--- title: 5 Must-Read Agatha Christie Novels description: Celebrate the mystery master on her 125th birthday canonical: https://time.com/4029315/agatha-christie-best-novels/ author: Sarah Weinman article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-10T15:43:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:50:20.552Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 5 Must-Read Agatha Christie Novels og:description: Celebrate the mystery master on her 125th birthday og:url: https://time.com/4029315/agatha-christie-best-novels/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc00fd4c3b26b509f/6988630135ba6fcf55c0f17e/endless-night.jpg?branch=production&width=430&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 430 og:image:height: 242 og:image:alt: endless-night og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Must-Read Agatha Christie Novels twitter:description: Celebrate the mystery master on her 125th birthday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc00fd4c3b26b509f/6988630135ba6fcf55c0f17e/endless-night.jpg?branch=production&width=430&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Must-Read Agatha Christie Novels > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Sarah Weinman](https://time.com/author/sarah-weinman/) ## Sarah Weinman Sep 10, 2015 3:43 PM UTC  William Morrow Paperbacks by [Sarah Weinman](https://time.com/author/sarah-weinman/) ## Sarah Weinman Sep 10, 2015 3:43 PM UTC One hundred and twenty-five years ago the most popular mystery writer ever, with well over two billion copies of her work sold, was born. Over a career that spanned over a half century, Agatha Christie (1890-1976) published more than 150 short stories (including the linked collection _The Labors of Hercules_), wildly successful plays like _Witness for the Prosecution_ and _The Mousetrap_, still playing at London’s West End, and of course, more than 60 novels, featuring beloved detectives like Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot and a dizzying array of mystery plots. Here are five that stand out: 1. [_The Murder of Roger Ackroyd_ ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062073567/?tag=timecom-20)(1926) Even with the benefit of 90 years of hindsight and countless imitators, Christie’s culminating twist in this early Hercule Poirot novel pulls the rug out with a level of audacity that leaves new readers breathless and repeat customers eager to see how she did, indeed, play fair throughout. Other notable Poirots: _Murder on the Orient Express_ (1934) and _Evil Under the Sun_ (1941). 1. [_The Murder at the Vicarage_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062073605/?tag=timecom-20) (1930) The first and utterly pleasurable introduction of Miss Jane Marple, the doyenne of St. Mary Mead and an amateur sleuth of deadpan demeanor and formidable skills. Other notable Marple selections: _The Body in the Library_ (1942) and _The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side_ (1962). 1. [_And Then There Were None_ ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062073486/?tag=timecom-20)(1939) There’s a good reason this novel was voted as Christie fans’ all-time favorite in a recent poll: it’s ruthlessly plotted, masterful in tick-tock suspense, and claustrophobic in feel as victims are murdered, one by one. 1. [_Death Comes As The End_ ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/006207413X/?tag=timecom-20) (1944) This, the only historical mystery Christie ever published (and a precedent-setter for this subgenre), is set in Thebes in 2000 BC, drawn from the extensive digs Christie and her second husband, the archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, conducted over several trips to Egypt and other Middle Eastern spots. 1. [_Endless Night_ ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062073516/?tag=timecom-20)(1967) This late-career Christie gem is a real favorite of mine—and, apparently, hers—because it’s more psychological in feel_._ Think of a cross between Frances Iles’ _Malice Aforethought_ and James M. Cain’s _The Postman Always Rings Twice._ Yes, it’s that doom-laden. _Sarah Weinman is the editor of_ [Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1598534513/?tag=timecom-20) _(Library of America)_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4029315/agatha-christie-best-novels/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4029315/agatha-christie-best-novels/"},"headline":"5 Must-Read Agatha Christie Novels","datePublished":"2015-09-10T15:43:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:50:20.552Z","description":"Celebrate the mystery master on her 125th birthday","url":"https://time.com/4029315/agatha-christie-best-novels/","keywords":["Books","Mystery"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc00fd4c3b26b509f/6988630135ba6fcf55c0f17e/endless-night.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Weinman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-weinman/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc00fd4c3b26b509f/6988630135ba6fcf55c0f17e/endless-night.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"endless-night","caption":"","creditText":"William Morrow Paperbacks","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4029315/agatha-christie-best-novels/","name":"5 Must-Read Agatha Christie Novels"}}]}] ```