Lisa Barger

I’m going to say something that might just shock you. Until last year- almost exactly a year ago, in fact- I had never read anything by Agatha Christie.

Now, that might not seem too shocking, except that I have, in the last 10 years alone, written 2 full length police procedurals, 2 mystery novelettes, a 9-story serialized cozy mystery series for Kindle Vella and a light mystery/adventure series for teens.

And I wrote them all without ever having seen even a word from the Queen of Crime.

It wasn’t as though I didn’t like Agatha Christie; it’s just that to me, Agatha Christie was Hercule Poirot and the Poirot of my generation was not treated with a lot of respect. In films, he was often portrayed as a buffoon, with his obsessive and compulsive behaviors played for laughs. And that was something I wanted absolutely no part of.

Then, in 2018 I stumbled across a documentary on Agatha Christie and it peaked my interest. The documentary was hosted by David Suchet, who, of course, played Poirot in the television series Agatha Christie’s Poirot. His obvious respect for both the character and its creator enthralled me. I watched a couple of episodes and was hooked. Clearly, I’d been wrong about Poirot being a bumbling fool.

Fast-forward to December 2023. I found myself spending several evenings alone–a rare occurrence in my house–and with an opportunity to read. Before long, I had an unbroken daily reading streak and that gave me an idea. Why not commit to reading Poirot? So on January 1st of 2024 I restarted The Mysterious Affair at Styles in my Audible app and my 2024 Year With Agatha Christie reading challenge was off.

Can I read or re-read all 33 Poirot novels in a year? I don’t know but I’d love to have some company on the journey.

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