Closed-Room Puzzles and Resort Murders: 10 Best Agatha Christie Books Like Only Murders in the Building
Young Detectives, Strange Clues
In The Secret Adversary, Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley are young adults hired to find a woman who disappeared aboard the SS Lusitania, along with sensitive international information. Their search draws them into mysterious deaths, amnesia and imposters.
The novel introduces a pair who later appear in four other novels and multiple short stories. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? follows two childhood friends in a small Welsh seaside town as they investigate a murder, guided by the victim’s last words: “Why didn’t they ask Evans?”
Poirot And Miss Marple
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd helped propel Christie to fame after its 1926 release. Hercule Poirot and Dr. James Sheppard investigate the death of a wealthy man found in his closed study, while red herrings and a carefully revealed plot unsettle readers’ expectations.
In A Caribbean Mystery, Miss Marple travels to a resort to recover from illness, but a guest’s account of a man who escaped punishment for murder draws her into an investigation. When that guest is killed, she turns her attention to the case.
A Gathering At The Seaside
Towards Zero brings tennis stars, ex-wives and lawyers with important cold cases into a slow-building story. At a wealthy seaside home, the bed-ridden Lady Tressilian invites a diverse group of guests.
The gathering leads to the murder of Tressilian and multiple guests. Superintendent Battle arrives to help assemble the evidence, in a novel praised for its character development and plot.
Key points
- The Secret Adversary introduces Tommy and Tuppence as young investigators.
- Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? centers on a murder and a cryptic final question.
- Poirot investigates a death in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, while Miss Marple solves a case in the Caribbean.
- Towards Zero brings Superintendent Battle to a seaside home after multiple murders.