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Few mystery authors have stood the test of time as well as the Queen of Mystery herself, Dame Agatha Christie. Not for nothing, she is the best-selling novelist of all time, with over four billion books sold since the publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles in 1920. By 2025, her highest-selling novel, And Then There Were None, had sold over 110 million copies worldwide.
What you might not know is that the words we read now in our brand new copies may not be the words that Christie herself wrote. In 2023, HarperCollins announced that many of her books would undergo revisions, with the goal of removing problematic language from the original versions. And I do mean problematic: it’s not a secret that Christie was notoriously antisemitic and racist. Her portrayal of Jewish characters is riddled with stereotypes. Her Asian characters are, too. And Then There Were None’s original title was so blatantly racist that even in 1939, the United States refused to publish it as it was and changed it (to yet another racist title, but I digress).
Whether changing those passages was the right move or not, the fact that this initiative existed at all speaks volumes as to how unabatingly Christie’s popularity continues to be well into the 21st century. Many of her works are classics of the genre: And Then There Were None, yes, but also The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (contestant for best ending of a mystery novel ever, y/n?), Murder at the Vicarage, Murder in the Orient Express, and so on. Agatha Christie sure as hell knew how to tell a good, engaging mystery, and I don’t know about you, but I intend to enjoy her tales for a long time to come.
Christie published a whopping 66 novels in her lifetime. Popular as she may be, not all of them can be classics. Many of them remain semi-hidden jewels, with only the most die-hard of fans having heard of and read them.
Here, I gathered my picks for Agatha Christie’s most underrated novels. Join me for a spot of murder and fun?
Peril at End House
This was the first Christie novel I ever read, when I was eight or nine years old, and it sent me headlong into a lifelong affair with Agatha Christie and the mystery genre as a whole.
When Poirot meets Nick Buckley, a young and dashing heiress, he knows at once that someone is trying to kill her. Naturally, Poirot’s little grey cells are up to the task … aren’t they?
The Secret Adversary
Maybe a hot take, but I love Tommy and Tuppence every bit as much as I do Poirot and Miss Marple. In this, their first novel, the pair of old friends reunite after the Great War and decide to start a business together. Alas, they weren’t quite expecting business to be so dangerous.
Sparkling Cyanide
Colonel Race may be the least famous of Christie’s detectives, but he is by no means less interesting or capable than the rest. This book, where he sets out to find who wanted heiress Rosemary Barton dead, offers resounding proof.
Hallowe’en Party
Nobody liked 13-year-old Joyce, but who didn’t like her enough to murder her? Did it have anything to do with the murder she swore she’d witnessed? After a fateful Halloween party, it is up to Poirot to find out.
Sad Cypress
Being on trial for murder is awful. But if Hercule Poirot is on your corner? Well then, things might be slightly less awful than you think, as Elinor Carlisle, on trial for the murder of her romantic rival, finds out in this book.
Sleeping Murder
If you were getting annoyed because I had not yet included Miss Marple, fear not! I could never leave her out of a list like this. Murder at the Vicarage and The Body in the Library might be her best-known cases, but this book holds its own with aplomb.
Young Gwenda recruits Miss Marple to exorcise the ghosts in her house. But are they actual ghosts? Whether real or pretend, why are they haunting Gwenda?
By the Pricking of My Thumbs
Gothic mysteries are one of my very favorite things to read, and when written by Agatha Christie? There’s nothing better.
In this book, Tommy and Tuppence visit an elderly aunt at a gothic nursing home, thinking nothing of her distrust of the doctors. That is, until other residents volunteer information that leads the duo down a dangerous path that could doom them both.
Death Comes as the End
A historical Agatha Christie set in Ancient Egypt? Yes please.
When Imhotep’s mistress turns up dead at the bottom of a cliff, the culprits appear to be obvious: his children. But in true Christie fashion, the motives behind the death may be more complicated than they seem.
If you’d like more Agatha Christie, you might like your ultimate guide to the best Agatha Christie books, or perhaps you’d like to start from the beginning and learn about who Agatha Christie was, including her history and literary impact.
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English (US) · 