Six Agatha Christie books checked so far: 2 better heard, 1 better read and 3 that work either way.
Agatha Christie (1890 to 1976) was born in Torquay, Devon, and wrote 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections. Hercule Poirot arrived in her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), and Miss Marple in a run of short stories from 1927.
Guinness World Records lists her as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, and her play The Mousetrap, which opened in London in 1952, is the world’s longest-running play. She was made a Dame in 1971.
Sources: Wikipedia, read 6 November 2026.
Scroll for every verdict so far.
A train is stopped by snow, a passenger is found murdered, and Hercule Poirot has a carriage full of suspects with nowhere for any of them to go.Why listen: Kenneth Branagh’s reading won an AudioFile Earphones Award for its warm narration and distinct voices, which keep each character clear by ear. There’s also an Audible drama led by Tom Conti as Poirot.
Ten strangers are lured to an island off the Devon coast, and they begin to die one by one, following the verses of a nursery rhyme.Close call: The point of view keeps shifting between all ten guests, which is easier to follow on the page when one reader voices them all. AudioFile’s praise for Dan Stevens keeps it close.
Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed in his study in the village of King’s Abbot, and the local doctor, James Sheppard, helps Poirot investigate.Why listen: The Online Stage gives each of twelve characters a performer of their own in a complete, unabridged recording. It is on Audible US only; UK listeners will find Hugh Fraser’s solo reading.
Hercule Poirot is aboard a Nile steamer when the young heiress Linnet Ridgeway is shot during her honeymoon cruise, and every passenger must be questioned.Close call: Kenneth Branagh, the screen Poirot of 2022, reads it and listeners rate him highly. On the page it is easier to keep track of the more than twenty characters the first chapter introduces.
Wealthy old Simeon Lee gathers his estranged children at the family home for Christmas. On Christmas Eve he is found dead in a locked room, and Poirot, staying nearby, is called in.Close call: Nothing makes it harder on audio or on the page, so either works. If you listen, choose Hugh Fraser’s unabridged reading for HarperCollins, which is the full novel, rather than the 80-minute BBC dramatisation with Peter Sallis.
A 2020 collection of Agatha Christie’s winter-themed short stories, some with Hercule Poirot and some with Miss Marple, including A Christmas Tragedy and Christmas Adventure.Close call: Read it for the fuller collection, as one reader counted twelve stories in print against about seven on the UK audio. Listen for Fenella Woolgar’s 7 hour 55 minute reading, but check the story list first so you know what you’re getting.
Start anywhere: each novel is a complete mystery and none needs another to make sense. The three most-read starting points are Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. If you would rather follow Hercule Poirot from the start, his first case is The Mysterious Affair at Styles (UK 1921), which has no verdict yet.
| # | Book | Year (UK) | Series | UK audiobook narrator | UK length | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Murder of Roger Ackroyd | 1926 | Hercule Poirot, book 4 | Hugh Fraser (HarperCollins, 2006); verdict based on the Audible US full cast, see note | 6h 54m | Listen, 70% |
| 2 | Murder on the Orient Express | 1934 | Hercule Poirot, book 10 | Kenneth Branagh (HarperCollins, 2017) | 6h 13m | Listen, 62% |
| 3 | Death on the Nile | 1937 | Hercule Poirot, book 17 | Kenneth Branagh (HarperCollins, 2020) | 8h 14m | Either, 50% |
| 4 | Hercule Poirot’s Christmas | 1938 | Hercule Poirot, book 20 | Hugh Fraser (HarperCollins, 2006) | 6h 9m | Either, 50% |
| 5 | And Then There Were None | 1939 | Standalone, no series detective | Dan Stevens (HarperCollins, 2014) | 6h 1m | Read, 54% |
| 6 | Midwinter Murder | 2020 | Short story collection | Fenella Woolgar (HarperCollins) | 7h 55m | Either, 50% |
UK publication order. Narrators and lengths are from Audible UK, checked 6 November 2026; Poirot book numbers are Audible’s series numbers. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: the verdict is based on the Spoken Realms full-cast recording, unabridged, with twelve performers each credited with a character (7h 36m, released 22 November 2022). It is sold on Audible US only, so UK listeners will find Hugh Fraser’s reading, shown in the table. Coming next, not yet checked: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921, Poirot 1), The Murder at the Vicarage (1930, Miss Marple 1) and The ABC Murders (1936).
Hercule Poirot appears in 33 Christie novels (Wikipedia). Four have a verdict here: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.
Miss Marple appears in 12 novels (Wikipedia). None has a verdict yet. The first, The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), is next on the list.
And Then There Were None (1939) is a standalone novel with no series detective. Midwinter Murder (2020) is a collection of short stories.
Most Christie novels have more than one recording on Audible UK, so check the narrator before you buy. The verdicts score full, unabridged readings. The BBC full-cast recordings are radio dramatisations of 80 to 138 minutes, so they are never scored.
| Type | What exists | Examples (Audible UK) |
|---|---|---|
| Hugh Fraser readings (HarperCollins) | Unabridged, one narrator, many Poirot novels | The Mysterious Affair at Styles 5h 57m; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 6h 54m; The ABC Murders 6h 0m; Hercule Poirot’s Christmas 6h 9m; And Then There Were None 5h 36m |
| David Suchet readings (HarperCollins) | Unabridged, one narrator | Death on the Nile 8h 0m; Murder on the Orient Express 6h 49m; Poirot Investigates 5h 41m |
| Actor readings (HarperCollins) | Unabridged, one narrator | Kenneth Branagh: Murder on the Orient Express 6h 13m, Death on the Nile 8h 14m. Dan Stevens: And Then There Were None 6h 1m, Murder on the Orient Express 6h 37m. Richard E. Grant: The Murder at the Vicarage 8h 11m. Fenella Woolgar: Midwinter Murder 7h 55m |
| Marple readers (HarperCollins) | Short stories and single novels | Joan Hickson reads Marple short stories (Strange Jest and Other Stories 4h 25m; A Christmas Tragedy 38 minutes). Stephanie Cole reads At Bertram’s Hotel (6h 44m) |
| BBC full-cast radio dramatisations | 80 to 138 minutes each, so not the full text. Never scored | And Then There Were None 1h 26m; Murder on the Orient Express 2h 18m; Death on the Nile 2h 14m; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1h 27m; Hercule Poirot’s Christmas 1h 20m |
| Audible Originals and Audible Studios casts | Full-cast productions, shorter than the readings. The listings don’t say whether they are the full text | The ABC Murders (Peter Dinklage and cast, 4h 44m, 20 October 2025); The Murder at the Vicarage (Toni Collette and cast, 4h 2m, 13 August 2026); Murder on the Orient Express (Audible Studios, Tom Conti and cast, 5h 47m, 2017) |
Audible UK listings, checked 6 November 2026.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd also has a full cast reading the whole text: the Spoken Realms recording, with twelve performers, on Audible US only. It had two ratings when we checked (6 November 2026). On Audible UK you will find Hugh Fraser’s reading (6h 54m). Richard Armitage’s reading (7h 30m) is also on Audible US only.
| Book | Audiobook, UK | At 1.5x | At 2x |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Murder of Roger Ackroyd | 6h 54m | 4h 36m | 3h 27m |
| Murder on the Orient Express | 6h 13m | 4h 9m | 3h 6m |
| Death on the Nile | 8h 14m | 5h 29m | 4h 7m |
| Hercule Poirot’s Christmas | 6h 9m | 4h 6m | 3h 4m |
| And Then There Were None | 6h 1m | 4h 1m | 3h 0m |
| Midwinter Murder | 7h 55m | 5h 17m | 3h 58m |
| All six books | 41h 26m | 27h 37m | 20h 43m |
| The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Audible US full cast (the edition judged) | 7h 36m | 5h 4m | 3h 48m |
UK lengths from Audible UK, checked 6 November 2026, using Hugh Fraser’s reading for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Totals and speed times are calculated. The shortest is And Then There Were None (6h 1m) and the longest is Death on the Nile (8h 14m).
No. Each novel is a complete mystery, so you can start with any of them. If you want to follow Poirot from the start, his first case is The Mysterious Affair at Styles (UK 1921).
She wrote 66 detective novels, out of 74 novels in total (Wikipedia, Agatha Christie bibliography), plus short story collections and plays.
Wikipedia lists 33 Poirot novels by Christie and 12 Miss Marple novels.
The three most-read starting points are Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. On format, Murder on the Orient Express is a close call that tips to Listen, And Then There Were None is a close call that tips to Read and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (judged on the Audible US full cast) leans Listen.
No. It is a standalone novel with no series detective, first published in 1939.
Several readers. Hugh Fraser reads many of the Poirot novels for HarperCollins, David Suchet reads others, and actors such as Kenneth Branagh, Dan Stevens and Richard E. Grant have recorded single titles. Joan Hickson reads Miss Marple short stories.
Kenneth Branagh reads the HarperCollins recording, 8 hours 14 minutes. David Suchet’s recording (8h 0m) is also on Audible UK.
No. The BBC full-cast recordings are radio dramatisations of about 80 to 140 minutes each, so they are adaptations, not the whole text.
Yes, several adaptations: The ABC Murders with Peter Dinklage (2025) and The Murder at the Vicarage with Toni Collette (2026), both Audible Originals, and the BBC radio dramatisations. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd also has a full-cast unabridged recording, with twelve performers, on Audible US. More full casts: the best full-cast audiobooks.
6 hours 1 minute, read by Dan Stevens. Hugh Fraser’s recording is 5 hours 36 minutes.
It depends on the book, because the verdicts differ from one title to the next. Listen to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Murder on the Orient Express; read And Then There Were None; Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot’s Christmas and Midwinter Murder are close calls, so either format works. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd verdict is for the Audible US full cast; on Audible UK it is read by Hugh Fraser.
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