Agatha Christie Pdf Free Books
Linda Berens
Agatha Christie is one of the most famous mystery writers of all time. She was born in England in 1890 and wrote her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920. Agatha Christie then wrote more than 70 novels and short story collections during her lifetime, many of which are considered classics of the mystery genre. In addition, her books have been adapted for stage, film, and television and translated into over 100 languages. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie remains the bestselling fiction writer, with global sales exceeding over two billion copies worldwide.
Christie's best books are quick, enormously entertaining reads that are perfectly suited to vacations or lazy days. The trouble is, she wrote so many that it's hard to know where to start. For the uninitiated, the sheer volume of Christie's output in her 55-year career is daunting, and not all of her work is equally worthwhile. How can readers find their way amid the vast Christie corpus?
2. Stick to Christie's books from the 1930s and 1940s
At the risk of incurring the wrath of passionate Christiephiles, I will say this right up front: Christie published roughly a book every year, but she peaked in the 1930s and 1940s. She was still finding her voice in the 1920s, and the quality of both her plotting and her writing began a steady decline in the 1950s before falling off a cliff in the 1970s, when it is likely that she suffered from undiagnosed dementia. With a few important exceptions, the books she published from 1930 through 1950 are the ones most worth reading. Unless you're a devoted completist, stray from this period at your peril.
4. Enjoy companion pieces after the books
There's a trove of wonderful Christie-related material out there. Among the movies, your best bets are the star-packed 1970s adaptations of Death on the Nile (with Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis) and Murder on the Orient Express (with Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman), plus 1980's campy The Mirror Crack'd (with Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak). For television adaptations, you can't do better than the British series Agatha Christie's Poirot, starring David Suchet. And the delightful All About Agatha podcast, hosted by Kemper Donovan and the late Catherine Brobeck, ranks all the novels and offers valuable insights and analysis of every Christie book and story. But save these for after you've read the originals, to avoid ruining surprises. (All About Agatha assesses all of the books in chronological order, and the later episodes sometimes have spoilers of earlier works; keep that in mind when you're deciding which episodes to listen to.)
7. Curtain (circa 1942)
Poirot's final mystery was written during the Blitz but not published until just a few months before Christie's death in 1976. If you're reading multiple Poirot books, save this one for last.
8. The Hollow (1946)
A personal favorite of mine, this Poirot mystery features richer psychological depth than Christie usually provides in her crime books.
9. Five Little Pigs (1942)
Character portraits are also key to Poirot's retrospective investigation of an artist's death in this novel, which some Christie devotees consider her best.
10. Lord Edgware Dies (1933)
The perfect starter Poirot: clever and evocative, with strong supporting roles for Poirot's faithful sidekick Hastings and the dogged Inspector Japp.
Should you come across any early Agatha Christie paperbacks, especially those with lurid covers, buy them. What use to be staples of every secondhand bookshop are becoming scarce collectables. Original hardbacks of the early novels sell for over $10,000, though there is no way of knowing whether the people who buy books for this sort of money have any intention of reading them.
Agatha Christie seems to have timeless appeal. If you associate her with nostalgia for a lost Gilbert and Sullivan, pearl-necklaced, sherry-drinking middle England, try giving her books to a smart ten year old. I lent several of my Christies to one, who was particularly taken by the sleight of hand Christie uses in Death in the Clouds.
Partly through movie adaptations, of which there are around thirty, but also as a result of the enthusiasm of readers, some of her books have become staples of twentieth century fiction: who has not heard of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, or been caught up in the sheer ingenuity of plotting in books like Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd or Then There Were None (originally Ten Little Niggers, then briefly, before that too was recognised as offensive, Ten Little Indians)?
73 of these notebooks survive. Found after her death in 1976 they reveal she paid little attention to the subtleties of characters, would happily re-use plots and that entire works might be inspired by a single phrase.
On 4th December 1926 Agatha Christie vanished. In a plot worthy of one of her books, she kissed her daughter Rosalind goodnight and, taking only an attache case with her, drove away from the family home in her Morris.
Her stories showcase wit, intelligence, and clever plot twists that keep readers engaged and guessing till the end. Beyond this, her works are important for their exploration of the human psyche and motivations behind crime, as well as the social norms of her time. Her books often depict a society in flux, with strong female characters challenging traditional gender roles and tackling issues such as class and race.
I myself am a huge fan of Agatha Christie, having read all her books several times, so it was only natural that I write this post. When I was a weird kid (as opposed to a weird adult), I convinced myself that I must have been Christie reincarnated, because I loved her books and was great at guessing the killer. And I loved learning about Ancient Egypt, just like she did. To this I now say: LOL. (As they say in Bull Durham, why are people only the reincarnation of famous people?)
While maybe not really current pop culture, this movie was a big hit in its day, and is a satire of Agatha Christie books. It features two actors who played other famous detectives: Peter Falk (Columbo) and Peter Sellers (Inspector Clouseau), as well as Eileen Brennan, who also appears in the Clue movie, which is itself based on a board game that was inspired by Agatha Christie.
Contrary to the mystery fiction cliché, the butler never once murders anyone in a Christie book (though one killer does disguise himself as a butler in order to get close to his victim). Doctors, on the other hand, commit homicide in no less than four Christie books, while politicians, secretaries, actors, housewives, military men, teachers and police officers all commit homicide at least twice. More often than not, the victims are knocked off with poisons, which Christie learned about while working as a pharmacist during World War I.
However, in this time frame, it was uncovered that Christie wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. These six books were completely different from her usual style. Life after that took a complete turn- not only did Agatha Christie become a household name, but she also remarried a man called Max Mallowan with whom she led a happy life.
Agatha Christie is a world famous author, hence it will not come as a surprise that her books have been taken up by translators, playwrights and directors to transform her books into various realms of media.
"Agatha Christie's books are both wonderful crime novels and studies in contrast and duality, and I adore them still. Underestimate them at your peril." -- Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Gamache novels
Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and, in many languages, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 66 crime novels, 150 short stories, over 20 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott. Her work includes Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and the genre-defining And Then There Were None.
Sally and Tony Hope are retired medical doctors who have enjoyed Agatha Christie novels for forty years. Tony was the first Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Oxford. He has written many highly successful books including several for a general audience (Manage Your Mind; Medical Ethics: A Very Short Introduction). Sally is a retired general practitioner. She was the medical columnist on Best magazine for six years.
This list will continue to grow as we read more and more of her works, so check back occasionally to see what has been added, removed, and switched. For now, these are our best Agatha Christie books ranked from worst to best. Our top two were a unanimous choice, and we think most Christie fans will agree.
The structure, plotting, build-up, and unravelling of this story makes it one of the most finely-constructed mystery stories the queen of crime ever wrote, and one of the best Agatha Christie books, full stop.
In 1930, Christie began a long and much happier marriage with the archaeologist Max Mallowan. She accompanied him on his expeditions, working on her books while he worked in the dig sites. Christie became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1971. She published her last book in 1973, and passed away in 1976 at the age of 85.
Note: This list of Hercule Poirot books includes the novels he features in and all short story collections that feature Poirot exclusively. The short story collections that contain a mix of Christie detectives are in a separate section.
I have read all of her works several times, but I still often have trouble remembering them by title. This is a godsend! I am printing it out and keeping it on the bookshelf next to her books, so I can choose the one I want. I also want to say that your summaries of her books are masterful. Clear, accurate, and without giving away too much. Congratulation.s.
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