Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our 2025 Challenge. After a mixed bag of 'modern' GA mysteries last year, we have gone back to the classics and we hope you will approve.

For 2025, we will be reading the first six Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries.

Jan: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)
Feb: The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
March: The Murder on the Links (1923)
April: The Body in the Library (1942)
May: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
June: The Moving Finger (1942)
July: The Big Four (1927)
August: Sleeping Murder (1976)
September: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
October: A Murder Is Announced (1950)
November: Black Coffee (1930)
December: They Do It with Mirrors (1952)
aka Murder with Mirrors

We will not be using short stories and we have accepted the adaption of Black Coffee as a Poirot. I am sure this will be contentious but we thought possibly less people would have read it, which might make it more interesting, as some titles will be very familiar. We have used the Agatha Christie website for the suggested order of Miss Marple novels, putting them chronologically in terms of Miss Marple's lifetime.

Join us in 2025 to read the one and only Queen of Crime!

Oh, my gosh, be still my mystery-loving heart! What a terrific idea, I look forward to this immensely, thank you, as always, for the wonderful job you all do!

Glad you approve, Susan. Although all re-reads, I am so looking forward to discussing the early books with the group.

I wish you had chosen some other author. AC is one of the greats but has been read and re read. To me, it is much more fulfilling to discover little known authors and texts than to read an author who is already so popular and discussed ad nauseam.

Neer wrote: "I wish you had chosen some other author. AC is one of the greats but has been read and re read. To me, it is much more fulfilling to discover little known authors and texts than to read an author w..."

That is how I feel. Life is just too short!

Don't worry, we will go on doing lots of other authors for buddy reads so there will be something for everyone.

Yes, we run lots and lots of different buddy reads and series. Some of our best challenges have involved classic authors such as Christie or Sayers. This years challenge of new authors was really mixed, so I think Christie will be a good choice. I can always re-read her work and I am pleased that I have read other classics, like Marsh, with the group. I probably would never have read all of them without the challenges. To be honest, I would probably never read ANY series all the way through without the group!

Yes, I have loved more of the authors we have read as a group, and been able to continue through the series.

If I don't have the structure of buddy reads, etc. I tend to give up on a series.

I don't actually give up on them, it is more a case of they get shelved, and I forget.

Yes, I do that too :)

Same! I read the first or first few books in a series, if they come out yearly, but then forget when a new series catches my eye!

We readers are so fickle :) There are a handful of current authors that I do try to keep up with but the sheer amount of new books that interest me are overwhelming.

Susan wrote: "We readers are so fickle :) There are a handful of current authors that I do try to keep up with but the sheer amount of new books that interest me are overwhelming."

Yes! And my best friend and former college roommate reads more popular fiction and thrillers and lives in Orlando with a huge library system, and recommends titles I’ve often not even heard of - I put them on my TBR but don’t know if or when I’ll ever get to them, but I love getting her take on what’s out there! I usually have my nose buried in mysteries or historical fiction from pre-1950, or nonfiction. so many books, so little time…

Susan wrote: "Glad you approve, Susan. Although all re-reads, I am so looking forward to discussing the early books with the group."

I just realized looking through the titles, I’ve never read Black Coffee, so I’m excited about that!

I guess it's a good thing that I didn't make it farther with my plan to read or re-read all the Poirot books in order that I started last year. It's also lucky for me that we're doing the Marple books in chronological order. I could never bring myself to read Sleeping Murder and be done with the series.

Hurrah Vanessa. Yes, come and join us and we can all have a good discussion over who we like best and why :)

Looking forward to this.

Good to hear, Amanda.

Looking forward to this - I have a few groups with buddy or group reads, so it’s good to have tried-and-true favorites I know I’ll enjoy to mix in with new reads I may or may not appreciate as much!

I've read (probably multiple times) all but Black Coffee.

AC! Good to get back to base for a while. The new authors of this year’s challenge were ahum let’s say a wild ride for me 🙈

I think these will all be re-reads, but am really looking forward to this challenge.

Great to hear that members are looking forward to this. It will be good to read some Christie classics together.

Count me in!

Al

In fact, with this challenge I resumed my Christie’s readings. At the moment, I’m reading my first Tommy and Tupence.

Marcus wrote: "In fact, with this challenge I resumed my Christie’s readings. At the moment, I’m reading my first Tommy and Tupence."

Tommy & Tuppence are entertaining, albeit a little unrealistic sometimes.

Al

Marcus wrote: "In fact, with this challenge I resumed my Christie’s readings. At the moment, I’m reading my first Tommy and Tupence."

Just a reminder that we are doing all the T&T's as a buddy read so you should find a discussion for them-we've done the first two so far.

Thanks Frances. I will join.

Just noticed that there is going to be a new Miss Marple book by Lucy Foley - don't think I've read anything by her, has anyone else?
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ha...

I have not. Thanks for the link, we shall see…I’m very wary of Christie wannabes…

Lucy Foley wrote one of the short stories in the Marple: Twelve New Stories book - Evil in Small Places. I thought it was believable as a Marple.

Sonia wrote: "Lucy Foley wrote one of the short stories in the Marple: Twelve New Stories book - Evil in Small Places. I thought it was believable as a Marple."

I thought that 'twelve new stories' was an advertising gimmick!

Judy wrote: "Just noticed that there is going to be a new Miss Marple book by Lucy Foley - don't think I've read anything by her, has anyone else?
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/ha......"

I read The Guest List and only gave it two stars but mostly because I resented spending time with the disagreeable characters. The plot and writing were fine, and it kept me going to the end.

I went to a talk today by author Vaseem Khan, who was great - a really entertaining speaker.

He mentioned during his talk that he thinks a lot of people really like either Poirot or Miss Marple and aren't so keen on the other one, and for him it's Poirot.

As we have this challenge going on, this has me wondering... which character is everyone's favourite? I really like them both. I used to prefer Miss Marple, but now Poirot has grown on me and might just have edged ahead!

I’m torn as I was hooked on Poirot first as a young teen, but then discovered Marple, and once I saw the Joan Hickson televised version, I became a die-hard Marpleite! But I love Poirot’s exotic adventures, like Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia. Miss Marple only ever got as far as the Caribbean A Caribbean Mystery.

But then Miss Marple’s cases, or at least her meditations (inner monologues and discussions with police sidekicks or friends, like Dolly Bantry) really delight me! They show me you don’t have to travel widely to gain knowledge of human nature…so, I guess it depends what type of mystery I’m in the mood to read! Between the two, I can find something to fit my mood.

I really like them both, so I don't fit the theory. I suppose there is the contrast between Poirot, a complete outsider with a somewhat peculiar demeanour and behaviour, who is completely confident in his infallibility and says so, and Miss Marple, who is the epitome of an elderly English Gentlewoman, blends in so perfectly that people often don't notice her, behaves exactly as we expect an elderly Englishwoman of a certain class to behave, and is, at least verbally, very diffident and self-effacing. It's actually quite striking how Christie developed two such different characters to feature.

I like them both, but Poirot was the first Christie character I discovered, so has to be my favourite.

Susan wrote: "I like them both, but Poirot was the first Christie character I discovered, so has to be my favourite."

Vice-versa for me: read Marple first and like her better.

Poirot was “my first” as well, and favorite for years - I discovered Marple later in life, but came to appreciate her calm, dignified demeanor and unshakable moral clarity. She and Poirot share the last attribute, though, which I appreciate.

I must say, though, as enamored as I was back in the ‘90s of the tv series with Suchet and Hickson, on rewatching the last several years, I still appreciate the lavish sets, costumes, recognizable guest actors, etc., but feel the Poirot episodes, strong for the first few series, began the current trend of melodramatic reveals at the end, which I’m not a fan of, honestly.

Christie did just fine in her reveals, maybe they made for monotonous tv with it basically turning into a Suchet monologue, but they often devolve into messy drama, like some tacky “Real Housewives of rural England”.

I just read and rewatched Hallowe'en Party, which they did change some to fit the time constraints, but did a fantastic job of eerie atmosphere, beautiful autumn scenery and lighting, and of course the brilliant Zoe Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver. But they added two extremely unpleasant characters, and the ending was frankly embarrassing and over-the-top!

Miss Marple was my first and remains my favorite, but I am a big fan of Poirot now as well. But the whole village scene Miss Marple books show us so well - or, if she is in London, for example - she still tells us about it.