In Agatha Christie's first book, Hercule Poirot solves a baffling murder at an English country home.
Hercule Poirot Series
This classic detective series by Agatha Christie follows Belgian detective Hercule Poirot as he solves complex crimes with extraordinary logic and insight. Each story is renowned for its surprising twists and intricate plots. Poirot is known for his perfect attention to detail and his ability to uncover the truth, even when it seems hidden. The series is considered one of the best in the detective genre.
Recommended Reading Order
The Murder on the Links
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Monsieur Renauld dies on a golf course just days after sending a plea for help to detective Poirot. Since Renauld possessed a plundered fortune, a scorned wife, a mistress, and an estranged son, there is no lack of suspects. It's up to Poirot to put the police onto the culprit before more murders occur.
First There Was The Mystery Of The Film Star And The Diamond& Then Came The Suicide That Was Murder& The Mystery Of The Absurdly Chaep Flat& A Suspicious Death In A Locked Gun-Room& A Million Dollar Bond Robbery& The Curse Of A Pharoah S Tomb& A Jewel Robbery By The Sea& The Abduction Of A Prime Minister& The Disappearance Of A Banker& A Phone Call From A Dying Man& And, Finally, The Mystery Of The Missing Willl. What Links These Fascinating Cases? Only The Brilliant Deductive Powers Of Hercule Poirot!
Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners.
Framed in the doorway of Poirot's bedroom stands an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The gaunt man's face stares for a moment then sways and falls. Who is he and what is the significance of the figure four scribbled repeatedly on a piece of paper?
A mysterious woman, a legendary cursed jewel, and a night train to the French riviera -- ingredients for the perfect romance or the perfect crime? When the train stops, the jewel is missing, and the woman is found dead in her compartment. It's the perfect mystery, filled with passion, greed, deceit. And Hercule Poirot is the perfect detective to solve it...
Peril at End House
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckly. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo. Poirot has taken a particular interest in the young woman who has recently narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences or a spate of bad luck. It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life.
Agatha Christie's famous murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Poirot had been present when Jane bragged of her plan to 'get rid of' her estranged husband. Now the monstrous man was dead. And yet the great Belgian detective couldn't help feeling that he was being taken for a ride. After all, how could Jane have stabbed Lord Edgware to death in his library at exactly the same time she was seen dining with friends? And what could be her motive now that the aristocrat had finally granted her a divorce?
Just After Midnight, A Snowdrift Stopped The Orient Express In Its Tracks. The Luxurious Train Was Surprisingly Full For The Time Of The Year. But By The Morning There Was One Passenger Fewer. An American Lay Dead In His Compartment, Stabbed A Dozen Times, His Door Locked From The Inside. With Tension Mounting, Detective Hercule Poirot Comes Up With Not One, But Two Solutions To The Crime.
Three Act Tragedy
- 192 pages
- 7 hours of reading
At an apparently respectable dinner party, a vicar is the first to die...Thirteen guests arrived at dinner at the actor's house. It was to be a particularly unlucky evening for the mild-mannered Reverend Stephen Babbington, who choked on his cocktail, went into convulsions and died. But when his martini glass was sent for chemical analysis, there was no trace of poison -- just as Poirot had predicted. Even more troubling for the great detective, there was absolutely no motive!
Originally published in 1935 under the title Death in the air.
The ABC Murders
- 331 pages
- 12 hours of reading
When Alice Ascher is murdered in Andover, Hercule Poirot is already on to the clues. Alphabetically speaking, it's one down, twenty-five to go. There's a serial killer on the loose. His macabre calling card is to leave the ABC Railway guide beside each victim's body. But if A is for Alice Asher, bludgeoned to death in Andover; and B is for Betty Bernard, strangled with her belt on the beach at Bexhill; then who will Victim C be?
Cards on the Table
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Hercule Poirot, along with three other top detectives, is invited to a bridge party where they are challenged to spot four murderers
An archaeologist’s wife is murdered on the shores of the River Tigris in Iraq.It was clear to nurse Amy Leatheran that something sinister was going on at the Hassanieh dig, something associated with the presence of ‘Lovely Louise’, the wife of the celebrated archaeologist Dr. Leidner. But she couldn't pinpoint it.In a few days’ time Hercule Poirot was due to drop in at the excavation site. With Louise suffering terrifying hallucinations, and tension within the group becoming almost unbearable, Poirot might just be too late…
Death on the Nile
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
John Moffatt stars as the famous Belgian detective in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of one of Christie's most popular novels. Linnet Ridgeway has led a charmed life. Blessed with beauty, enormous wealth and a devoted husband, she has everything anyone could wish for. But as the happy couple set out on an idyllic honeymoon cruise on the Nile, storm clouds are gathering ...
How Did A Woman Holding A Pistol In Her Right Hand Manage To Shoot Herself In The Left Temple? What Was The Link Between A Ghost Sighting And The Disappearance Of Top Secert Military Plans? How Did The Bullet That Killed Sir Gervase Shatter A Mirror In Another Part Of The Room? And Who Destroyed The Eternal Triangle Of Love Involving Renowned Beauty, Valentine Chantry? Hercule Poirot Is Faced With Four Mystifying Cases Murder In The Mews, The Incredible Theft, Dead Man S Mirror And Triangle At Rhodes Each A Miniature Classic Of Characterisation, Incident And Suspense.
Dumb Witness
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Everyone blamed Emily's accident on a rubber ball left on the stairs by her frisky terrier. But the more she thought about the fall, the more convinced she became that one of her relatives was trying to kill her.
Appointment with Death
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Among the towering red cliffs of Petra, like some monstrous swollen Buddha, sat the corpse of Mrs Boynton. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist was the only sign of the fatal injection that had killed her. With only 24 hours available to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalled a chance remark he’d overheard back in Jerusalem:‘You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?’ Mrs Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he’d ever met… Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. She wrote 80 crime mysteries and collections, and saw her work translated into more languages than Shakespeare. Her enduring success, enhanced by many film and TV adaptations, is a tribute to the timeless appeal of her characters and the unequalled ingenuity of her plots. ‘Twice as brilliant as 'Death an the Nile', which was entirely brilliant.’THE OBSERVER
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
- 203 pages
- 8 hours of reading
A BBC Radio full-cast dramatization starring Peter Sallis as the great Belgian detective. Tyrannical millionaire Simeon Lee has been estranged from most of his family for years. But now, on Christmas Eve, the old man calls them all together once more. Before they can discover his motivation, they find him lying in a pool of blood, his throat cut. But it is the strangest thing--the door has been locked from the inside and there is no trace of the murderer. With so many possible suspects, it is lucky for Superintendent Sugden that the Chief Constable has his old friend Hercule Poirot staying with him. It seems to be an impossible case. But, as Poirot knows only too well, things aren't always as they seem.
One, two, buckle my shoe
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand. Later, one of his patients was found dead from a lethal dose of local anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day of appointments?
The Body in the Library
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
When the Bantrys wake to find the body of a beautiful, young stranger in their library, Dolly Bantry knows there's only one person to call : her old friend Miss Marple. Who was the young girl ? What was she doing in the library ? And is there a connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are discovered in an abandoned quarry ? Miss Marple must solve the mystery, before tongues start to wag and the murderer strikes again.
Evil under the sun
- 219 pages
- 8 hours of reading
It was not unusual to find the sun-loving Arlena Stuart stretched out on a beach, face down. Only on this occasion there was no sun...her beautiful bronzed body had been strangled to death.
Five Little Pigs
- 240 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Beautiful Caroline Crale was convicted of poisoning her husband, yet there were five other suspects - Philip Blake (the stockbroker) who went to market; Meredith Blake (the amateur herbalist) who stayed at home; Elsa Gree (the three-time divorcee) who had roast beef; Cecilia Williams (the devoted governess) who had none; and Angela Warren (the disfigured sister) who cried all the way home. It is sixteen years later, but Hercule Poirot just can't get that nursery rhyme out of his mind...
The Hollow
- 264 pages
- 10 hours of reading
Lady Angkatell, intrigued by the criminal mind, has invited Hercule Poirot to her estate for a weekend house party. The Belgian detective's arrival at the Hollow is met with an elaborate tableau staged for his amusement: a doctor lies in a puddle of red paint, his timid wife stands over his body with a gun while the other guests look suitably shocked. But this is no charade. The paint is blood and the corpse real!
Hercule Poirot staves off retirement for another irresistible case. In this title, each of the 12 chapters is a short story dealing with one of Hercules's labors.
Shortly after marrying an attractive young widow, Gordon Cloade is killed by a bomb blast in the blitz. The former Mrs Underhay is now in sole possession of the family fortune. Poirot is approched by Gordon's sister in law claiming that Mrs Underhay's first husband is still alive.
Hercule Poirot: Mrs. McGinty's Dead
- 238 pages
- 9 hours of reading
‘Mrs McGinty’s dead!’ ‘How did she die?’ ‘Down on one knee, just like I!’ The old children’s game now seemed rather tasteless. The real Mrs McGinty was killed by a crushing blow to the back of the head and her pitifully small savings were stolen. Suspicion falls immediately on her lodger, hard up and out of a job. Hercule Poirot has other ideas – unaware that his own life is now in great danger.
After the funeral
- 256 pages
- 9 hours of reading
When Cora is savagely murdered with a hatchet, the extraordinary remark she made the previous day at her brother Richard's funeral, suddenly takes on a chilling significance.
Hickory Dickory Death
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
First Pocket Books printing September, 1956.' 7th printing.
Dead Man's Folly
- 224 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Whilst organising a mock murder hunt for the village fete hosted by Sir George and Lady Stubbs, a feeling of dread settles on the famous crime novelist Adriane Oliver. Call it instinct, but it's a feeling she just can't explain...or get away from. In desperation she summons her old friend, Hercule Poirot -- and her instincts are soon proved correct when the 'pretend' murder victim is discovered playing the scene for real, a rope wrapped tightly around her neck. But it's the great detective who first discovers that in murder hunts, whether mock or real, everyone is playing a part.
Unpleasant things are going on in an exclusive school for girls – things like murder… Late one night, two teachers investigate a mysterious flashing light in the sports pavilion, while the rest of the school sleeps. There, among the lacrosse sticks, they stumble upon the body of the unpopular games mistress – shot through the heart from point blank range. The school is thrown into chaos when the ‘cat’ strikes again. Unfortunately, schoolgirl Julia Upjohn knows too much. In particular, she knows that without Hercule Poirot’s help, she will be the next victim…
Clocks
- 246 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Sheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs. Pebmarsh, the blind owner of No. 19, denies all knowledge of ringing Sheila's secretarial agency and asking for her by name -- yet someone did. Nor does she own that many clocks. And neither woman seems to know the victim. Colin Lamb, a young intelligence specialist working a case of his own at the nearby naval yard, happens to be on the scene at the time of Sheila Webb's ghastly discovery. Lamb knows of only one man who can properly investigate a crime as bizarre and baffling as what happened inside No. 19 -- his friend and mentor, Hercule Poirot.
Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot’s breakfast confessing that she is a murderer—and then promptly disappears. Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family, and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent, or insane.
At a Halloween party, Joyce, a hostile 13-year-old, boasts that she once witnessed a murder. Within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night Hercule Poirot is called in to find the killer.
Elephants Can Remember
- 237 pages
- 9 hours of reading
Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. For here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident – the broken body of a woman was discovered on the rocks at the foot of the cliff. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Poirot delves back into a crime committed 15 years earlier and discovers that, when there is a distinct lack of physical evidence, it’s just as well that ‘old sins leave long shadows.' This story is part of Agatha Christie’s murder in retrospect series, a collection of stories which look at a crime several years after the fact, piecing together testimonials and witness reports to finally uncover the truth. This time we see Mrs Oliver’s goddaughter, attempting to find out the truth about her deceased parents – who killed whom?
Poirot's Early Cases
- 222 pages
- 8 hours of reading
With each case, Poirot further proves his reputation as the greatest mind in detective fiction. In "The Plymouth Express," the body of the daughter of a wealthy American industrialist is found stuffed under a train seat. "Problem at Sea" finds a disliked rich woman murdered in a locked room on a ship. "The King of Clubs" involves a prince, his dancer fiancée, and a fiendish bit of blackmail.
The House Guests At Styles Seemed Perfectly To Captain Hastings: There Was His Own Daughter Judith, An Inoffensive Ornithologist Called Norton, Dashing Mr Allerton, Brittle Miss Cole, Doctor Franklin And His Fragile Wife Barbara, Nurse Craven, Colonel Luttrell And His Charming Wife Daisy, And The Charismatic Boyd-Carrington. So Hastings Was Shocked When Poirot Declared That One Of Them Was A Five-Times Murderer. True, The Ageing Detective Was Crippled With Arthritis, But Had His Deductive Instincts Finally Deserted Him?&
Related books
Hercule Poirot
- 800 pages
- 28 hours of reading
At Last All The Poirot Short Stories In A Single Volume My Name Is Hercule Poirot And I Am Probably The Greatest Detective In The World. The Dapper, Moustache-Twirling Little Belgian With The Egg-Shaped Head, Curious Mannerisms And Inordinate Respect For His Own Little Grey Cells Has Solved Some Of The Most Puzzling Crimes Of The Century. Appearing In Agatha Christie S Very First Novel In 1920 And Her Very Last In 1975, Hercule Poirot Became The Most Celebrated Detective Since Sherlock Holmes, Appearing In 33 Novels, A Play, And These 51 Short Stories. Arranged In Their Original Publication Order, These Short Stories Provide A Feast For Hardened Agatha Christie Addicts As Well As Those Who Have Grown To Love The Detective Through His Many Film And Television Appearances.
Problem at Pollensa Bay
- 320 pages
- 12 hours of reading
All Great Crime Writers Have Their Favourite Creations. Similarly, Every Great Sleuth Has His Own Preferred Method Of Deduction. Take The Charming Parker Pyne, Who Relies Upon An Intuitive Knowledge Of Human Nature To Solve The Problem At Pollensa Bay. Or Mr Satterthwaite, Who Seeks Inspiration Through His Collaboration With The Enigmatic Mr Quin In The Harlequin Tea Set Mystery. Then, Of Course, There S Poirot, Whose Measured Analysis Of Motive And Opportunity Is Tested To The Full In Yellow Iris, When He Receives An Anonymous Call About A Matter Of Life And Death.
- The adventure of the Christmas pudding - The mystery of the Spanish chest - The under dog - Four-and-twenty blackbirds - The dream - Greenshaw's folly
Black Coffee
- 208 pages
- 8 hours of reading
Sir Claud Amory's revolutionary new formula for a powerful explosive is stolen. Locking his house-guests in the library, Sir Claud switches off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula, no questions asked. When the lights come on, he is dead, and Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have to unravel a tangle of family feuds, old flames and suspicious foreigners to find the killer and prevent a global catastrophe.
The very last Agatha Christie book, including some of her earliest stories - including her very first - which show the Queen of Crime in the making...
Murder on the Orient Express: The Graphic Novel
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
Experience Agatha Christie's masterpiece as you've never seen it before with this brand-new graphic novel adaptation--featuring gorgeous full-color illustrations by Bob Al-Greene. "The murderer is with us--on the train now . . ." Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again. This beautiful, full-color graphic novel adaptation brings this favorite mystery to life--perfect for longtime fans and new readers alike.
