Agatha Christie

1926 · Agatha Christie · 256 pages · Mystery

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the Agatha Christie novel that changed what mystery fiction was allowed to do. The twist broke the genre's unwritten rules so thoroughly that it sparked a debate that has never been resolved. Nearly a century later, it remains one of the most audacious and perfectly executed mysteries ever written, and its solution still has the power to astonish.

1939 · Agatha Christie · 272 pages · Mystery

Agatha Christie's bestselling novel is the mystery genre's most perfect puzzle. Ten strangers on an isolated island, picked off one by one according to a nursery rhyme, with no way to escape and no one to trust. The premise is iconic for a reason. Christie's plotting is surgical, her misdirection is masterful, and the solution is both surprising and fair. The prose is functional rather than literary, and the characters are types rather than fully developed people, but neither of those things matters when the machine runs this well. It's the template that a thousand locked-room mysteries have tried to replicate, and none have surpassed.

1934 · Agatha Christie · 256 pages · Mystery

Murder on the Orient Express is the Agatha Christie novel with the most famous solution in mystery fiction, and it works because the clue-laden journey to that solution is as satisfying as the destination. Poirot is at his most theatrical, the snowbound train is a perfect locked room, and the final reveal remains one of the most audacious plot turns ever constructed. Even if you know the ending, the craft of the setup repays attention.