Agatha Christie was born on September 15,1890 and died on January 12, 1976, She was the author of sixty-six detective novels and fourteen short story collections most of them starring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. While the books are still good mysteries they are somewhat marred by her cringe worthy use terms of epithets showing her extreme prejudice against Blacks, Asians, Greek, Turks, and Middle Eastern people.
Agatha Christie is considered the Queen of cozy mysteries that are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur off stage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community.
Hercule Poirot is her most famous sleuth. He is Belgium and has to constantly correct people that he is not French. He is small in stature at 5’4" and starting on the path to being rotund. He is inordinately proud on his mustache. He first appeared in The Mysterious Affaire at Styles and last appeared in Curtain.
Poirot is a brilliant detective and makes sure everyone is aware of that fact. He believes everyone should know his name and reputation and does get a bit sulky if they don’t. His method is the use of the "little gray cells" or in other words use your head and don’t bother grubbing around for clues.
Miss Jane Marple is an elderly lady and a throwback to a more genteel age. She is of the school of wearing a hat and gloves when going out. She does not approve of obscene language or blatant descriptions of sex. She exemplifies the word prissy. While Poirot will actually look for clues Miss Marple only uses her power of observation of people to solve mysteries and then turning her insights over to the police.
Agatha Christie is at her best is when she steps outside of Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. The Mysterious Mr. Quin is a series of short stories with little Mr. Satterthwaite an observer of life at a house party. It was your typical dark and stormy night with a dark stranger knocking at the door. The first story introduces the theme of both death and lovers. In a later story Mr. Quin actually says that he is the Advocate for the Dead and for Lovers. Mr. Satterthwaite becomes our human guide to the mysterious world of Harley Quinn.
Who is Mr. Quinn? Where does he come from? Is he human? Is he real? As the stories continue they lean more and more towards the mysterious. Your questions will be unanswered leaving you to figure out what you believe. The stories become more and more supernatural.
One of Christie’s most famous books is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Hercule Poirot appears in this early book. The book is written in the first person and the narrator becomes Poirot’s assistant. The book starts off as any good mystery does as the detectives follow the clues. It isn’t until the end that Agatha Christie delivers her sucker punch.
One of the eeriest Agatha Christie books is And Then There Were None. Ten people were lured to a mysterious island. One by one they are killed. Who is behind it? Why are these people being targeted? Can the survivors discover they perpetrator in time before they become the next victim?
Perhaps the most famous of Christie’s books is Murder on the Orient Express. A train is caught in a snowstorm. All the cars are filled with people who seem to be strangers or are they? It is up to Poirot to make his ways through the lies to try and discover the identity of the murderer of a man who deserves death.
The Man in the Brown Suit is chock full of little mysteries. Why was a man so terrified that he stumbled onto the train track? Who was the doctor wearing a brown suit who pronounced him dead at the scene only to disappear.
In Endless Night an old gypsy woman warns a young couple to stay away from Gipsy’s Acre. Why the warning? Why was the mansion abandoned to deteriorate? What? That last one will be what you say when the ending is revealed.
In The Pale Horse a priest is called to administer to a dying patient. As he is returning home he is killed and the clothes savagely ripped open. A list of names is discovered and a couple of amateurs set out to solve the mystery. The Pale Horse is the name of a large house inhabited by three very strange sisters. Are they involved in the deaths? Are they camouflage to cover the real villain?
The Clocks is one of my favorite mysteries. It stars a weary detective, a spy with a degree in marine biology, a for hire typist who is also a world class liar, and a blind woman who is not what she seems.
Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors to read at night before going to sleep. They are a throwback to what many think of gentler times. She is great about throwing so many red herrings at you that when the denouncement comes you are relieved. Pixie likes to cuddle next to me when I read. According to her though the villain is always the smelly old dog.