Ten Reasons I love Agatha Christie

~ Erika K

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten list prompt. This week’s prompt is… Ten Reasons you love “X”. My “X” is Agatha Christie because her name was the first thing that popped into my head when I read this prompt. (That could be because I just watched a documentary chronicling her life over the weekend!) She’s been one of my favorite authors for as long as I can remember, so I should be able to come up with 10 reasons why, and I will do my best to keep it spoiler free. 🙂

Don’t forget to leave me a link to your own post in the comments, or just tell me what you’re loving this week, books or otherwise!

10. Sleeping Murder – This was the first “grown-up” novel I can remember reading.

9. Her books are safe reads –  As with most cozy mysteries, Christie’s novels give me something that I can read between darker or heavier books (I do read a lot of thrillers), or anytime I just want a light, quick read that I know won’t be disturbing, and will always be entertaining.

8. Good, old-fashioned English Christmases – I absolutely adore Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. Everything from the old country house to the plum pudding just feels so perfectly TRADITIONAL. It’s a favorite of mine to read when it’s cold and snowy outside, and I have a steaming cup of tea and a warm blanket to curl up under.

7. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – This is a book I wish I could go back and read again for the first time. Although, re-reading it after you know the solution does give you a chance to look at the evidence in a whole new light…

6. Getting a glimpse of what it might have been like to live in England during “the war” –  Many of Christie’s novels were set in war-time England, and I always feel like books written during a particular era tend to give you a better feel for that age than most historical novels written after the fact. It’s the little, everyday details that really do it.

5. Traveling vicariously around the globe through her fiction – Agatha Christie spent several years travelling the world with her second husband, and her travels inspired the plots of many of her best books.  The exotic locales in books such as Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia add to their charm.

4. And Then There Were None – Another ingenious plot twist. At the time, it was something that had not been done before. I love Agatha’s originality.

3. Murder on the Orient Express – because how often do you get a solution like that?! I won’t spoil it, just in case, but this story and it’s solution is one of my all-time favorites.

2. Miss Marple – After first meeting her in Sleeping Murder (even though she has a smaller role there than in most Miss Marple books), I was hooked. It took me several years before I picked up my first Poirot novel, because I was convinced he would never be able to compare to my beloved Jane Marple. But I was wrong….

poirot

1. Hercule Poirot – I know Agatha grew tired of him after writing the character for so many years, but I never have. I love his eccentricities and his pompousness, but most of all, I love his METHODS. His little gray cells. The way the clues he would use to deduce the answer to the mystery were always right there in the story, but I never seemed to catch half as many of them as he did. His first appearance in any Christie novel still brings a smile to my face, even when I’ve read the book a dozen times.

 

 

 

35 thoughts on “Ten Reasons I love Agatha Christie”

  2. I love Agatha Christie too! She was a great bridge for me in moving from Nancy Drew mysteries to the adult thrillers as I grew up. I haven’t read a Christie novel in forever, I need to start picking them up again. Such great characters and plots. Love your list this week!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  11. I just got into her books last year and I love them! She’s such a brilliant writer and I hope I can get through all of her books someday!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Wonderful!

    Agatha Christie was my first favorite author and I still adore her work. I unintentionally put a seasoning of her style into my books. The first thing my writing coach/editor said after reading the first couple of chapters of The Devil’s Music was that it felt like a Christie and that Emory was like a young Miss Jane Marple. I was thrilled at the comparison. 🙂

    We had new carpeting put in a couple of years ago and had to pack up most of our household like we were moving. I couldn’t find the box with all my old Christies in it and was rather heartbroken. It showed up last week. 🙂 It was in our garage and they’re a little moldy, sad to say, but I’m working on cleaning them up. I started buying them when I was 9 years old – I’m 61 now. Many of them only cost 50₵ or 75₵!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Wow! Hugs! Thank you for saying that about Emory. 😀 Yes, the covers on those older copies are wonderful! And those prices – *sigh*. Oh well, I keep reminding myself that people got paid less back then too.

        Liked by 1 person

  16. I really do need to read more Agatha Christie – I have loved everything by her that I’ve read – and I absolutely MUST read And Then There Were None post haste. There’s just really no excuse any more. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Erika @ Booksthething.com Cancel reply