Hercule Poirot reading order

Why the order isn't simple

• The same Poirot story was often collected in different books in the UK and the US, and some stories carry different titles in each country (The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is The Theft of the Royal Ruby in the US).
• Several stories exist in two versions — an original and a later expanded or rewritten one (Baghdad Chest / Spanish Chest; the Poirot and Parker Pyne versions of The Regatta Mystery).
• The official reading list follows Poirot's lifetime, not publication: Poirot's Early Cases (1974) is placed straight after his first novel.
• Curtain was published in 1975 but written decades earlier; the official guide says to read it last.

Which order should I use?

Publication order runs from The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) to Curtain (1975), with stories dated by first appearance where we could verify it.

The two official lists (UK and US editions) are the same sequence of novels; they differ only in which story collections they use. Each collection is shown here as its stories sharing one position, so 'next to read' offers all of a collection's unread stories together.

The official guide's spoiler advice: read Curtain last; Five Little Pigs, Hallowe'en Party and Mrs McGinty's Dead before Elephants Can Remember; Mrs McGinty's Dead before Hallowe'en Party; Murder on the Orient Express before Cards on the Table; Three Act Tragedy before Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

Where each order comes from

Publication order — Derived from publication dates

Ordered by first publication date (original language). Derived automatically from the dates listed for each work.

Official Poirot reading list (UK editions) — Author / publisher recommended

Agatha Christie Ltd's official reading list orders Poirot's cases by his lifetime, listing story collections as single entries. Here each collection is expanded to its Poirot stories, which share that entry's position; a story already reached through an earlier collection is not repeated. Uses the UK collections. Source: The Hercule Poirot Reading List (UK and US).

Official Poirot reading list (US editions) — Author / publisher recommended

Agatha Christie Ltd's official reading list orders Poirot's cases by his lifetime, listing story collections as single entries. Here each collection is expanded to its Poirot stories, which share that entry's position; a story already reached through an earlier collection is not repeated. Uses the US collections. The list's two US collections whose contents we have not verified (The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories, The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories) are omitted. Source: The Hercule Poirot Reading List (UK and US).

Novellas & short stories

Most stories first appeared in magazines and were collected later, many more than once. Poirot's Early Cases (1974) gathers 18 early stories, nine of which were already in the US collection The Under Dog (1951).

Some stories exist in two different texts. The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (While the Light Lasts) was expanded into The Mystery of the Spanish Chest (The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding); both are listed because they are different stories in different books.

Collections & omnibus editions: what's inside

UK and US readers end up with different books. The Under Dog and Other Stories (US) overlaps Poirot's Early Cases on eight stories; Double Sin and Other Stories (US) repeats three Early Cases stories and the Christmas Pudding title story under another title.

Collections marked 'series contents only' also contain non-Poirot stories (Miss Marple, Parker Pyne and others); only the Poirot stories are listed.

Contents below are works from this series only. Tick the editions you own to check for duplicates and gaps.

About the sub-series

Sophie Hannah's continuation novels are authorised by the estate but are not on the official reading list, so they have no position in the official orders.

Where sources disagree

We don't pick a winner silently. When sources conflict we show each view and cite it.

How this page was verified

The UK and US orders, the 'read Curtain last' advice and the spoiler pairs come from the official Hercule Poirot Reading List published by Agatha Christie Ltd. Contents and story years for four collections come from the official agathachristie.com story pages.

Novel years and the contents of the remaining collections come from Wikipedia (secondary). Where the official list's printed years disagree with first-publication dates, both are recorded under 'Where sources disagree'.

Last verified 8 October 2026. Some works cite only secondary or catalogue sources.

Sources

Every date, order and edition listed on this page cites at least one of these. See our data methodology for how source types are ranked.

1. The Hercule Poirot Reading List (UK and US) — Agatha Christie Ltd (agathachristie.com) · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
   Official lifetime-order lists for UK and US editions; advice to read Curtain last and specific spoiler pairs; years printed beside each title.
2. Hercule Poirot in literature — Wikipedia · Secondary reference · accessed 8 October 2026
   Novel publication years; continuation novels by Sophie Hannah; Poirot contents of Murder in the Mews and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.
3. Poirot Investigates — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
   11 stories, each first published 1923; collection 1924.
4. Poirot's Early Cases — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
   18 stories with first-published years; collection 1974.
5. Problem at Pollensa Bay — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
   Contents with detectives; Poirot: The Second Gong (1932), Yellow Iris (1937); collection 1991.
6. Hercule Poirot in literature (collection contents) — Wikipedia · Secondary reference · accessed 8 October 2026
   Poirot stories in Murder in the Mews and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.
7. The Labours of Hercules — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
   12 stories with first-published years; collection 1947.
8. The Regatta Mystery (collection) — Wikipedia · Secondary reference · accessed 8 October 2026
   US 1939 contents with detectives; later UK collections of each Poirot story (Baghdad Chest in While the Light Lasts).
9. The Under Dog and Other Stories / Double Sin and Other Stories — Wikipedia and library catalogue records (via search) · Secondary reference · accessed 8 October 2026
   Contents of the two US collections and their UK equivalents.
10. Murder in the Mews — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
    Collection published 1937 by Collins; title story first published in Woman's Journal, December 1936.