticking it with Gokden Ball and Other Stories.

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10. Chris Barber: 8 years ago

    Just curious to find out why “Cards on the Table” is listed under different series?

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    • Wayne Fowble: 8 years ago

      This book is a Poirot mystery in which Supt. Battle also helps with the investigation.

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      • George Orlando de Assis Machad: 8 years ago

        CROSS”FRICKING”OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

        Reply
11. Chaserville2009: 9 years ago

    This is very helpful, but I was looking for a list not divided by main characters. Is that somewhere on the site? Thank you.

    Reply
12. Chaserville2009: 9 years ago

    Probably because it was finished by another writer.

    Reply
13. Charlotte Ang: 10 years ago

    Anyone read the Sherlock Holmes series? I may want to start reading on those

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    • Chari Carico: 9 years ago

      I recently read the first Sherlock Holmes book, A Study in Scarlet, and was really surprised at how different it was than any of the TV shows that are supposed to be based on it. Some of the ideas were the same, but executed in much different ways. I enjoyed both the book and the Cumberbatch version of it quite a bit, but I think I liked the book much better. Of course, that could be because it’s the book actually written by Arthur Conan Doyle so that may play into my preference. I really enjoyed the history of it, and was surprised by the motivation behind the killing ( I won’t give it away but nothing at all like the TV version). I am getting ready to start the second book, The Sign of Four, and am very excited about it.

      Reply
14. Charlotte Ang: 10 years ago

    I realised it too, maybe they forgot to put it in?

    Reply
15. hilarylawley: 10 years ago

    I am sorting out all our Agatha Christie books and i have used your list to go by. At the end i have one book left which i cannot find listed on your site. It is Ten Little ——-. Can you tell me why it isn’t listed please?

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    • readerella: 10 years ago

      It was retitled And Then There Were None. It’s listed under Standalone Novels. It was published in 1939.

      Reply
      • hilarylawley: 10 years ago

        Thank you

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    • genroku: 8 years ago

      Because the title was changed to “Ten Little Indians”, which I believe was the US title for the obvious reason. “And Then There Were None” is the last, and probably final, title change.

      Reply