All nine Christie books here were published in her first decade, 1920 to 1929, and they divide into two series and two standalones.
The first book is also the first Poirot, written while she was working in a hospital dispensary during the First World War.
Christie’s nine books here cover 1920 to 1929, the decade in which she invented the rules she later broke. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the first Poirot, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is the one that changed what a detective novel could do, and The Seven Dials Mystery is a thriller with a country-house setting rather than a puzzle.
The word counts sit in the tightest band on this site, 55,601 to 78,347, which is five to seven hours a book. That is why the shelf is the easiest here to read in publication order: there is no long book to postpone and no short one to save for a journey. Two of the nine are not series books at all, The Secret Adversary and The Man in the Brown Suit.
Start here: The Mysterious Affair at Styles. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is 59,580 words, about three hours, and it sets up the pattern the later books refine: a closed circle of suspects, a detective with an inconvenient personality, and a solution that is fair to the reader.
Agatha Christie: which book first
Every Agatha Christie title on editions.ink, with the reading time for each. The first row is the one to start with.
| Book | Year | Words | Read time |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mysterious Affair at Styles — start here | 1920 | 59,580 | 3 h |
| The Big Four | 1927 | 55,601 | 3 h |
| The Murder on the Links | 1923 | 64,793 | 4 h |
| The Seven Dials Mystery | 1929 | 65,307 | 4 h |
| The Mystery of the Blue Train | 1928 | 70,132 | 4 h |
| The Murder of Roger Ackroyd | 1926 | 70,248 | 4 h |
| The Secret of Chimneys | 1925 | 73,000 | 4 h |
| The Man in the Brown Suit | 1924 | 75,020 | 4 h |
| The Secret Adversary | 1922 | 78,347 | 4 h |
| All nine | 612,028 | 34 h |
What to read after the first one
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd — the one that broke the rules of the form, and the best of the nine
- The Seven Dials Mystery — a Superintendent Battle book, if you want the non-Poirot side of the decade
If you would rather see the whole shelf in chronological order first, the Agatha Christie books in order page lists every title by publication year with the same word counts. The Agatha Christie author page collects all the editions in one place,, and the author index has the other writers on the site. If you want a follow-up by a different author, the read next guide pairs ten classics with what to read after them.
Questions readers ask
Which Agatha Christie book should I read first?
The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), her first book and the first Poirot. It is 59,580 words, about three hours.
Which Christie series are on this site?
Poirot has five books here (1920 to 1928) and Superintendent Battle has two (The Secret of Chimneys, The Seven Dials Mystery). There is no Miss Marple on the shelf yet.
Are these Christie editions free?
Yes, DRM-free EPUB, AZW3 and KEPUB files, no account needed.