OliviaFranklin

Novelist Agatha Christie was an influential mystery author for almost 75 years. Although she died in 1976, her stories are still read today. 

She wrote more than 50 mystery novels and sold between 2-4 billion copies, which makes her the best selling mystery author of all time. Her novels are only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. 

Although each story features a different mystery and murder, the common element is the iconic detective, Hercule Poirot as well as another detective, Miss Marple. 

Her most sold books are: “And Then There Were None,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” and “Death on the Nile.”

One of her top novels, “Death on the Nile,” has been part of the freshman’s literature curriculum for more than 25 years. 

Composition and literature teacher Ms. Halli Tripe continues to read “Death on the Nile” with the freshmen, because Christie is “the queen of mystery and the most famous female mystery writer of all time.” The novel is popular among the freshmen, who enjoy “trying to figure out” the murderer. 

Christie’s books have continued to be popular because “people like mysteries, but it’s not gruesome or overly violent,” Tripe said.  

Freshman Madi Eichele read “Death on the Nile” in class and ended up liking it so much that she got multiple Christie novels for Christmas. 

She was given “And Then There Were None,” “Peril at End House,” “ABC Murders,” “Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” and a couple others.”

She has seen “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile.” 

Even though the movie is different from the book, she “liked both adaptations.” 

Most books are structured the same but with interesting twists. It almost always starts with Hercule Poirot insisting that he’s no longer a detective and just wants to relax. 

Then, these plans are ruined when he’s inevitably thrown into the middle of a murder and has to conduct the investigation. 

Christie’s timeless storytelling gives viewers a chance to escape into a world full of red herrings and interesting,  quirky characters. 

The novels keep the reader guessing until the very end when Poirot delivers his dramatic speech that explains the means, motive, and opportunity of the murderer. 

Freshman and recent Read-A-Thon winner, Moira Harr, has been a fan of Christie since she was introduced to the mystery author earlier this year during the “Death on the Nile” unit.

While on Christmas break and competing in the Read-A-Thon, Harr read “Evil Under the Sun” and “The Clocks.” 

She likes that the mystery novels are “unpredictable, but it all falls together in the end.” 

She enjoys reading them because they keep her guessing and she usually doesn’t figure out who the murderer is until the end.

Even though she’s read the other books, she thinks “Death on the Nile” was a good introduction to Agatha Christie and should continue to be the mystery novel that’s a part of the freshman curriculum. 

Christie’s novels are often adapted into movies or TV shows. These adaptations keep the stories popular and relevant today. 

The most popular movies have been “Death on the Nile” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” Most recently, Christie’s novel “Hallowe’en Party” was adapted into a movie called “A Haunting in Venice.”  

Librarian Mrs. Molly Raabe noticed how popular Agatha Christie novels were becoming to students. 

As a result, she recently purchased the first four books of the “Bodies from the Library” series which is a collection of mystery stories, including Christie’s. 

The collection also includes stories from other popular mystery authors from the time. 

If you’re interested in any of the books “Murder on the Orient Express,” “And Then There Were None,” “Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” and “Death on the Nile,” they are available in the Marian library or on the Sora app which has E-books.