When you think Agatha Christie, you think Poirot and the many books with Poirot in them. You don’t know which to read, but you just want to read one or five of them? Or do you need a Miss Marple to keep you occupied whilst in isolation? Look no further, here’s my pick of five cosy Agatha Christie novels!
1. The Popular One: The Murder on the Orient Express
This is indisputably one of the most well known Agatha Christie books. Not only that, but it has also been adapted for radio, TV, and film. Set in the middle of winter, this is the perfect one to rug up next to a fire with a hot chocolate and read! You a have a combination of good old Poirot, a train, and a murder. What more could a mystery buff ask for!
Synopsis: Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer—in case he or she decides to strike again.
2. The Underrated One: Elephants Can Remember
Don’t let the 3.64 rating on Goodreads deter you from this Christie novel. Featuring Ariadne Oliver, this one opens up a 20-year-old cold case, set upon a hill. It is also one of the later books, published only a few years before Christie’s death. Despite this, it is one of my favourites to reread just before bed (because I can sleep after reading murder mysteries apparently).
Synopsis: Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. For here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident – the broken body of a woman was discovered on the rocks at the foot of the cliff. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Poirot delves back into a crime committed 15 years earlier and discovers that, when there is a distinct lack of physical evidence, it’s just as well that ‘old sins leave long shadows.’ This story is part of Agatha Christie’s murder in retrospect series, a collection of stories which look at a crime several years after the fact, piecing together testimonials and witness reports to finally uncover the truth. This time we see Mrs Oliver’s goddaughter, attempting to find out the truth about her deceased parents – who killed whom?
3. The Miss Marple One: Murder at the Vicarage
The first of the Miss Marple books, and one of my favourites, Murder at the Vicarage gives me cosy mystery vibes. Set in a village, where everyone has motive to have been the murderer, the way Miss Marple solves the mystery absolutely kicks butt. I don’t know about you, but reading this one, Miss Marple reminded me of a mix between a regal old lady and the 2007 movie version of the Nancy Drew character and I’m always absolutely here for it.
Synopsis: ‘Anyone who murdered Colonel Protheroe,’ declared the parson, brandishing a carving knife above a joint of roast beef, ‘would be doing the world at large a favour!’ It was a careless remark for a man of the cloth. And one which was to come back and haunt the clergyman just a few hours later – when the colonel was found shot dead in the clergyman’s study. But as Miss Marple soon discovers, the whole village seems to have had a motive to kill Colonel Protheroe.
4. The Overlooked One: Sparkling Cyanide
This may be the last book in the four-part Colonel Race series, but it is one of my absolute darn favourites. With more spooky vibes (good for that autumn/spring cosy/spooky season) due to the remembrance of a death a year prior, this one sure packs a punch. This one is cunning, clever, and everything that could be asked for in a book causing you to pull up the blankets (and hide under them because it is intense in parts), but leaves you longing for more. Also, this will leave you hanging until the absolute end!
Synopsis: Six people reunite to remember beautiful Rosemary Barton, who died nearly a year before. The loving sister, the long-suffering husband, the devoted secretary, the lovers, the betrayed wife – none of them can forget Rosemary. But did one of them murder her?
5. The First One: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
This is the earliest Agatha Christie novel, and it doesn’t disappoint. We are introduced to our main man, Hercule Poirot, and in quite an elegant style too. I like how we get introduced to him post-war, and we can see him as the vulnerable Belgian he is. Not only that, but the eccentricity comes out in full force, and it makes me feel warm inside (something I need during the cold winter I’m living through in Melbourne at the moment!) Not only that, but we get poisons and secrets, and this just might be the cosiest mystery of them all.
Synopsis: Agatha Christie’s debut novel was the first to feature Hercule Poirot, her famously eccentric Belgian detective. A refugee of the Great War, Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactress, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned and the authorities are baffled, Poirot puts his prodigious sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s much younger husband, her resentful stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village. All of them have secrets they are desperate to keep, but none can outwit Poirot as he navigates the ingenious red herrings and plot twists that earned Agatha Christie her well-deserved reputation as the queen of mystery.
Hopefully this inspires you to read a cosy Agatha Christie mystery-,whether it’d be old man Poirot, the prim and proper Miss Marple, or if you want to branch out more into the world of Christie, the Colonel Race books!
