lachy.a.w that "Crooked House' is one of the best non-series novel apart from "And Then There Were None" but I must also include "The Pale Horse". Both are fantastic books.
Crooked House and Murder is Easy are both great books. I'm actually not keen on The Pale Horse - I think I just don't like it when AC does 3 Macbeth witches. Because it's these three such characters - three women who are a mixture of normal yet really creepy - that also sort of ruin Nemesis for me...
The ending in Nemesis was creepy, and ultimately a bit of a let down, I felt; the young man is like Mrs. McGintry's lodger... (apathetic, and not a sympathetic case). But the touch of the pink shawl - I loved that!
Pale Horse is probably the best book I've ever read because it was so difficult (impossible) to figure out. And Then There Were None was the 1st book I ever read and one of my favourites as well.
For me, the best stand alone novel is Endless Night. It's not an easy book to get into but perseverance pays rewards. And it just goes to show that even towards the end of her career, she could use the same basic premise from a novel written some 40 years before (and which should therefore have been obvious to a Christie fan) and still manage to surprise the reader at the end. Do not however get me started on the appalling ITV adaptation which ruins what would otherwise have been a perfect dramatisation of an excellent book by writing Miss Marple into the story!
Isn't that Funny, I totally agree with you when It comes to The Moving Finger and can't disagree with you more when it comes to Endless Night, I hated the book and it is my least favourite stand alone book after Passenger to Frankfurt, can you tell me what Christie Novel has the same basic Premise please as it is totally lost on me, I know about the link with the Miss Marple short story The Curious Case of The Caretaker which incidently is my least favourite Miss Marple short story. but I can't see which Novel shares a premise with Endless Night
My favorite Agatha Christie novel is They Came to Baghdad; such great plot and character development. Along the same lines, I'm also a big fan of The Man in the Brown Suit. Both villains were shocking.
The Sittaford Mystery and Towards Zero are great non serial novels .I have enjoyed Sparkling Cyanide as well... At my top there's always And there were none...
I think My favourite Non-series Books are Why Didn't They Ask Evans and The Sittaford Mystery, I wouldn't count Towards Zero as Battle is in other Books, If I had to pick one it would be Why Didn't They Ask Evans? which I am reading now but my favourite Non Poirot?Marple/T&T Book are Evans, Sittaford amd Zero.
I like the introduction of the characters at Towards Zero, it sounds to me a similar technique used by AC at And there were none.This is what I like most in AC books; you've a clear portrait of each character in your mind, which helps you to follow the story afterwards...
Comments
The Pale Horse.
I just love this one.
It is so good! I find the plot so clever! I love the characters too.
I think Crooked House and Endless Night are great too, though.
I love Bundle and her father as characters, but unfortunately I do not care much for the two novels they appear in.
Pale Horse is probably the best book I've ever read because it was so difficult (impossible) to figure out. And Then There Were None was the 1st book I ever read and one of my favourites as well.
The Ones I can think of are;
For plot "Death on the Nile"
and for the identity of the murderer "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"