We asked some of our favourite authors to whittle the 66 detective novels published by Agatha Christie down to their number one choices
New York Times bestseller JEAN KWOK plumps for a Miss Marple tale set far from St Mary Mead. ‘I first read Agatha Christie when I was a young girl, devouring as many pages as I could on the subway before I needed to get off and go to work. I loved A Caribbean Mystery, in which Miss Marple travels abroad to solve murders on a fictional island, surprising all who underestimated the elderly detective.’
Author and Women’s Prize for Fiction founder KATE MOSSE celebrates a true hero. ‘Miss Marple is one of the great women of literature – independent, principled, subversive, courageous, a woman who knows right from wrong. My favourite? Sleeping Murder, the last published Marple (after Agatha herself had died), though it was written 30 years earlier and kept safe in a vault. Old sins have long shadows…’
Psychological crime writer RUTH WARE singles out a later Miss Marple as her favourite. ‘It’s really hard for me to pick a favourite Miss Marple story, as part of the joy is the way we see Miss Marple change and grow from novel to novel. However, I have a particular affection for Nemesis, which showcases the twin themes of the later Marple novels – her increasing bodily frailty, but the absolute indomitability of her razor-sharp mind.’
Sunday Times bestseller LUCY FOLEY has been a fan since childhood. ‘I’ve loved Agatha’s mysteries since childhood, when I enjoyed them purely for the fun of trying to solve her beautifully created puzzles. One of my favourites is the short story collection The Thirteen Problems: I love that each story is narrated by one member of the same party and I enjoy the Gothic atmosphere of stories such as The Idol House Of Astarte. It’s one I could read again and again.’
Leading thriller writer ERIN KELLY, whose latest book is The Skeleton Key, picks a lesser-known Agatha Christie novel. ‘Endless Night is about newlyweds who build their dream home on cursed Gypsy land. It starts as a love story, but
