Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), more commonly known as Agatha Christie is the Grand Dame of the Mystery Novel. With over 4 billion (!) copies of her novels sold, Agatha along with Shakespeare are the 2 most recognized English writers in human history.
Agatha is widely credited with creating the mystery novel we know today. She mastered plotting, suspense, and characterization (giving us character psychologies that would credibly explain motivations for murder).
Agatha Christie's Sleuths:
(David Suchet as "Hercule Poirot")
Hercule Poirot. The Belgian private detective that used his little grey cells to solve complex mysteries. Agatha grew to hate Poirot. She said, ‘[Poirot is a] detestable, bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep’. But the public disagreed and she continued to write Poirot novels until the end of her (and his) life.
1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
2. Murder on the Links (1923)
3. Poirot Investigates (1924, short stories ’ss’)
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
5. The Big Four (1927)
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
7. Black Coffee (1930 play – novel adapted from play published in 1998)
8. Peril at End House (1932)
9. Thirteen at Dinner (1933) also published as Lord Edgware Dies
10. Murder on the Orient Express (1934) also published as Murder in the Calais Coach
11. Murder in Three Acts (1935) also published as Three Act Tragedy
12. Death in Air (1935) also published as Death in the Clouds
13. The A.B.C. Murders (1936) also published as Alphabet murders
14. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
15. Cards on the Table (1936)
16. Death on the Nile (1937)
17. Poirot Loses a Client (1937) also published as Dumb Witness
18. Murder in the Mews (1937, ss) also published as Dead Man’s Mirror
19. Appointment with Death (1938)
20. Murder for Christmas (1939) also published as Hercule Poirot’s Christmas and A Holiday for Murder
21. The Regatta Mystery (1939)
22. Sad Cypress (1940)
23. Patriotic Murders (1940) also published as One, Two, Buckle My Shoe and Overdose of Death
24. Evil Under the Sun (1941)
25. Murder in Retrospect (1942) also published as Five Little Pigs
26. Poirot Knows the Murderer (1946, ss)
27. Poirot Lends a Hand (1946, ss)
28. Murder after hours (1946) also published as The Hollow
29. The Labours of Hercules (1947, ss)
30. Taken at the Flood (1948) also published as There Is a Tide
31. Witness for the Prosecution (1948, ss)
32. Three Blind Mice (1950, ss)
33. The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951, ss)
34. Mrs McGinty’s Dead (1952) also published as Blood with tell
35. After the Funeral (1953) also published as Funerals are Fatal
36. Hickory Dickory Dock (1955) also published as Hickory Dickory death
37. Dead Man’s Folly (1956)
38. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
39. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960, ss)
40. Double Sin and Other Stories (1961, ss)
41. 13 For Luck! (1924, ss)
42. The Clocks (1963)
43. Third Girl (1966)
44. Hallowe’en Party (1969)
45. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
46. Poirot’s Early Cases (1974, ss)
47. Curtain (written about 1940, published 1975)
(Joan Hickson as "Miss Jane Marple")
Miss Jane Marple. Miss Marple lives in the picturesque village of St. Mary Mead. It would be a nice place to live, but the murder rate is crazily high. Luckily, Miss Marple is able to put the pieces together to solve the puzzles, and put the killers behind bars.
1. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
2. The Body in the Library (1942)
3. The Moving Finger (1943)
4. A Murder is Announced (1950)
5. They Do It with Mirrors, or Murder With Mirrors (1952)
6. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
7. 4.50 from Paddington, or What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw (1957)
8. The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, or The Mirror Crack’d (1962)
9. A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
10. At Bertram’s Hotel (1965)
11. Nemesis (1971)
12. Sleeping Murder (written around 1940, published 1976)
(Francesca Annis & James Warwick as "Tuppence Cowley" & "Tommy Beresford")
Tommy & Tuppence. Husband & wife sleuthing team. Unlike Miss Marple and Poirot who never seemed to age, Tommy & Tuppence aged in “real time” over the five novels and short story collections that featured them.
1. The Secret Adversary (1922)
2. Partners in Crime (1929)
3. N or M? (1941)
4. By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968)
5. Postern of Fate (1973)
Other Mysteries & Sleuths
∙ The Man in the Brown Suit (1924) Colonel Johnny Race
∙ The Secret of Chimneys (1925) Battle
∙ The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) Battle
∙ The Sittaford Mystery (1931)
∙ Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1934) Bobby Jones and Frances Derwent
∙ Murder Is Easy (1939) Battle
∙ Ten Little Indians or Then There Were None (1939)
∙ Towards Zero (1944) Battle
∙ Death Comes as the End (1945)
∙ Sparkling Cyanide (1945) Johnny Race
∙ Crooked House (1949)
∙ They Came to Baghdad (1951)
∙ Ordeal by Innocence (1958) Arthur Calgary
∙ The Pale Horse (1961) Ariadne Oliver
∙ Passenger to Frankfurt (1970)
