Uncovering Agatha Christie — Why Were Her Mysteries so Popular?

I did not exactly grow up reading murder mysteries, but my mother did. She read all kinds of stories that were popular when she was a kid — Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, and of course, all sorts of Agatha Christie murder mysteries. When I was young, I couldn’t stomach any sort of violence. But, as I got older, I started becoming more and more intrigued by murder mysteries and the like. I considered careers in criminology and criminal forensics and even tried my hand as a crime writer for a short while. I enjoyed listening to true crime podcasts and watched criminal TV shows.

Eventually, it was time for me to return to Agatha Christie. My re-introduction to her work was, unfortunately, not one of her books — instead, it was the new movie Murder on the Orient Express; a spectacular movie adaptation of Christie’s insanely popular book. The movie — set in a gorgeously snowy landscape with the return of Christie’s awesome cast of characters — was an absolute hit, not only with the general public, but with me watching it next to my mother.

But, recently, I decided to look into why her novels became so popular. Even after her death, an entire movie came out based on a book she wrote years ago. Today, her novels are still considered old classics, and the genre of murder mystery is thought to be forever changed by her works. So what, exactly, made her murder mysteries so popular? Here’s what I found.