All 40 of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot books, ranked
Book rankings: The novels and short story collections about the brainy Belgian get treated to order and method as I rank them from worst to first.
Books
‘Storm Front’ (2000) double-generically launches Dresden Files
Book club book report: Jim Butcher’s popular series starts off in clunky fashion, likely to appeal more to fantasy fans than hardboiled mystery lovers.
‘Project Hail Mary’ (2021, 2026), a touchdown in book form, gets hammered into a movie
Book and movie reviews: Faithfulness to the source material, except for the de-emphasis on Andy Weir’s science specifics, saps the magic.
Aletheia Preston shows same penchant for thrills as dad in ‘Paradox’
Book review: Father and daughter team up to continue Douglas Preston’s Cash & Colcord series that started with “Extinction.”
Marlowe ages well in ‘Black-Eyed Blonde’ (2014), not so much in ‘Marlowe’ (2022)
Sleuthing Sunday (Book and movie reviews): Benjamin Black pens an elite pastiche novel, but the adaptation continues filmdom’s weird obsession with older Marlowes.
‘Pendergast: The Beginning’ mucks through swamp-minds of insane villains
Book review: Preston & Child deliver their first Pendergast prequel, and reveal he’s always been who he is. But would we have it any other way?
‘The Mad Wife’ (2025) is a maddeningly flat portrait of Fifties malaise
Book club book report: Meagan Church has little to add about the much-covered topic of midcentury women who feel trapped in a societal box.
‘Executioners’ (1957), ‘Cape Fear’ (1962, 1991) explore limits of modern law
Throwback Thursday (Book and movie reviews): MacDonald’s novel is surprisingly tame, the first movie keeps the censors occupied, and Scorsese’s version finally delivers the shocks.
Collins steps up his tie-in game in ‘Dark Angel: Skin Game’ (2003)
‘Dark Angel’ flashback (Book review): The author hits on a remarkable number of issues of the real 2020s as Max embraces her leadership role.
Hannah digs further into weird psychology in ‘Last Death of the Year’ (2025)
Book review: Her sixth Poirot novel – though still stepping toward whimsy — stays on the rails more than the fifth.