Book: Agatha Christie novels

I read non-fiction books and other material almost exclusively. Regrettably, my imagination or attention span doesn't seem suited to complex stories. Things are OK when they get going, but the mountain of words spent setting the scene leave me wondering what on Earth is going on.

So I dips me lid to Agatha Christie, who wrote about 60 detective/mystery novels in the years 1920–1970 (roughly). They're written in a straightforward manner with antique English which I find absolutely delightful. The plots and mysteries are terrific; how she concocted them is beyond me. And when I finish one book I look forward to picking up the next. The local library has a good collection, but they're obviously popular.

Right now I'm reading the classic Murder on the Orient Express. It's such a famous title, and I retain my childhood fantasy of reading this book while travelling on the Orient Express! Since last December, I've chewed through:

• And Then There Were None (oh what a great book!)
  
• Hickory Dickory Dock
• Cards on the Table
• Death on the Nile
  

Last year I saw a couple of stories on television, and as enjoyable as they were, I have so much more fun reading the books. With more than 3 billion copies sold around the world in 104 languages, methinks I'm not the only one.

Related Books The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith, is a really charming modern book (fiction) about a proudly fat lady in Botswana, of all places, who becomes the country's first female detective. Its portrait of life in Botswana – the good and the bad – is heart-warming and frequently brings a big smile to the face. The follow-up books in the series seem a bit hit and miss, though.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue, by Edgar Allan Poe, is the world's first detective story (1841). It was a few years ago that I read it, and remember nothing of its story, but I do remember enjoying it. Poe's short stories of horror (The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of Red Death, The Purloined Letter, The Tell-Tale Heart) and his poem The Raven are awesome. The guy was an alcoholic nutjob who married his 13-year-old cousin, and the nightmares he commits to print are surely his own. A giant of American literature.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle: the only (I think) novel-length Sherlock Holmes story. Enjoyable, but there's a warmth in Christie's books that I enjoy and which Sherlock Holmes seems to lack.