Agatha Christie Books in Order

Choose your Agatha Christie reading order

Publication order lets you follow Christie's writing from The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920 through the later collections. Most individual mysteries can also be enjoyed on their own. For a first Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles introduces both the detective and Hastings; for Miss Marple, start with The Murder at the Vicarage. And Then There Were None is a standalone choice for readers who want a contained, suspenseful story.

A few connections are worth preserving. Read The Secret of Chimneys before The Seven Dials Mystery, and A Caribbean Mystery before Nemesis. Leave Curtain until the end of Poirot's novels. Tommy and Tuppence age across their adventures, so their publication sequence is especially useful: The Secret Adversary, Partners in Crime, N or M?, By the Pricking of My Thumbs and Postern of Fate.

For Poirot, a few earlier cases are discussed in later books. To keep their discoveries fresh, read Murder on the Orient Express before Cards on the Table, Three Act Tragedy before Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, and Mrs McGinty’s Dead before Hallowe’en Party. Read Five Little Pigs, Hallowe’en Party and Mrs McGinty’s Dead before Elephants Can Remember.

Find the kind of story you enjoy

Poirot's novels often turn on precise observations, relationships and conflicting accounts. Miss Marple draws on her knowledge of people, whether she is in St Mary Mead or far from home. The short-story collections offer smaller reading sessions; some feature one detective, while others bring together several characters or supernatural stories.

The six Mary Westmacott novels explore relationships, ambition, grief and self-understanding. They are included under their own book type so you can discover that side of Christie's writing alongside the mysteries. For another author to work through, explore John Grisham's books or Stephen King's books.

Match your edition to the list

Use the book's title and alternative title, where shown, rather than its cover date. Paperback releases, new covers and omnibus editions do not create a new book to finish. The year here is the earliest UK or US book publication, so it can differ from the year printed on a particular edition.

Short-story collections need a little more care: UK and US publishers sometimes grouped the same stories differently. This tracker uses 14 established UK mystery collections for a consistent reading record. If you own a US collection, compare its contents before treating it as the same book. A collection and its title story are also different reading units.

Explore more of Christie's writing

Beyond these 86 books, Come, Tell Me How You Live recounts her archaeological travels, An Autobiography tells her life story, and The Grand Tour gathers her travel letters. Her poetry appears in The Road of Dreams and the expanded Poems, while Star Over Bethlehem combines religious stories and verse. The poetry volumes overlap.

Her plays provide another route into the stories. Black Coffee, The Unexpected Guest and Spider's Web also exist as novels adapted by Charles Osborne. Modern Poirot novels by Sophie Hannah and Miss Marple stories by other writers continue her characters with clearly separate authorship.

1. Choose your next mystery. Browse in publication order, or use the Detective / collection and Book type filters to focus on Poirot, Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence, short stories or the Mary Westmacott novels. Open a title for its short description and reading connections.
2. Record the books you have read. Check off completed titles, matching alternative titles to the same book. For short-story collections, compare the contents of your edition before marking the collection complete.
3. Keep your reading record. Choose Start tracking and, if prompted, sign in or create an account to save your checklist. Return to your saved list as you finish more books. Filters help you browse; they do not remove books from the saved catalogue.
4. Read alongside friends. Choose Save & Compare to start a group. Each reader updates their own checklist, so you can compare progress without changing someone else's reading record.