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This is the fourth Tommy and Tuppence novel (a pair of protagonists who feature in five Agatha Christie novels). It’s not a household name like Murder on the Orient Express or And Then There Were None, and yet it is easily one of the best books she ever wrote. And so, Poirot reaches out to those five little pigs to interview them and discover who really killed Carla’s father, and why exactly her mother confessed to the murder. Like the other best Christie novels, Crooked House is not a Poirot or Marple novel. It is a standalone story about a young British man named Charles.

The Cornish setting certainly helps with that, as Peril at End Housetakes place while Poirot is staying at a summer resort in Cornwall.The premise, as with all of the best Agatha Christie novels, is tight and simple: at a dinner party, a woman drops dead from poisoning. That’s exactly how Three Act Tragedybegins, which is enough to earn it a spot on this list of Agatha Christie books ranked.

We begin with Tommy and Tuppence visiting Tommy’s aunt Ada in a retirement home. There, Tuppence meets a strange woman named Mrs Lancaster. Before Ada died, Mrs Lancaster gifted her a painting of a house that feels oddly familiar to Tuppence. If the concept of a big family house full of unlikeable misfits, a wealthy patriarch suddenly dying, and a series of interviews and investigations sounds familiar, then you’re probably a fan of Knives Out. Ten mostly unrelated people have been lured to an island off the coast of Devon — Soldier Island — by letters or telegrams. Hastings’ perspective also adds some comedy to the narrative, as his banter with Poirot is always welcome.On the same day, Mike meets a young American girl; the rich heiress to a great American business and fortune. Fortunately, the retired Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot, has just moved in next door and takes an interest in this murder mystery. Quite often, even with the best Agatha Christie novels, there are obvious red herrings or moments of staging that the reader can see through. When Carla turned twenty-one, she was given a note from her mother, who died in prison, declaring her innocence (despite the fact that she confessed to the crime in court all those years ago). We learn early on that the butler never called — in fact, the call didn’t even come from the house — so where did it come from, and why?

What makes it so perfect is the fact that every single character has a very strong motivation for killing the victim. When Mike ends up in a quaint English village, he takes a liking to a big, beautiful house that the locals believe to be cursed. Death is attracted to this house. While this isn’t the best Miss Marple story, the slew of questions it poses really keep the reader pressing forward, as they do for Marple herself.

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Her death is ruled as suicide, but her husband soon receives an anonymous note telling him that it was murder, and so he recreates that same dinner party with those same guests. Most of the best Agatha Christie books have a murder at their centre, and someone — often Poirot or Marple — to solve it. Here, however, we have the Belgian sleuth on the trail of a serial killer. Blending her mystery chops and the gothic genre is a recipe for one of the best Agatha Christie books ever. The best Agatha Christie books all have something unique about them — often a twist on, or a blending of, genre — but this one is just a very solid whodunnit. This particular Tommy and Tuppence novel puts the spotlight on Tuppence, which is great to see since she’s the more interesting of the two protagonists.

Murder mystery novels like Christie’s often make for great cosy winter reads, curled up by a fire in a dimly-lit room. This one, however, has a delightfully summer vibe. Despite not being written to be likeable, this is Poirot at his most compelling and admirable as a protagonist. He gets tested and stretched here, which is very fun to read. When we meet Charles, he’s working in Cairo. There, he meets Sophia: a fellow Brit who comes from a big suburban family in London: the Leonides Family. However, while it has a wonderful setup and opening, the novel is weighed down by a series of awkward coincidences and a heavily expository info dump of a conclusion.

Calculating the Molar Mass of a Pure Substance (M=m/n)

The title And Then There Were Nonecomes from a nursery rhyme that hangs above the mantel, and the deaths in the rhyme match up with the deaths in the book. Despite its popularity, it is not her very best novel, but it’s also not overrated. Murder on the Orient Express really is just that good, and most of this is down to the incredible twist. And Then There Were Noneis the best Agatha Christie book. This is not a contentious statement. Countless fans consider it her magnum opus, and for good reason.