Agatha Christie remains the undisputed queen of the mystery novel, but of all of her creations, it’s Hercule Poirot that’s the most iconic. A prolific writer, Christie produced 39 novels about the fastidious, mustachioed detective alone, so it can be a little daunting trying to figure out what order you’re meant to read them in. Luckily we’re here to help, so here are all the Hercule Poirot novels nicely arranged in reading order.
1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Poirot makes his debut appearance in The Mysterious Affair at Styles, where we meet him just as he’s settling into life in the UK as a refugee in the middle of the Great War. It’s also where we meet Hastings, on medical leave from the front, who sets events in motion by deciding to get Poirot involved after discovering his elderly hostess has been murdered. This is a classic impossible Poirot mystery, solved with the help of a broken coffee cup, spilled candle wax, and some begonias.
2. The Murder on the Links
The Murder on the Links sees Hastings meet his (romantic) match while Poirot solves a complicated mystery featuring acrobats, surprise twins, and faked murders that turned unfortunately real. This novel is filled with high-key drama where false accusations fly, as well as some humorous debates between Poirot and Hastings over whether or not women actually are attractive.
3. Poirot Investigates
A collection of short stories rather than a novel, Poirot Investigates includes the tale of a Pharaoh’s curse, an abducted prime minister, and a classic locked-room murder.
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Narrated by an unreliable narrator, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd features all the classic Christie tropes, including toxic, wealthy family drama, tawdry affairs, and other rich people problems. I don’t want to say anything else for fear of spoiling the brilliant yet infuriating surprise, but it’s a good one. Christie outdid herself, and it made me mad.
5. The Big Four
While Hastings is visiting Poirot from Argentina, a mysterious man gets into Poirot’s flat only to die on the floor in front of them both—but not before revealing the existence of an international criminal organization known only as the Big Four. Originally a series of short stories that were converted into a novel, The Big Four sees Poirot and Hastings on an international hunt for the mysterious Four, with such a dramatic conclusion that Poirot himself worries all his future cases will be boring in comparison (spoiler: he is incorrect).
6. The Mystery of the Blue Train
Poirot’s first, less well-known case of murder on a train, The Mystery of the Blue Train features the murder of a soon-to-be-divorced heiress, her estranged husband, a missing ruby, and a famous jewel thief all on one train—the train that Poirot just so happened to be traveling on in an attempt to take a nice little relaxing trip to the French Riviera. He should know better than to try to take a holiday by now.
7. Black Coffee
A play rather than a novel (though an official novelization by Charles Osborne does exist), Black Coffee tells a tale of international espionage, blackmail, and the race for atomic secrets. The inventor of a new type of atomic explosive calls Poirot to find his missing research, only to die from poisoning before the detective can arrive. Of course, it’s then up to Poirot to solve the case before the secret weapon can fall into the wrong hands.
8. Peril at End House
Honestly, I love this one. We’ve got more ridiculous rich people problems (if you’re that broke, just sell your giant house!), the sort of innocent-looking young lady that always gives Hastings a run for his money, all sorts of affairs going on, and a weird old aristocratic family with local legends about how awful they are. Peril at End House starts with Hastings and Poirot just trying to keep a girl from getting murdered, but a complex web of conspiracies spirals out from there, with the usual Christie twist you don’t see coming at the end.
9. Lord Edgware Dies (also known as Thirteen at Dinner)
A delightfully twisty mystery, Lord Edgware Dies sees Poirot agree to help an actress seek a divorce from her husband Lord Edgeware, who it turns out is more than happy to grant one. However, when Lord Edgeware is found dead the following day, Poirot realizes things aren’t adding up. As the body count rises, Poirot and Hastings set out to discover who’s really responsible for the killings.
10. Murder on the Orient Express (also known as Murder in the Calais Coach)
Probably the most famous Poirot story, Murder on the Orient Express sees pure coincidence land Poirot right in the middle of a unique sort of locked room murder. When the Orient Express is forced to halt its journey across Europe after being snowed in, a passenger in the first-class coach to Calais is found murdered—a much-hated man whose many enemies have any number of reasons to want him dead. Poirot, having refused the man’s request for help while he was still alive, takes it upon himself to solve his murder, which leads to his having to make the hardest decision of his career.
11. Three Act Tragedy (also known as Murder in Three Acts)
In Three Act Tragedy, a series of curious murders are committed; two occur in plain sight, during rounds of cocktails at two separate parties where Poirot is in attendance, the third at a lunatic asylum the day after the victim telegraphed Poirot asking for an urgent meeting. Poirot, along with several other party guests, sets about solving these murders, uncovering an ingenious method and a tragedy for several of his acquaintances.
12. Death in the Clouds (also known as Death in the Air)
After the blowpipe used to kill a fellow passenger is found stuffed down the side of Poirot’s seat, making him a suspect, Poirot decides to solve the murder out of piqued interest in Death in the Clouds. This novel features classic Christie tropes such as tawdry affairs, blackmail, insolvent aristocrats, and Poirot matchmaking the young people who stumble across his path.
13. The ABC Murders
The birth of several modern serial killer tropes, The ABC Murders is a duel of wits between Poirot and a mysterious killer who chooses his victims at random—the only clue is their initials, proceeding in alphabetical order.
14. Murder in Mesopotamia
When members of an archaeological team start getting murdered in Iraq, the doctor on site calls his old friend Poirot—who conveniently happens to be holidaying in the country at the time—to come and solve the case. With secret identities, war secrets, and double lives aplenty, Murder in Mesopotamia presents us with several puzzling deaths to solve and concludes with a satisfying ending that makes you go “Oh, of course.”
15. Cards on the Table
In Cards on the Table, Poirot meets a strange collector at an art exhibition and receives an invite to dinner. The other dinner guests include three more detectives of various stripes and four people who each got away with murder, while the after-dinner entertainment consists of solving their host’s sudden, but perhaps not unexpected, murder.
16. Dumb Witness (also known as Poirot Loses a Client)
Our last novel with Hastings for a while, Dumb Witness sees Hastings and Poirot investigating the death of an old lady who wrote to Poirot before she died, confessing her fear that someone was trying to kill her. While everyone insists it must have been natural causes, Poirot is convinced otherwise and goes on to prove it using a strange happening at a seance and her little dog Bob, the fox terrier, as the key pieces of evidence.
17. Death on the Nile
After a wealthy woman steals her impoverished (by rich people’s standards) best friend’s fiance only to wind up murdered when they’re all on a cruise down the Nile together, the answer is obvious, isn’t it? In Death on the Nile, one of Christie’s most iconic stories, Poirot unravels a story of jealousy, hatred, and conspiracy that’s even more sordid than it first seems.
18. Murder in the Mews
This is another collection of short stories featuring a locked room murder that might be a suicide, a suicide that might be a murder, espionage, adultery, and lots and lots of blackmail. In Murder in the Mews, almost everyone is rich and horrible and unrelatable, making for the best kind of murder victim where you don’t mind that they’re dead.
19. Appointment with Death
While traveling through the Middle East, Poirot comes across a family dominated by their abusive mother in Appointment with Death, her stranglehold on them tight enough to keep them with her even into adulthood. After it’s been discovered she’s been murdered, Poirot gives himself 24 hours to solve the case, sifting through a wealth of misinformation as people scramble to cover for each other and scandal starts to come out of the woodwork.
20. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas (also known as A Holiday for Murder or Murder for Christmas)
An elderly, deeply unlikeable millionaire summons his entire family home for the holidays to play a series of mind games with them, only to wind up dead in a classic locked room set up. With Poirot on the case, the identity of several family members is called into question, while motives for the murder keep on piling up. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas is possibly the anti-Hallmark movie and much more fun.
21. Sad Cypress
Warned that a young woman is a threat to their inheritance, an engaged couple travels to visit their aged aunt in Sad Cypress in an attempt to intervene. Once there, the man falls in love with said young woman, breaking his engagement—and then the aunt dies, entreating her niece to see the girl taken care of. When the girl dies too, shortly after and from an obvious case of poisoning, the niece is arrested and accused of killing them both, and it’s down to Poirot to ferret out the truth and save her life.
22. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (AKA An Overdose of Death or The Patriotic Murders)
When Poirot’s dentist shoots himself, and his final patient is discovered dead of an overdose of anesthetic, the matter seems cut and dried in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. But of course, it can’t be, because this is a Poirot novel, and the mustachioed detective quickly uncovers a complex plot involving double lives, bigamy, and the obscenely privileged conviction that some of us are above the law.
23. Evil Under the Sun
Poirot attempts to take a holiday in Evil Under the Sun, and as with every other time he’s tried to do that, he walks right into a murder. Staying at a reclusive hotel in Devon, surrounded by guests who have contentious relationships with each other, when one of those guests is found strangled and everyone else has alibis, it looks like the unknown murderer from a previous local case has struck again. Poirot isn’t content to leave it at that, however, and even more secrets are exposed as he finds his way to the killer.
24. Five Little Pigs (also known as Murder in Retrospect)
Carla Lemarchant’s mother was convicted of murdering her father when she was just a child, and now, 16 years later, she’s determined to prove her innocence. Calling on Poirot to solve the case, Five Little Pigs sees him summon together everyone present in the house when the murder took place, a mix that includes several people who had reason to want Carla’s father dead and one person her mother would have gladly died to protect.
25. The Hollow (also known as Murder after Hours)
Another holiday is ruined in The Hollow, this time while Poirot is staying in a country cottage where the entire neighborhood seems to be populated by Dr. Christow and the women he’s had relationships with. When Dr. Christow is found shot with his wife holding a gun nearby, the resolution seems obvious, except it turns out to be the wrong gun, with the actual murder weapon in the winds. Naturally, Poirot is on the case.
26. The Labours of Hercules
The Labours of Hercules is a collection of Poirot short stories put together into novel form. Intending to retire, Poirot decides that he’s only going to retire after completing a few more especially interesting cases. After a little further investigation, he decides to theme his final cases around the 12 labors of his legendary namesake.
27. Taken at the Flood (also known as There Is a Tide)
Taking place after World War II, when the people of Britain are trying to get back to normal, the plot of Taken at the Flood revolves around whether people are really who they say they are. With a mix of possible identities for various figures and three deaths in the mix, Poirot is the only person who can untangle the threads and figure out who was actually murdered and who, if anyone, is guilty.
28. Mrs McGinty’s Dead (also known as Blood Will Tell)
In Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, the eponymous Mrs. McGinty is murdered, and the blame is pinned on her young lodger. Poirot gets involved when an old friend who thinks they’ve got the wrong man asks him to intervene, and a story of blackmail, assumed identities, and crimes long past unfolds. Mrs. Oliver is also there.
29. After the Funeral (also known as Funerals Are Fatal)
After the Funeral is “basically the most cozy cottagecore murder ever,” according to my wife. Featuring a piece of arsenic-laced wedding cake sent through the post, multiple revelations forestalled by head injuries, and an awful lot of art, After the Funeral is a surprisingly cozy Poirot story and lots of fun.
30. Hickory Dickory Dock
Kleptomania at a student hostel leads Poirot on a journey to smuggling and murder in Hickory Dickory Dock, with all the romantic intrigue, surprise deaths, and torrid family drama you’d want or expect from Christie. The study of psychology itself is pretty much a main character in its own right in this novel.
31. Dead Man’s Folly
Mrs. Oliver is back, inviting Poirot to attend a “murder hunt” party in Dead Man’s Folly. With a wealthy man whose trophy wife is smarter than she seems, a secretary who is in love with her employer, and an orphan among the guests, things turn very serious very fast when the “murder victim” actually turns up dead, and the wife disappears.
32. Cat Among the Pigeons
A revolution in India, missing crown jewels, spies everywhere, and an exiled princess at a boarding school all wait for Poirot in Cat Among the Pigeons. When someone starts murdering the teachers, the race to find the killer—and the truth—is on.
33. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
In another Christmas special for Poirot, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding features a missing ruby and royal scandal—which can only be resolved by Poirot staying at a country house and experiencing a traditional English Christmas. Special mention for the group of dreadful young people who stage a fake murder to test Poirot, and of course, Chekhov’s Christmas Pudding.
34. The Clocks
A murder victim surrounded by clocks—four of which were stopped at 4:13—a screaming secretary and a passing MI5 agent kick off The Clocks. An aging Poirot is asked to try and solve the case from his armchair as the deaths start piling up and the situation gets increasingly dire.
35. Third Girl
A girl seeks Poirot’s help, concerned she may have committed a murder even though she doesn’t remember doing it in Third Girl. With two murders and one near miss, the situation is increasingly dire, and what Poirot uncovers is the sort of web of cruelty and greed that Christie excels at.
36. Hallowe’en Party
The inspiration for Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice (obviously heavily adapted), Hallowe’en Party sees a child drowned in a basin of water during a Halloween party hosted by friends of Mrs. Oliver’s. Naturally, the first thing she does is get Poirot involved. This is a deeply eerie story full of folk horror vibes where the real horror, as ever with Christie, lies in the very mundane actions of mankind.
37. Elephants Can Remember
Mrs. Oliver’s goddaughter is getting married, and her future mother-in-law wants to know the truth about what happened to her parents, so it’s up to Mrs. Oliver and Poirot to figure it out. Poirot suspects it is about keeping the young man in question from getting married at all, as his mother will then lose access to his fortune, but he uncovers a great mess of secrets involving identical twins and murder nevertheless.
38. Poirot’s Early Cases (also known as Hercule Poirot’s Early Cases)
As the final collection of Poirot’s short stories, Poirot’s Early Cases includes a murder at a costumed ball, a body in a stolen suitcase, more arsenic, a kidnapping, and a crime scene with an overabundance of clues.
39. Curtain
Poirot’s final Curtain call as it were, this novel sees the return of Hastings and his now grown daughter. Realizing one, or both of them, are likely to be goaded into murder if something isn’t done to prevent it, Poirot steps over that final line he always said he’d never cross and ends the story by taking himself out of the picture as well. While it’s a narratively satisfying end for Poirot, it’s also very sad, so I recommend avoiding it and letting the master of the little grey cells live forever in your head instead.
(featured image: Harper Collins)
