I recently discovered the Queen of Mystery, Agatha Christie. Over Christmas break, I read my first book by her, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I have since purchased several more of her books, a good mix of both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple titles. I am curious to know which of these two other Christie fans prefer. Are you Team Poirot or Team Marple?

Reply to post #1 (show post):
I'm pretty much team Christie, period -- it's more a question of individual books (plus what I'm in the mood for at any given moment, etc.).

Off the top of my head:

Favorite Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The ABC Murders, Lord Edgware Dies, Death on the Nile, Cards on the Table, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Sad Cypress, The Hollow, After the Funeral, Evil Under the Sun -- and also a bunch of the short stories.

Favorite Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage, The Body in the Library, A Murder Is Announced, Nemesis, 4:50 from Paddington, and A Pocket Full of Rye.

Favorite nonseries mysteries: And Then There Were None and The Sittaford Mystery.

I also rather like some of the books featuring her "minor" detectives, such as Towards Zero, The Secret of Chimneys, and 3 of the 5 Tommy and Tuppence books (The Secret Adversary, Partners in Crime, and By the Pricking of My Thumbs).

I love Christie's books. Well, most of them. However, both of her main detectives are flawed and this makes up much of their attraction.

I prefer Poirot. I really cannot stand Marple. That is not to say that I dislike the Marple stories. Some of my very favourite Christie books are "Marples" - The Body in the Library, Murder at the Vicarage, A Murder is Announced. Mostly, I think I like the supporting cast of characters much better in the Marple books than in the Poirot ones - not that I dislike Hastings or Miss Lemon, quite the contrary, but the diverse cast of characters in the Marple stories is what makes them for me. It fits too as Marple was not written to take centre stage in the stories.

The Poirot books have a very different quality - Poirot is at the centre of most of the stories and is very much missed when he only turns up in the last part of some books. Much of the structure of the Poirot series works on the basis of his eccentricities.

I guess I'm team Poirot in terms of which character I'd prefer, but as the others have mentioned, there's more to the mysteries than the detective character. I was actually initially a bit confused by my first Marple mystery because she doesn't show up until half-way through. And she's so...mentally disorganized. She can never remember exactly what it is that a situation reminds her of, or at least that's the impression that I get.

Whereas Poirot is just to to watch when he does his thing, at least until Christie herself got bored of him and stopped breaking out his mannerisms so much.

[Aside: Typing on a keyboard again is awesome.]

Team Poirot here! I strongly prefer the Belgian with the egg-shaped head and the "Method, Hastings," over Miss Marple and her affinity for recognizing patterns.

I am also Team Battle, and Team Stand-alone!

My Top Ten Christie mysteries:

1. Murder on the Orient Express
2. And Then There Were None
3. Murder of Roger Ackroyd
4. Death on the Nile
5. Crooked House
6. The Sittaford Mystery
7. Appointment With Death
8. Towards Zero
9. The ABC Murders
10. Ordeal by Innocence

Honestly, there aren't any Marples that even crack my top 10.