Christie's novels are usually dealing with murder, while her short story collections delve out into other topics, such as theft, kidnapping, and any other element of crime that needs detecting.

The great thing about her novels is how I rarely guess who the murderer (or thief, etc) actually is. And when I do guess, it's usually only a lucky guess, as valid as if I had chosen a character at random at the beginning of the book. Some people are bound to feel insulted at the end of some of the books, where Christie, through her chosen character, lectures on how the crime was done and how they figured it out. She usually does a good job of giving the necessary "clues" throughout the book, so that by the end, when it's all pieced together by a triumphant Poirot or Marple, you can't say "Wait, that wasn't something mentioned previously."

Not all of her novels feature the fan favorites, Poirot or Marple. Several books utilize the husband and wife team of Tommy and Tuppence. Others introduce a hero just for the duration of the book. While these books tend to work most of the time (the prime example being Crooked House, which is one of Christie's better books), the weaker plots which could have been salvaged by a familiar face (Poirot or Marple) get left out to dry (Passenger to Frankfurt is the weakest, though it's story line probably would not have worked with Poirot or Marple).

This is the start of a series of articles where I shall read a Christie book and do a write up on it. I'm not a literature major, and I'm not even a great writer, but I am a guy who enjoys reading and writing through opinions. These articles won't be the best writings on Christie books, but if they get you to read, then my job has been accomplished.