Agatha Christie must have titles

I am starting to read mysteries and I was given the complete Bantam faux leather set of Agatha Christie mystery novels. I do not have the shelf space for the whole set so I am soliciting opinions on the top ten or fifteen must-have titles to keep. I am new to the genre so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I haven't read those, but what I'd probably do in your case is first weed out the ones with the plots that don't sound interesting at all. Then start reading the rest and as you go get rid of the ones that you don't like.

im a huge huge agatha christie fan! when i read "complete Bantam faux leather set of Agatha Christie mystery novels", i drooled :p

i have to say, though, there are a few of her works that arent perfectly pitched (i couldnt wait for 'endless night' to end).

my suggestions as definite keepers would be: 'murder at the vicarage', 'mysterious affair at styles', 'murder on the orient express', 'and then there were none', 'the secret adversary', 'death on the nile' and of course 'murder of roger ackroyd'.

Thanks Rockstar, I will have to do a bit of research to find out the plot line but that may be fun. Providing of course there are no spoilers...a particularly unpleasant occurrence with mystery novels.

Wow, thanks riida, I will keep those seven titles to start with.

it might interest you to know that i read somewhere that agatha christie wrote 'murder of roger ackroyd' in response to one of her relatives boasting 'there's not a mystery novel i cant solve before the final chapter' ;)

I like the idea of picking a top 10 or 15, but my advice is to somehow keep all of them. She's worth it.

This thread from the Crime, Mystery & Thriller group identifies many LTer favorites:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/72999

My top 4 then were: Murder of Roger Ackroyd, And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and The Mysterious Mr. Quin. Now I'd add The Thirteen Problems, a terrific collection of Miss Marple stories.

If you look at her author profile here on LT, her ten most popular titles are:

And Then There Were None 7,349 copies, 147 reviews
Murder on the Orient Express 5,693 copies, 98 reviews
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 3,587 copies, 93 reviews
Death on the Nile 3,218 copies, 49 reviews
The Mysterious Affair at Styles 2,817 copies, 67 reviews
The A.B.C. Murders 2,616 copies, 37 reviews
The Murder at the Vicarage 2,255 copies, 46 reviews
The Body in the Library 2,221 copies, 45 reviews
Evil Under the Sun 1,928 copies, 23 reviews
A Murder is Announced 1,877 copies, 22 reviews

Although it's a close race; there's several more with not many fewer copies. The A.B.C. Murders was one I was going to suggest.

I really like Partners in Crime. A husband and wife start a detective agency, and in each chapter, they try out a different famous detective's methods. I also like Parker Pyne Investigates, a story about a man who advertizes in the newspaper that he can solve anyone's life problems. Both of these are lighter and more humorous reads than her other books.

As for her other more serious books, I would say Murder of Roger Ackroyd, And Then There Were None, and Murder on the Orient Express.