The Hercule Poirot series preceded the also very popular Miss Marple series by a full ten years. So, although I think that Miss Marple is the prototypical Cozy sleuth, I decided to start with Poirot, who is also one of my favorites. I have written about Poirot a few times before, but never specifically about the books. Among other mentions of Poirot, I wrote about David Suchet’s portrayal of Poirot, I used the first Poirot book as an example of a Cozy with a first person narrator, and I wrote about the Peter Ustinov movies where he played Poirot.
First, let me say that although the Poirot books do not meet all the characteristics that I describe in my definition of a Cozy (since Poirot is usually a paid private investigator and not an amateur sleuth), I do believe that the Poirot books are Cozy Mysteries since most of the features of Cozies are present.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the start of Poirot’s career in England. Poirot had been a detective with the Belgian police before the war (First World War), but in this first book, we learn that Poirot is living as a refugee from the conflict in England in the village of Styles St. Mary which is near the country house of Styles Court. Arthur Hastings, who had met Poirot in Belgium, is convalescing after being wounded in the war in the country house as the guest of John Cavendish, the step-son of Mrs Inglethorpe. Mrs. Inglethorp who had formerly been married to John’s father has recently remarried Alfred Inglethorp who is either or despised by most of people living in Styles Court. Before long, as expected in a mystery story, there is a murder and Poirot is brought in to help find the culprit.
This first book of the series has many of the hallmarks of Poirot’s finest adventures. Hastings is the narrator. Hastings fancies himself as something of a sleuth himself, but of course he is always several steps (if not miles) behind Poirot. Nevertheless, Hastings is one of my favorite Agatha Christie characters and I have to say that his absence in some of the later Poirot books makes them somewhat less enjoyable to me. Here we also meet Inspector Japp (later a Chief Inspector), who has a deep respect for Poirot. And, all of the characteristics of Poirot, including is egg-shaped head, his mustache, his insistence on “order and method” and his “little grey cells” are introduced here.
And, the plot has twists and complications that would have kept me guessing had I not read the book before and seen the story on the Suchet television series. Even knowing what was going to happen in the end did not diminish my enjoyment of the book. For such an early book by Christie (1920), her style and narrative ability are already clearly present. I really enjoyed re-reading it!
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P.S. Some of the available editions do not contain the original sketches of the crime scene and reproductions of some of the evidence that is collected. I think it is worth the time to find an edition that does.
Also, some reproductions of the early editions have a (very) few words are considered offensive and inappropriate (and rightly so) today.
Nora-Adrienne Deret says
Many years ago when we were young and no kids, we signed up for a monthly Agatha Christie Collection. Each book was about $10.00 plus shipping. We own her complete works. Only a few books have ever been read. But I’m sure one day a library will have them on their bookshelves for someone who will.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Nora, I definitely recommend you get one off the shelf and read it then – they definitely hold up well today!
Izzy Fairey says
Thanks! I’m an audible reader and will get a Poirot mystery now just to see if it’s as good. Sometimes it’s hard to find cozies on audible, and often they are read by female readers who must be friends of the authors? Also, the cozys are sometimes so short they aren’t worth the cost of the credit. I love your site, and thank you, again!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Izzy, I seem to recall most being narrated by Hugh Fraser, who of course plays Hastings in the David Suchet, so I don’t think you’ll have any complaints about the narrator because he definitely knows the character! Length… I’m not as sure about. They should still be a decent length, several hundred pages at least.
Louise C. says
I prefer to start with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd when I introduce anyone to Agatha Christie. I approach the subject by asking them if they would like to read the book that stood the mystery genre on its head and created catcalls of foul when it was first published. Needless to say they are amazed that this all happened from a Cozy.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Louise, that’s definitely a classic worth revisiting as well! Though now that I think about it, almost any Christie book is a great introduction to her work, since they’re almost uniformly excellent.
Margaret StashEmpress says
I think the Poirot books were one of my first “grown up” mystery reads. I always liked him better than Miss Marple– but of course Tommy and Tuppence were my all time favorite sleuths!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Margaret, Tommy and Tuppence are excellent as well, but Miss Marple and Poirot are my favorite Christie sleuths, maybe my favorites of all time. Which one is my favorite at any given time depends a lot on which I read last…
Malvina says
Thanks for this, interesting reading. Have you ever considered Georgette Heyer’s mysteries as cosy, even she usually uses police to solve them?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Malvina, actually I can’t really put forward an answer. Unfortunately Heyer is an author that I just haven’t read. I’ll have to make the time some day!
Joyce Kerrigan says
I am extremely pleased to see this post about Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot, etc. I am an enormous fan of her work and especially her books about Poirot. I reread them on a regular basis, and not only the Poirot series. There are many other intriguing mysteries, including those involving Jane Marple, as you mentioned, and others such as “And Then There Were None”, “Towards Zero”, too many to think of at this moment. I am currently rereading “Dumb Witness” with Bob the dog! Amongst the other 9 books I have going right now LOL. Christie was truly a master of her genre and I enjoy watching the movies as well. I just wish they would not sometimes take such liberties with the storyline that it seems almost unrecognizable compared to the books.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Joyce, I definitely agree that just about any Christie book is a classic of the genre. Personally, I need to go back through her stand alone novels more often, since as you say there are quite a few classics among them as well and they aren’t really in my re-reading rotation.
Harriet says
I love cozy mysteries.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Harriet, you’re not the only one!
Donna McLean says
It amazes me that Christie wrote so many great series. Poirot & Marple are the most well known, but she also wrote Tommy & Tuppence, Parker Pyne, & Harley Quin – each very different from the others. A rare talent, we will probably never see another writer like Agatha Christie.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, I tend to agree – and her style is remarkably clear in her early career, when she was very young, as well as her later years. Definitely a great for the ages.
Babypinkroses says
Thank you for reminding me what a delightful read all of the Agatha Christie books are.
I started collecting her novels over 30 years ago and treasure each one.
I always appreciate your informative posts and have a long list of new authors to read.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Baby, I’m glad to be able to give you reminders of classics like Christie as well as introduce you to new authors for the first time.
Mike Fox says
As it happens, “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” was the first Christie Book I read. I have now read all of the Poirot books, and that one remains my favorite. (The Suchet video, unfortunately, couldn’t hold a candle to the book, in my opinion.) I know that “Styles” was Poirot’s first case after he came to England, but isn’t there something in “Ackroyd” that has him coming out of retirement?
Help me, Obi Wan. You’re my only hope.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Mike, I think that “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” is definitely one of Christie’s works that changes the most when you remove the narrator. And yes, it definitely does have Poirot “coming out of retirement”, despite being one of the earlier works in the series!
Joyce Kerrigan says
Yes Mike, Poirot basically came out of retirement during “Ackroyd”. He had thought to retire and grow vegetable marrows (which as far as I can find out, is something much like a pumpkin) and due to the fact that he didn’t enjoy that occupation nor being retired, and also because it is inevitable that where Poirot is, there murder will be also, he was right back into the thick of things again. Which is where he wanted to be in the first place, in my opinion. He refers to that time in later books here and there and you can tell he much prefers to have a murder to occupy his time and his “little gray cells”! Also, I thought I’d mention that “Ackroyd” is one of my favorite Poirot books as well and I agree about the movie, it couldn’t hold a candle to Christie’s original tale but I do love Suchet as Poirot.
Pam says
I can’t believe that I have never read ANY Agatha Christie! After, reading your post and all these comments, I am going to read the Poirot first!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Pam, I’m quite confident that you’ll enjoy them, and envy you reading these classics for the first time!
Gail Wood says
Hugh Fraser has narrated many many of Christie’s works. He is a terrific actor narrator.
Miss Marple remains my favorite. But I do love or like them all.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Gail, yes, Fraser does excellent work as the narrator. The fact that he’s also the iconic Hastings (at least in my mind) definitely helps! And I also love Miss Marple, so I’ll probably be covering them as well in the future.
Tina Kashian says
I’ve read a couple Poirot books, but will have to go back and read more. Thank you for the post!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Tina, I hope you enjoy the rest of the series as well!
robin in oregon says
I have been reading Agatha Christie for over 50 yrs and never tire of her. Great stories, atmosphere and prose. In fact, I was on an Agatha kick the last couple of weeks and reread about 10 of hers, again! My favorite is Miss Marple, But Hercule is not far behind. I do enjoy her “lesser” characters, Harley Quin being my favorite. I consider Miss Marple’s THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY and A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED two of her best and my all time favorites. No, you can not go wrong with Dame Christie. And if I may add a sidebar…If one loves the golden age mysteries, which I do consider cozies somewhat, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout, Patricia Wentworth, and a little later, Patricia Moyes. The early ones, especially Queen, do contain some offensive and inappropriate stereotypes and ideas, but overall are classic mysteries.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Robin, keeping in mind the era they were written is always one of the rules for revisiting classic works. Unfortunately the views presented don’t always hold up to modern sensibilities!
Mike Fox says
I have read the Nero Wolfe books and novellas over and over again, and I never tire of them. I would state my favorite, but before I got the sentence typed, I would think of another that really truly is my favorite. If you haven’t read one, you have a lot to look forward to. I also suggest that you look at the A&E Wolfe series, which is pretty faithful to the books, because you’ll be able to put faces with the characters.
robin in oregon says
I would consider Georgette Heyer’s mysteries as cozies, that borderline category like I mentioned above with Queen and Stout. They are very enjoyable. It’s been years since I read them, but I have them all packed away. Heyer is much more well known for her historical romances, ala Austin, not bodice rippers! They are all very good, gold standard in the romance field.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Robin, I do definitely still enjoy a good “borderline” Cozy, as my interests do extend to many other mystery genres (though I read them less often these days – a peril of running a very specific focused website! Your reading time tends to gravitate to meet the needs of the site). I’ll definitely have to give them Heyer’s work a try some time.
Noilin says
Agatha Christie like others was my first adult mystery book and I still return to them frequently. A chilly, wet wintery day and an Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer or Patricia Wentworth is a little piece of heaven.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Noilin, she’s definitely an author I can revisit time and time again to satisfying results.
robyn says
New to site — really enjoy it — read much of Christie, Louise Penny, P D James and Rendell — and some not so cozy mysteries —but have recently started on some authors listed here. So glad I have — they are so relaxing but just enough suspense to keep my attention — I am now addicted and can’t wait to get my hands on a lot of them and begin reading.
Thank you so much for the blog.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Robyn, I’m always glad to see new visitors! I hope that I’m able to help you find new Cozy Mystery series and keep you up to date on your old favorites for years to come. And of course, you’re welcome!
Karen Scoppa says
Dame Agatha was my first experience with mystery when I was in my early twenties. When I was reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd my boss wanted to bet me I would not guess the murderer. I laughed and said I had never guessed one yet. So no deal. I must say I always loved all the Christe books and was heartbroken when my collection got ruined. I have even read some of the new Poirots and enjoy them too. Thank you for all your work on making this the go to site for us cozy and mystery lovers.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Karen, she’s definitely one of the greats! And yes, I rarely guessed the murderer myself, the first time around. (I guess it isn’t fair to count guessing on subsequent re-reads!) I’m sorry to hear about your collection – that’s always a sad loss.
Joyce Kerrigan says
Karen, so sorry your Christie collection got ruined! I would be heartbroken! I started reading Christie many moons ago when I was still very young, but except for a few that I owned, most I had to borrow from the library as I could never find anyplace that provided the rest that I could purchase. Consequently, I never had the whole library in traditional book form. Since being gifted with a Kindle a few years back, however, I now have all of her books on my Kindle and still love to go back and reread them whenever the mood strikes, which is fairly frequently.
Billie says
Hurriedly, I also like Miss Lemon and the woman writer whose name I have blitzed on.
No matter how many times PBS shows the Poirot movies and Miss Marple’s I watch them.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Billie, I’m definitely the same way – I can’t pass up these series when they show up on TV either! And I think you’re probably thinking of Mrs. Oliver, Agatha Christie’s self-caricature.
Billie says
Thanks, Ariadne Oliver
Carol R. says
I just came across your site when researching what I wanted to teach my book club members about cozies. They have been my favorite reads for years now and I wanted to share that. I am presently reading a Tuppence and Tommy story…Partners in Crime. I’m enjoying revisiting Agatha Christie after many years.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carol, revisiting favorites is always fun.