In what order should I read the Hercule Poirot books?

Jsdek

Chronological or release date?

GKCfan

Well, agathachristie.com printed the following list a while ago: http://s3.amazonaws.com/agatha-christie-cms-production/Poirot-Reading-List.pdf

Suggested Reading order for Christie’s Poirot novels and short story collections

The most important point to note is – make sure you read Curtain last. Other points to note are:

1. Lord Edgware Dies should be read before After the Funeral

2. Five Little Pigs should be read before Elephants Can Remember

3. Cat Among the Pigeons should be read before Hallowe’en Party

4. Mrs McGinty’s Dead should be read before Hallowe’en Party and Elephants Can

   Remember

5. Murder on the Orient Express should be read before Murder in Mesopotamia

6. Three Act Tragedy should be read before Hercule Poirot’s Christmas

Otherwise, it’s possible to read the Poirot books in any order – but we suggest the following:

•   The Mysterious Affair at Styles 1920

•   Murder on the Links 1923

•   Christmas Adventure (short story) 1923

•   Poirot Investigates (short stories) 1924

•   Poirot's Early Cases (short stories) 1974

•   The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1926

•   The Big Four 1927

•   The Mystery of the Blue Train 1928

•   Black Coffee (play novelisation by Charles Osborne) 1997

•   Peril at End House 1932

•   The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (short story) 1932

•   Second Gong (short story) 1932

•   Lord Edgware Dies 1933

•   Murder on the Orient Express 1934

•   Three Act Tragedy 1935

•   Death in the Clouds 1935

•   The ABC Murders 1936

•   Murder in Mesopotamia 1936

•   Cards on the Table 1936

•   Yellow Iris (short story) 1937

•   Murder in the Mews (four novellas) 1937

•   Dumb Witness 1937

•   Death on the Nile 1937

•   Appointment with Death 1938

•   Hercule Poirot's Christmas 1938

•   Sad Cypress 1940

•   One, Two Buckle my Shoe 1940

•   Evil Under the Sun 1941

•   Five Little Pigs 1943

www.AgathaChristie.com

•   The Hollow 1946

•   The Labours of Hercules (short stories) 1947

•   Taken at the Flood 1948

•   Mrs McGinty's Dead 1952

•   After the Funeral 1953

•   Hickory Dickory Dock 1955

•   Dead Man's Folly 1956

•   Cat Among the Pigeons 1959

•   The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (short stories) 1960 not published in the USA

•   The Clocks 1963

•   Third Girl 1966

•   Hallowe'en Party 1969

•   Elephants Can Remember 1972

•   Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case 1975

  Four Poirot short stories appear in non-Poirot short story collections: Second Gong (1932) and Yellow Iris (1937) appear in Problem at Pollensa Bay and other stories (1991) in the UK and in Witness for the Prosecution and other stories (1948) and The Regatta Mystery and other stories (1939) respectively in the US. Christmas Adventure (1923) and The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (1932) appear in While the Light Lasts and other stories (1997) in the UK and in the US The Mystery of the Spanish Chest replaced The Mystery of the Spanish Chest in The Harlequin Tea Set and other stories (1997). Christmas Adventure has not been published in this version in the USA. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  This isn't complete, by the way.  Don't read Cards on the Table before Murder on the Orient Express, and read Dumb Witness after the novels published before it.  They contain spoilers.

taliavishay-arbel

Actually, the action in "Murder on the Orient Express" takes place after "Murder in Mesopotamia", as Amy Leathern mentions in the epilogue to "Murder in Mesopotamia".  

calire89

Yes, Talia is correct... I just read these two and was confused by the reading order's suggestions. There are a number of discrepancies I've noticed while going through the reading order suggested here.