Dame Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie (1890-1976), English author and playwright. In her prolific life, she produced a total of 66 mystery novels and 145 short stories, collected in 21 volumes. Most of the novels star Hercule Poirot, a Belgian private investigator in London; Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead; or the adventurous married couple of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. She also wrote 21 plays, mostly with mystery plots; these are listed here, and several of them have been recently adapted into novels by Charles Osborne.

For a more complete biography, click here.

Novels:

Featuring Hercule Poirot:

• The ABC Murders [reprinted in US as The Alphabet Murders]: 1935
• After the Funeral [US title: Funerals are Fatal; later reprinted in UK as Murder at the Gallop]: 1953
• Appointment with Death: 1938
• The Big Four: 1927
• Black Coffee: (see Plays)
• Cards on the Table: 1936
• Cat Among the Pigeons: 1959
• The Clocks: 1963
• Curtain: 1975
• Dead Man's Folly: 1956
• Death in the Clouds [US title: Death in the Air]: 1935
• Death on the Nile: 1937
• Dumb Witness [US title: Poirot Loses a Client; reprinted as Mystery at Littlegreen House]: 1937
• Elephants Can Remember: 1972
• Evil Under the Sun: 1941
• Five Little Pigs [US title: Murder in Retrospect]: 1943
• Hallowe'en Party: 1969
• Hercule Poirot's Christmas [US title: Murder for Christmas; later reprinted as A Holiday for Murder]: 1938
• Hickory Dickory Dock [US title: Hickory Dickory Death]: 1955
• The Hollow [reprinted in US as Murder After Hours]: 1946
• Lord Edgware Dies [US title: Thirteen at Dinner]: 1933
• Mrs. McGinty's Dead [Title in some US editions: Blood Will Tell]: 1952
• Murder in Mesopotamia: 1936
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: 1926
• Murder on the Links: 1923
• Murder on the Orient Express [US title: Murder on the Calais Coach]: 1934
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles: 1920
• The Mystery of the Blue Train: 1928
• One, Two, Buckle My Shoe [US title: The Patriotic Murders; later reprinted as An Overdose of Death]: 1940
• Peril at End House: 1932
• Sad Cypress: 1940
• Taken at the Flood [US title: There is a Tide ...]: 1948
• Third Girl: 1966
• Three-Act Tragedy [US title: Murder in Three Acts]: 1934

Featuring Jane Marple:

• At Bertram's Hotel: 1965
• The Body in the Library: 1942
• A Caribbean Mystery: 1964
• 4:50 from Paddington [US title: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw; later reprinted in US as Murder, She Said]: 1957
• The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side [US title: The Mirror Crack'd]: 1962
• The Moving Finger [reprinted in US as The Case of the Moving Finger]: 1942
• The Murder at the Vicarage: 1930
• A Murder is Announced: 1950
• Nemesis: 1971
• A Pocketful of Rye: 1953
• Sleeping Murder: 1976
• They Do It with Mirrors [US title: Murder with Mirrors]: 1952

Featuring Tommy and Tuppence Beresford:

• By the Pricking of my Thumbs: 1968
• N or M?: 1941
• Postern of Fate: 1973
• The Secret Adversary: 1922

Other mystery novels:

• Crooked House: 1949
• Death Comes as the End: 1944
• Destination Unknown [US title: So Many Steps to Death]: 1954
• Endless Night: 1967
• The Man in the Brown Suit: 1924
• Murder is Easy [US title: Easy to Kill]: 1939
• Ordeal by Innocence: 1958
• The Pale Horse: 1961
• Passenger to Frankfurt: 1970
• The Secret of Chimneys: 1925
• The Seven Dials Mystery: 1929
• The Sittaford Mystery [US title: Murder at Hazlemoor]: 1931
• Sparkling Cyanide [US title: Remembered Death]: 1945
• Spider's Web: (see Plays)
• Ten Little Niggers [US title: And Then There Were None; later reprinted as Ten Little Indians]: 1939
• They Came to Baghdad: 1951
• Towards Zero [reprinted as Come and Be Hanged]: 1944
• The Unexpected Guest: (see Plays)
• Why Didn't They Ask Evans? [US title: The Boomerang Clue]: 1934

Short story collections:

• The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding: 1960 (Poirot, Miss Marple)
• Double Sin: 1961 (Poirot, Marple, others)
• The Golden Ball: 1971 (Other)
• The Hound of Death: 1933 (Other)
• The Labours of Hercules: 1947 (Poirot)
• The Listerdale Mystery: 1934 (Other)
• Miss Marple's Final Cases: 1979 (Miss Marple, others)
• Murder in the Mews [US title: Dead Man's Mirror; incomplete US reprint as The Incredible Theft]: 1937 (Poirot)
• The Mysterious Mr. Quin: 1930 (Harley Quin)
• Parker Pyne Investigates [US title: Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective]: 1934 (Parker Pyne)
• Partners in Crime [the second half only reprinted in UK as The Sunningdale Mystery]: 1929 (Tommy & Tuppence)
• Poirot Investigates: 1924 (Poirot)
• Poirot's Early Cases [US title: Hercule Poirot's Early Cases]: 1974 (Poirot)
• Problem at Pollensa Bay: 1991 (Poirot, Quin, Pyne, others)
• The Regatta Mystery: 1939 (Marple, Poirot, Parker Pyne, others)
• Surprise! Surprise!: 1965 (Marple, Poirot, Quin, Pyne, others)
• Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple: 1966 (Miss Marple)
• Thirteen for Luck!: 1961 (Marple, Poirot, Tommy & Tuppence, Parker Pyne, Quin, others)
• The Thirteen Problems [US title: The Tuesday Club Murders; reprinted in UK as Miss Marple and the Thirteen Problems and in US as The Blue Geranium and Other Tuesday Club Murders]: 1932 (Miss Marple)
• Three Blind Mice [reprinted in US as The Mousetrap]: 1950 (Marple, Poirot, Quin)
• The Under Dog: 1951 (Poirot)
• While the Light Lasts [US title: The Harlequin Tea Set]: 1997 (Poirot, Quin, others)
• Witness for the Prosecution: 1948 (Poirot, others)

Mystery plays written or adapted by Christie:

(with date of first performance)

• Appointment with Death: 1945
• Black Coffee: 1930 (novel adaptation by Charles Osborne, 1998)
• Fiddlers Three: 1972
• Go Back for Murder: 1960
• The Hollow: 1951
• The Mousetrap: 1952
• Murder on the Nile: 1945
• Rule of Three: 1962
• Spider's Web: 1954 (novel adaptation by Charles Osborne, 2000)
• Ten Little Niggers [later title: Ten Little Indians]: 1945
• Towards Zero: 1956
• The Unexpected Guest: 1958 (novel adaptation by Charles Osborne, 1999)
• Verdict: 1958
• Witness for the Prosecution: 1953

A good source for details on Christie's life and works is Charles Osborne's The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie (London, Collins, 1982).

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