Ranking Agatha Christie’s murders from least to most likely

The Queen of Crime: an epithet so synonymous with Agatha Christie that it has been trademarked by her estate. And quite rightly so; Christie is widely acknowledged to be the bestselling author of all time, her works having sold more than two billion copies worldwide.

This month marks 50 years since her death, and Christie’s cultural impact is still immeasurable. I will never forget shoving pillows up the front of my friends’ shirts and drawing on Poirot moustaches for a night-out at university. It is cosiness and tradition (and, for me, two-for-one shots of Jägermeister) that Christie’s novels bring to mind. All that and outlandish, despicable murder.

In Christie’s 66 novels and more than 150 short stories there are no fewer than 300 murders that her various sleuths — Poirot, Marple, Oliver et al — must solve. It comes as no surprise that more than 30% of the murders are poisonings, given Christie’s expertise as an apothecary’s assistant in the First World War and at a pharmacy during the Second. The rest of the killings are accounted for mostly by guns, bludgeonings, strangulation and good old-fashioned plunging to death in ever more intricate and incredible scenarios. When you’re in the business of multiple murders, you’ve got to get creative.

This list is by no means exhaustive; however, here are 10 of her most memorable murders, analysed thoroughly on the grounds of their viability. Please know that I write this in my capacity as an armchair detective and Christie fan. If you are reading this as a professional murderer and have a differing opinion about what you could or could not pull off, I beg you, please do not write in.

10. Rudi Scherz in A Murder is Announced (1950)

A Miss Marple mystery in which Rudi Scherz is shot in the dark. So far, so possible, if one has good enough aim and night vision goggles perhaps.

However, what I find most unlikely is the fact that when the murder is announced in the local newspaper (‘...(it) will take place on Friday, 29 October, at Little Paddocks, at 6.30 pm…) the owner of Little Paddocks, Letitia Blacklock does not, I don’t know, vacate the premises? Have a panic attack? She simply prepares for guests.

But aha, this is because Letitia was our murderer all along! This novel encompasses sister swapping, stolen identities and snipping of one’s own ears. And not a night vision goggle in sight. All of which is to say, for me, this sits solidly at the unlikely end of the spectrum.

9. Mrs Inglethorp in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1921)

Poor Mrs Inglethorp, poisoned by Strychnine — a favourite of Christie’s — against the backdrop of the First World War home front. At first this murder feels all rather likely — poison was readily available, there was ample opportunity for the murderer to use it and a pre-existing health condition makes Mrs Inglethorp the ideal victim.

What tips this murder into ‘unlikely’ for me is that it hinges on multiple people being fooled by a woman (ok, a tall woman!) wearing a black woollen beard from a fancy dress box. And that it is a crime of passion committed because someone really, really fancies her cousin. I have to believe that is unlikely for my own sanity.

8. Maggie Buckley at Peril at End House (1932)

A Poirot case in which someone is sent a box of chocolates laced with cocaine! Magdala ‘Nick’ Buckley, supposedly the target of a crazed killer is in fact herself… a crazed killer. This is a novel about money, stolen identities, a fake seance and even more cocaine. I can see it! After all, common food items laced with poison are hardly unique to the work of fiction — the world was hooked by the trial of the Mushroom Murderer last year. It doesn’t feel like a stretch to believe that one day I could be watching a true crime documentary about the Cocaine Chocolate Killer.

7. Gerry Wade and Ronnie Devereux in The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)

Now a Netflix series, The Seven Dials murders are by poisoning after a boozy party and a shooting at the side of the road. So far, so Christie, so possible.

However, the involvement of a secret society of masked, murderous do-gooders who meet above a night club, a Lady with nothing to lose (Helena Bonham Carter plays her brilliantly in the adaptation) and a doctor with a prized formula for metal all make this convoluted series of murders seem rather unlikely. Perhaps that’s just because I struggle to believe anyone could care quite so much about metal that they’d go to all the trouble.

6. Fenella (Ellie) Rogers in Endless Night (1967)

A man who once pushed his friend into a frozen pond to steal his watch murders his wife so he and his girlfriend can steal and then live off all her money by lacing her horse-allergy pills with cyanide? Yes, this feels realistic to me. Horse girls among you — beware.

We’ve got an elaborate plot involving a gypsy curse, star-crossed lovers, an inheritance, an unreliable narrator — it’s classic Christie.

5. Ascher, Barnard, Clarke and Earlsfield in The ABC Murders (1936)

It’s hard to believe that a murderer whose only modus operandi is to kill people in order of the alphabet only got as far as A, B, C before they messed up and went straight for E. Come on murderer, D, it’s D!

Despite a rogue silk stocking salesman who keeps blacking out in the places where the murders happen, these killings, complete with calling card notes, are fairly straightforward as Christie goes — you simply follow the money. I say, fairly likely.

4. Aristide Leonides and Janet Rowe in Crooked House (1949)

I recently read about a child who shot his grandfather because he confiscated his Nintendo Switch, so actually I find it highly believable that a 12-year-old girl might poison her grandfather because he refused to pay for ballet lessons.

Our murderous child prodigy is then driven off a cliff to her death rather than having to face the consequences of prison or an asylum. This, I believe, is called gentle parenting. As someone who lives near a North London school and has witnessed hometime, I find this to be deeply believable.

3. Casetti in Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

While the idea that a group of people on a train delayed due to poor weather conditions might work together to achieve a common goal is obviously extremely unlikely, this murder falls into the likely camp for me because it is just so immensely emotionally satisfying.

Poirot’s insistence that the ‘wrong’ theory (a stranger boarded the train and stabbed Casetti) be relayed to the police rather than the truth is the perfect end to this tragic tale and because I’m sentimental, I like to believe in good triumphing over evil even when that falls outside the realm of what is strictly legal.

2. Colonel Protheroe in The Murder at The Vicarage (1930)

‘There is no detective in England equal to a spinster lady of uncertain age with plenty of time on her hands.’

Well, as a 36-year-old freelance writer with access to Instagram, I could not agree more with Miss Marple.

A bumbling, handsome man literally confesses to shooting his lover’s husband and still no one believes him because he’s so well liked. Does it all get slightly complicated — a chemical meant to imitate the sound of gunshots, a man posing for no real reason as a famous archeologist? Of course! This is Christie, after all. But for me, this shooting, the circumstances and the brilliance of our amateur detective ring entirely true.

1. Basically everybody in Then There were None (1939)

Who among us has not fantasised about enacting revenge on those who deserve it if we were certain there would be no consequences?

For me, perhaps Christie’s best known novel contains the perfect murder plot — it’s as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. The concept of cultivating the world’s best (worst?) murder mystery party in which guests to a remote country house start disappearing one by one while they rush to solve the mystery before their own life is taken, takes the number one spot. Imagine the high stakes rush of it all — think of it like a particularly critical game of Traitors. The nation would be hooked.