18 books like The Big Four

What to read after The Big Four — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Elephants Can Remember Agatha Christie · 1969 · ★ 3.7 · 224p · ≈ 7h · Moderate E-book exclusive extras:1) Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on Elephants Can Remember;2) "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective."The Ravenscrofts didn’t seem that kind of person. They seemed well balanced and placid…" And yet, twelve years earlier, the husband had shot the wife, and then himself — or perhaps it was the other way around, since… Shares: Détectives, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Agatha Christie · 1940 · ★ 3.8 · 201p · ≈ 6h · Challenging The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand. Later, one of his patients was found dead from a lethal dose of local anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day of appointments? A shoe buckle holds the key to the mystery. Now – in the words of the… Shares: Détectives, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories

Taken at the Flood Agatha Christie · 1948 · ★ 3.7 · 226p · ≈ 7h · Challenging A few weeks after marrying an attractive young widow, Gordon Cloade is tragically killed by a bomb blast in the London blitz. Overnight, the former Mrs. Underhay finds herself in sole possession of the Cloade family fortune. Shortly afterwards, Hercule Poirot receives a visit from the dead man's sister-in-law who claims she has been warned by 'spirits' that Mrs. Underhay's first husband is still… Shares: Détectives, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, Private investigators

Poirot's Early Cases Agatha Christie · 1963 · ★ 3.9 · 304p · ≈ 10h · Moderate With his career still in its formative years, we learn many things about how Poirot came to exercise those famous "grey cells" so well. Fourteen of the eighteen stories collected herein are narrated by Captain Arthur Hastings—including what would appear to be the earliest Poirot short story, The Affair at the Victory Ball, which follows soon on the events of The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Two… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Mrs. McGinty's Dead Agatha Christie · 1951 · ★ 3.9 · 254p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Poirot, disillusioned by the "senseless cruel brutality" of modern crime, pays no attention to the sad case of Mrs McGinty, an old woman apparently struck dead by her lodger for thirty pounds that she kept under a floorboard. When, however, he is asked by the investigating officer to take another look at the case to stop an innocent man going to the gallows, he realises that things may not be as… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Curtain Agatha Christie · 1975 · ★ 4.1 · 232p · ≈ 7h · Moderate wheelchair-bound Poirot returns to Styles, the venue of his first investigation, where he knows another murder is going to take place… The house guests at Styles seemed perfectly pleasant to Captain Hastings; there was his own daughter Judith, an inoffensive ornithologist called Norton, dashing Mr Allerton, brittle Miss Cole, Doctor Franklin and his fragile wife Barbara , Nurse Craven, Colonel… Shares: Détectives, Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories

Peril at End House Agatha Christie · 1932 · ★ 4.0 · 279p · ≈ 9h · Challenging Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckley. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo. Poirot quickly takes a particular interest in the young woman. Recently, she has narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

The Clocks Agatha Christie · 1963 · ★ 4.4 · 248p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Sheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs Pebmarsh, the blind owner of No. 19, denies all knowledge of ringing Sheila’s secretarial agency and asking for her by name — yet someone did. Nor does she own that many clocks. And neither woman seems to… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

The Labours of Hercules Agatha Christie · 1947 · ★ 3.8 · 258p · ≈ 8h · Challenging The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947. It features Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and gives an account of twelve cases with which he intends to close his career as a private detective. His regular sidekicks (his secretary, Miss Lemon, and valet, George/Georges) make cameo appearances, as… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding Agatha Christie · 1960 · ★ 3.8 · 264p · ≈ 8h · Moderate First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding...then the discovery of a corpse in a chest...next, an overheard quarrel that led to murder...the strange case of the dead man who altered his eating habits...and the puzzle of the victim who dreamt his own suicide. What links these five baffling cases? The little grey cells of Monsieur Hercule Poirot! Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Murder on the Links Agatha Christie · 1923 · ★ 3.9 · 193p · ≈ 6h · Challenging Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is summoned to France after receiving a distressing letter with a urgent cry for help. Upon his arrival in Merlinville-sur-Mer, the investigator finds the man who penned the letter, the South American millionaire Monsieur Renauld, stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly dug open grave on the golf course adjoining the property. Meanwhile the… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Dumb Witness Agatha Christie · 1937 · ★ 3.9 · 228p · ≈ 7h · Challenging Emily Arundel changed her will only days before her death, and Hercule Poirot must "determine which of the victim's disgruntled relatives did not have a motive for murder."--Cover. Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, Private investigators, Comic books

Murder in the Mews Agatha Christie · 1955 · ★ 3.8 · 222p · ≈ 7h · Moderate When a young woman is found in a locked room having been shot, the police assume it’s suicide. However, when Poirot looks further he begins to suspect murder – would a right-handed woman shoot herself from the left? A story of novella length, it was first published in Woman’s Journal in December 1936, and later formed one of four stories the collection, Murder in the Mews, published in 1937 by… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Five Little Pigs Agatha Christie · 1942 · ★ 4.0 · 272p · ≈ 9h · Challenging Sixteen years after Caroline Crale has been convicted of the murder of her husband, Amyas Crale, her daughter, Carla Lemarchant, approaches Poirot to investigate the case. Poirot embarks optimistically upon an unprecedented challenge, but soon fears that the case may be as cut and dried as it had first appeared. Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, Private investigators, England

Poirot Investigates Agatha Christie · 1924 · ★ 3.9 · 176p · ≈ 5h · Challenging in published order, the first 10 Christie mystery books featuring Poirot are: 1) The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 2) The Murder on the Links, 3) Poirot Investigates, 4) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 5) The Big Four, 6) The Mystery of the Blue Train, 7) Black Coffee: A Mystery Play in Three Acts [Charles Osborne novelized the play in 1998 under the title, Black Coffee], 8) Peril at End House, 9)… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Third Girl Agatha Christie · 1966 · ★ 4.1 · 262p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient personal secretary; the second an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot's breakfast of 'Brioche' and 'Chocolat' insisting she is a murderer – and then promptly disappears. Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumours surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family – and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators

Problem at Pollensa Bay Agatha Christie · 1991 · ★ 3.8 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Moderate This collection of eight stories feature characters such as Christie's most famous detective, Hercule Poirot, Mr Parker Pyne and the mysterious Harley Quin. Shares: English Detective and mystery stories, Private investigators, England

Sad Cypress Agatha Christie · 1939 · ★ 3.9 · 256p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Cousins by marriage and lovers by inclination, Roddy and Elinor were the ideal match. He loathed any display of emotion, while she was composed at all times. Then they got an anonymous letter warning that their rich Aunt Laura was thinking of cutting them off, and their perfect world vanished. Roddy did the unthinkable, and fell in love. And Elinor found herself charged with murder. When Hercule… Shares: Poirot, Hercule Poirot, Private investigators, England

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