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Miss Marple reading order

By Agatha Christie · Last verified · 4 sources

Quick answer

Start with The Murder at the Vicarage (1930). For the full run, Agatha Christie Ltd recommends an order by Miss Marple's lifetime that keeps the novels mostly in publication order but brings the two story collections forward and moves Sleeping Murder, published last, up to sixth.

Twelve novels and twenty short stories by Agatha Christie (1927-1976), collected differently in the UK and the US.

  • The series has 12 novels, 20 short stories.
  • In publication order, the main sequence starts with The Murder at the Vicarage (1930) and the latest listed is Sleeping Murder (1976).
  • Besides publication order, this page offers: Official Miss Marple reading list (Miss Marple's lifetime).

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Verification: Every work cites an author or publisher source (32 of 32 works cite an author, publisher or official source). How we verify.

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

  1. The Tuesday Night Club
    Short story Side work 1927
  2. The Idol House of Astarte
    Short story Side work 1928
  3. Ingots of Gold
    Short story Side work 1928
  4. The Bloodstained Pavement
    Short story Side work 1928
  5. Motive vs. Opportunity
    Short story Side work 1928
  6. The Thumb Mark of St. Peter
    Short story Side work 1928
  7. The Blue Geranium
    Short story Side work 1929
  8. The Murder at the Vicarage
    Novel 1930
  9. The Companion
    Short story Side work 1930
  10. The Four Suspects
    Short story Side work 1930
  11. A Christmas Tragedy
    Short story Side work 1930
  12. The Herb of Death
    Short story Side work 1930
  13. The Affair at the Bungalow
    Short story Side work 1930
  14. Death by Drowning
    Short story Side work 1931
  15. Miss Marple Tells a Story
    Short story Side work 1934
  16. Strange Jest
    Short story Side work 1941
  17. Tape-Measure Murder
    Short story Side work 1941
  18. The Body in the Library
    Novel 1942
  19. The Moving Finger
    Novel 1942
  20. The Case of the Caretaker
    Short story Side work 1942
  21. The Case of the Perfect Maid
    Short story Side work 1942
  22. A Murder is Announced
    Novel 1950
  23. They Do It With Mirrors
    Novel 1952
  24. A Pocket Full of Rye
    Novel 1953
  25. Sanctuary
    Short story Side work 1954
  26. Greenshaw's Folly
    Short story Side work 1956
  27. 4.50 from Paddington
    Novel 1957
  28. The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
    Novel 1962
  29. A Caribbean Mystery
    Novel 1964
  30. At Bertram's Hotel
    Novel 1965
  31. Nemesis
    Novel 1971
  32. Sleeping Murder
    Novel 1976

Why the order isn't simple

  • The last-published novel, Sleeping Murder (1976), was written during the Second World War, and the official lifetime order moves it to sixth place.
  • Miss Marple's Final Cases (1979) is, in the official notes' words, a misnomer: most of its stories were written and set in the 1940s, and the official order puts the collection third.
  • In the US the six Final Cases stories are split across three other collections (Three Blind Mice, Double Sin, The Regatta Mystery), so US and UK readers need different books for the same stories.
  • Greenshaw's Folly is placed on its own in 1956 but sits inside a Poirot collection in both countries.

Which order should I use?

Publication order ends with Sleeping Murder (1976) and lists stories by their first magazine appearance, scattering the Thirteen Problems stories across 1927-1931.

The official lifetime order reads The Thirteen Problems and Miss Marple's Final Cases right after the first novel, places Sleeping Murder after The Moving Finger, and places Greenshaw's Folly between A Pocket Full of Rye and 4.50 from Paddington. The official guide gives one sequence for both UK and US readers.

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 Miss Marple reading list (Miss Marple's lifetime) — Author / publisher recommended
Agatha Christie Ltd's official order 'in terms of Miss Marple's lifetime'. It lists the two story collections as single entries; here each is expanded to its Marple stories, which share that entry's position. The UK and US versions of the list have the same sequence and differ only in which US books contain the stories (see the collections section). Source: The Miss Marple Reading List (UK and US).

Novellas & short stories

All twenty Marple short stories are covered by the official order: thirteen in The Thirteen Problems, six in Miss Marple's Final Cases, and Greenshaw's Folly on its own.

Stories in a collection share a position, so 'next to read' offers every unread story from that collection together.

TitleTypeFirst publishedNotes
The Tuesday Night Club Short story 1927
The Idol House of Astarte Short story 1928
Ingots of Gold Short story 1928
The Bloodstained Pavement Short story 1928
Motive vs. Opportunity Short story 1928
The Thumb Mark of St. Peter Short story 1928
The Blue Geranium Short story 1929
The Companion Short story 1930
The Four Suspects Short story 1930
A Christmas Tragedy Short story 1930
The Herb of Death Short story 1930
The Affair at the Bungalow Short story 1930
Death by Drowning Short story 1931
Sanctuary Short story 1954
Strange Jest Short story 1941
Tape-Measure Murder Short story 1941
The Case of the Caretaker Short story 1942
The Case of the Perfect Maid Short story 1942
Miss Marple Tells a Story Short story 1934
Greenshaw's Folly Short story 1956 Placed separately in the official order (1956). The official notes say it is published in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (UK) and Double Sin and Other Stories (US); the official page for Miss Marple's Final Cases also lists it.

Collections & omnibus editions: what's inside

UK readers need The Thirteen Problems, Miss Marple's Final Cases and (for Greenshaw's Folly) The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding — or a Final Cases edition that includes it.

US readers get the Final Cases stories from Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (four), Double Sin and Other Stories (Sanctuary and Greenshaw's Folly) and The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Miss Marple Tells a Story). Tick what you own to see the gaps.

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

The Thirteen Problems

Story collection · 1932

  • The Tuesday Night Club
  • The Idol House of Astarte
  • Ingots of Gold
  • The Bloodstained Pavement
  • Motive vs. Opportunity
  • The Thumb Mark of St. Peter
  • The Blue Geranium
  • The Companion
  • The Four Suspects
  • A Christmas Tragedy
  • The Herb of Death
  • The Affair at the Bungalow
  • Death by Drowning

Source: The Thirteen Problems

Miss Marple's Final Cases (UK)

Story collection · 1979 · series contents only / partly verified

  • Sanctuary
  • Strange Jest
  • Tape-Measure Murder
  • The Case of the Caretaker
  • The Case of the Perfect Maid
  • Miss Marple Tells a Story
  • Greenshaw's Folly

Overlaps with: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (UK) (1 shared); Double Sin and Other Stories (US) (2 shared); The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (US) (1 shared); Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (US) (4 shared)

The official page lists seven Marple stories (including Greenshaw's Folly) and two non-Marple stories, The Dressmaker's Doll and In a Glass Darkly.

Source: Miss Marple's Final Cases

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Where sources disagree

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Where Greenshaw's Folly is collected

The official reading list notes say Greenshaw's Folly is in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (UK) and Double Sin and Other Stories (US); the official page for Miss Marple's Final Cases also lists it. Editions differ, so both are shown.

Sources: The Miss Marple Reading List (UK and US), Miss Marple's Final Cases

How this page was verified

The order, the novel years and the UK/US collection notes come from the official Miss Marple Reading List published by Agatha Christie Ltd; story years and contents come from the official agathachristie.com pages for each collection.

Three Blind Mice and Other Stories' year is from Wikipedia.

Last verified . Every work cites an author or publisher source.

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 Miss Marple Reading List (UK and US) — Agatha Christie Ltd (agathachristie.com) · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
    Lifetime order with years; notes on Sleeping Murder, Final Cases, Greenshaw's Folly and which US collections contain the Final Cases stories.
  2. The Thirteen Problems — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
    13 stories with first-published years; collection 1932.
  3. Miss Marple's Final Cases — Agatha Christie Ltd · Official bibliography · accessed 8 October 2026
    Nine stories with years; seven feature Miss Marple; collection 1979.
  4. Hercule Poirot in literature — Wikipedia · Secondary reference · accessed 8 October 2026
    Year of Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (US, 1950).

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