This One’s For You | The Best Agatha Christie Book Dedications
Editorial Nikki Schreiner Editorial Nikki Schreiner

This One’s For You | The Best Agatha Christie Book Dedications

“My Dear James,

The above is the dedication in Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas, and true to form, Christie manages to intrigue the reader before he even arrives at the table of contents. Like most people, I don’t normally take notice of the dedications in the books I pick up to read, but after taking note of a few interesting dedications like the one above, I can now say that I always read the dedication in an Agatha Christie book now!

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7 Agatha Christie Books to Read in the Fall
Book Lists Nikki Schreiner Book Lists Nikki Schreiner

7 Agatha Christie Books to Read in the Fall

Spooky season is here and there is no better time to read a mystery! Fall is the best time of year to cozy up and read Agatha Christie and I have just the reading list for you. While I suppose you could consider any murder mystery perfect for this season, there are a few that invoke all the Fall vibes, either because they’re extra eery, or they make you want to cozy up with pumpkin spice tea and a favorite blanket while the weather turns colder outside.

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Poirot’s Magnum Opus
Opinion, Poirot Nikki Schreiner Opinion, Poirot Nikki Schreiner

Poirot’s Magnum Opus

When reading Agatha Christie’s Third Girl recently, I was fascinated by a paragraph on the very first page, when Hercule Poirot is celebrating having finished his own book, one in which he dissects and rates works of detective fiction and their authors. I was intrigued by this because knowing Agatha Christie as part of The Detection Club, we can assume this sort of thing was discussed at length during their meetings, and so we could speculate that these opinions of Poirot’s were actually the opinions of Agatha herself. I found myself wishing there were more to this short section and that we could gain even further insight into her true thoughts on other books and authors.

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Agatha Christe’s The Moving Finger: A Spoiler-Free Review
Book Reviews, Miss Marple Nikki Schreiner Book Reviews, Miss Marple Nikki Schreiner

Agatha Christe’s The Moving Finger: A Spoiler-Free Review

Don’t you feel that some fictional characters are just too unreal to be … well, unreal? Have you ever met a character in some novel that is so quirky that you imagine the author had to have met or known someone with just those kinds of quirks in order to write a character like that?

Such is the case with one particular character in Agatha Christie’s The Moving Finger. Megan is that character’s name and she isn’t the only distinct female player in this particular novel. In fact, the variety of women we meet in The Moving Finger leads us to wonder if exploring female complexities of nature was a purposeful theme in this particular work of Christie’s.

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The Detection Club — A Dream Team of Mystery Writers
History Nikki Schreiner History Nikki Schreiner

The Detection Club — A Dream Team of Mystery Writers

I was recently asked which three fictional people I’d like to have dinner with. I didn’t even have to think about it before answering Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Jessica Fletcher. Wouldn’t it be fun to sit in a room of fictional detectives and wine and dine and chat about mysteries and books every so often? Sounds like my kind of club!

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Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple Books in Order
Book Lists Nikki Schreiner Book Lists Nikki Schreiner

Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple Books in Order

While Hercule Poirot may be Agatha Christie’s most notorious sleuth, Miss Marple is a close second. Miss Marple is an unlikely, but astute detective. She’s an elderly woman from the small fictional village of St. Mary Mead, and she solves murders as a hobby wherever she goes. Miss Marple, having bright eyes and world class knitting skills, has put her excellent judge of character to use in many a quaint village, and has cleverly gotten to the bottom of murders of all sorts.

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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Review, and Then Some
Book Reviews, Poirot Nikki Schreiner Book Reviews, Poirot Nikki Schreiner

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Review, and Then Some

I read Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd over the weekend and even though the ending had been rudely spoiled for me just the week before by a stumbled-upon article online, I couldn’t put it down. Luckily, I didn’t have many other commitments for the weekend!

What follows is my SPOILER FREE review of Agatha Christie’s most famous novel, plus some extra tidbits and factoids, like where you can watch an adaptation of this book, why it was so controversial when it was published, and a few of the best quotes from the book.

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5 Stellar Podcasts for Mystery Lovers (that are NOT true crime!)
Lists, Recommendations, Podcasts Nikki Schreiner Lists, Recommendations, Podcasts Nikki Schreiner

5 Stellar Podcasts for Mystery Lovers (that are NOT true crime!)

5 Stellar Podcasts for Mystery Lovers (that are NOT true crime!)

Podcasts are my favorite! I love podcasts and listen to a wide variety of them on a regular basis. If you haven’t noticed, true crime podcasts are by far the most popular and if you try searching for “mystery podcasts” on any podcast platform, you’re sure to be confronted with a lengthy list of true crime podcasts. The algorithm knows what you really want, after all.

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Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot Novels in Order
Book Lists Nikki Schreiner Book Lists Nikki Schreiner

Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot Novels in Order

Not only is Hercule Poirot Agatha Christie’s most famous detective, he was also her first. Christie’s first published novel and still one of the most popular among fans today, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featured the now famed Belgian Detective, and she continued to write stories for him throughout her entire career. The final book in the Poirot legacy, Curtain, was published just one year before her death (though she had written it some years earlier).

That very first Agatha Christie novel is now over 100 years old and is still being published, along with the other 38 Poirot novels and many more short stories!

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Did Agatha Christie Write “Cozy Mysteries?”
Opinion Nikki Schreiner Opinion Nikki Schreiner

Did Agatha Christie Write “Cozy Mysteries?”

I recently heard a podcaster plant Agatha Christie firmly in the “cozy mystery” genre and I took immediate offense. I thought to myself, “There is no way this person is a true fan! Who would reduce the ‘ Queen of Crime’ to a such a simplistic genre?!”

It turns out, the podcaster was indeed not a true fan and admitted to not having read much in the whodunnit genre in general, so I forgave her and moved on … well, almost. The fact that I’m writing an article arguing why she was wrong implies that I have not actually moved on and that I feel I must defend Agatha Christie’s novels as anything but “cozy”.

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