Agatha Christie Reading Challenge

Agatha Christie, popularly known as the queen of mystery novels, was an English crime novelist. Her books still outsell the competition. She was the one who created characters like Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, Ariadne Oliver, Harley Quin and Parkey Pyne. While she is known for her murder mysteries, she also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott. I have been reading Agatha Christie’s books on and off for a long time. On 1^st February 2015, I decided to do it not only on a regular basis but also in an organized fashion. To achieve this, I am embarking on a reading challenge titled ‘Agatha Christie Reading Challenge’.

I am not the first one who is going to take this challenge. In fact, a number of other bloggers are in the midst of perpetual Agatha Christie reading challenges. While some bloggers are trying to read her books in order of the publications, some are just reading their way through her works in a random manner. I am also going to read Christie’s book randomly. Every so often, I’ll go ahead and read an Agatha Christie book and record my thoughts. Additionally, as the number of books is quite large, I am not setting any deadline to finish this challenge. Furthermore, this challenge will not confine to only reading and reviewing Christie’s books. On the other hand, this challenge will try to explore the multifaceted personality of Agatha Christie. This challenge, in a way, will try to explore Agatha not only as a writer but also as a person. Through this challenge, I will try to learn about her development as a writer, development of her characters, and so on.

I visited the official information website for Agatha Christie and collected information on all the books/short stories Christie wrote during her lifetime. Below is the list of Agatha Christie books that I will be reading as part of my Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. This list also includes six romance novels written under the name of ‘Mary Westmacott’, two non-fiction books written under the name of Agatha Christie Mallowan, one autobiography, and some selected biographies. Additionally, I have also included ‘Monogram Murders’ by Sophie Hannah, which is a recent attempt to bring Hercule Poirot back into the picture. So, you see, the number of books that I am going to read is not small. This challenge is definitely going to take some time to finish. However, if completed successfully, this challenge is going to be a pretty exciting achievement of mine and this blog.

1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Year of publication: 1920) [Finished]
2. The Secret Adversary (Year of publication: 1922)
3. The Murder on the Links (Year of Publication: 1923) [Finished]
4. The Man in the Brown Suit (Year of Publication: 1924)
5. Poirot Investigates (Year of Publication: 1924)
6. The Secret of Chimneys (Year of Publication: 1925)
7. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Year of Publication: 1926) [Finished]
8. The Big Four (Year of Publication: 1927)
9. The Mystery of the Blue Train (Year of Publication: 1928)
10. The Seven Dials Mystery (Year of Publication: 1929) [Finished]
11. Partners in Crime (Year of Publication: 1929)
12. The Mysterious Mr. Quin (Year of Publication: 1930) [Finished]
13. The Murder at the Vicarage (Year of Publication: 1930) [Finished]
14. The Sittaford Mystery/ Murder at Hazelmoor (Year of Publication: 1931) [Finished]
15. Peril at End House (Year of Publication: 1932)
16. The Thirteen Problems/The Tuesday Club Murders (Year of Publication: 1932) [Finished]
17. The Hound of Death (Year of Publication: 1933)
18. Lord Edgware Dies (Year of Publication: 1933) [Finished]
19. Murder on the Orient Express/Murder in the Calais Coach (Year of Publication: 1934) [Finished]
20. The Listerdale Mystery (Year of Publication: 1934)
21. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans/The Boomerang Clue (Year of Publication: 1934) [Finished]
22. Parker Pyne Investigates/ Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective (Year of Publication: 1934)
23. Three-Act Tragedy/ Murder in Three Acts (Year of Publication: 1934) [Finished]
24. Death in the Clouds/Death in the Air (Year of Publication: 1935) [Finished]
25. The ABC Murders/The Alphabet Murders (Year of Publication: 1936) [Finished]
26. Murder in Mesopotamia (Year of Publication: 1936) [Finished]
27. Cards on the Table (Year of Publication: 1936) [Finished]
28. Dumb Witness/Poirot Loses a Client/Mystery at Littlegreen House/Murder at Littlegreen House (Year of Publication: 1937) [Finished]
29. Death on the Nile (Year of Publication: 1937)
30. Murder in the Mews/ Dead Man’s Mirror (Year of Publication: 1937)
31. Appointment With Death (Year of Publication: 1938) [Finished]
32. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas/Murder for Christmas/A Holiday for Murder (Year of Publication: 1938) [Finished]
33. Murder is Easy/Easy to Kill (Year of Publication: 1939) [Finished]
34. And Then There Were None/Ten Little Niggers/Ten Little Indians (Year of Publication: 1939) [Finished]
35. The Regatta Mystery (Year of Publication: 1939)
36. Sad Cypress (Year of Publication: 1940) [Finished]
37. One, Two Buckle My Shoe/The Patriotic Murders/ An Overdose of Death (Year of Publication: 1940) [Finished]
38. Evil Under the Sun (Year of Publication: 1941) [Finished]
39. N or M? (Year of Publication: 1941)
40. The Body in the Library (Year of Publication: 1942) [Finished]
41. Five Little Pigs/ Murder in Retrospect (Year of Publication: 1942)
42. The Moving Finger/The Case of the Moving Finger (Year of Publication: 1942)
43. Towards Zero/ Come and Be Hanged (Year of Publication: 1944)
44. Death Comes at the End (Year of Publication: 1944)
45. Sparkling Cyanide/ Remembered Death (Year of Publication: 1945)
46. The Hollow/Murder after Hours (Year of Publication: 1946) [Finished]
47. The Labours of Hercules (Year of Publication: 1947) [Finished]
48. Taken at the Flood/There is a tide (Year of Publication: 1948)[Finished]
49. Witness for the Prosecution (Year of Publication: 1948)
50. Crooked House (Year of Publication: 1949) [Finished]
51. A Murder is Announced (Year of Publication: 1950) [Finished]
52. Three Blind Mice/The Mousetrap (Year of Publication: 1950)
53. They Came to Baghdad (Year of Publication: 1951) [Finished]
54. The Under Dog (Year of Publication: 1951)
55. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead/Blood Will Tell (Year of Publication: 1952) [Finished]
56. They Do It With Mirrors/Murder with Mirrors (Year of Publication: 1952)
57. A Pocket Full of Rye (Year of Publication: 1953) [Finished]
58. After the Funeral/Funerals are Fatal (Year of Publication: 1953) [Finished]
59. Destination Unknown/So Many Steps to Death (Year of Publication: 1954)
60. Hickory Dickory Dock/Hickory Dickory Death (Year of Publication: 1955) [Finished]
61. Dead Man’s Folly (Year of Publication: 1956)
62. 4.50 from Paddington/What Mrs. Mcgillicuddy Saw!/Murder She Said (Year of Publication: 1957) [Finished]
63. Ordeal By Innocence (Year of Publication: 1958) [Finished]
64. Cat Among the Pigeons (Year of Publication: 1959) [Finished]
65. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Year of Publication: 1960)
66. The Pale Horse (Year of Publication: 1961)
67. Double Sin (Year of Publication: 1961)
68. The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side/The Mirror Crack’d (Year of Publication: 1962)
69. The Clocks (Year of Publication: 1963) [Finished]
70. A Caribbean Mystery (Year of Publication: 1964)
71. At Bertram’s Hotel (Year of Publication: 1965)
72. Third Girl (Year of Publication: 1966) [Finished]
73. Endless Night (Year of Publication: 1967) [Finished]
74. By the Pricking of My Thumb (Year of Publication: 1968) [Finished]
75. Halloween Party (Year of Publication: 1968) [Finished]
76. Passenger to Frankfurt (Year of Publication: 1970) [Finished]
77. Nemesis (Year of Publication: 1971)
78. The Golden Ball (Year of Publication: 1971)
79. Elephants Can Remember (Year of Publication: 1972)
80. Postern of Fate (Year of Publication: 1973) [Finished]
81. Poirot’s Early Cases (Year of Publication: 1974)
82. Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case (Year of Publication: 1975)
83. Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple’s Last Case (Year of Publication: 1976)
84. Miss Marple’s Final Cases (Year of Publication: 1979)
85. Problems at Pollensa Bay (Year of Publication: 1991)
86. The Harlequin Tea Set (Year of Publication: 1997)
87. While The Light Lasts (Year of Publication: 1997)

Novels under the Nom de Plume of ‘Mary Westmacott’

1. A Daughter’s A Daughter
2. Absent in the Spring
3. Giant’s Bread
4. The Burden
5. The Rose and the Yew Tree
6. Unfinished Portrait

Books under the name of ‘Agatha Christie Mallowan’

1. Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archaeological Memoir
2. Star Over Bethlehem

Autobiography/Biography/Memoir

1. Agatha Christie: An Autobiography
2. Agatha Christie: A Biography by Janet Morgan
3. Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks by John Curran
4. Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days by Jared Cade
5. Agatha Christie: An English Mystery by Laura Thompson
6. Agatha Christie at Home by Hilary Macaskill

The New Poirot

1. The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah
2. Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah [Finished]

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I would love to hear your thoughts on this challenge. Kindly leave your valuable comments and suggestions.