Agatha Christie's Opening Lines 2

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1. "Miss Jane Marple was sitting by her window. The window looked over her garden, once a source of pride to her. That was no longer so." The title of this novel comes from the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Moving Finger The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side By the Pricking of My Thumbs Sad Cypress

2. "Mrs Ferrars died on the night of the 16th-17th September – a Thursday. I was sent for at eight o'clock on the morning of Friday the 17th. There was nothing to be done. She had been dead some hours." This was Agatha Christie's seventh novel and one of her most controversial. Some readers said her choice of murderer was a "dirty trick". The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Lord Edgware Dies Alibi Cards on the Table

3. "It was close on midnight when a man crossed the Place de la Concorde. In spite of the handsome fur coat which garbed his meagre form, there was something essentially weak and paltry about him." This story involved Hercule Poirot and a train journey. Agatha Christie hated this book. Passenger to Frankfurt Death on the Orient Express Towards Zero The Mystery of the Blue Train

4. "It is difficult to know quite where to begin this story, but I have fixed my choice on a certain Wednesday at luncheon at the Vicarage". The story is narrated by the Vicar himself. This was the first novel in which Miss Marple featured. The Body in the Library The Moving Finger Murder at the Vicarage Sleeping Murder

5. " 'What can I do to drive away remembrance from mine eyes?' Six people were thinking of Rosemary Barton who had died nearly a year ago …". Agatha Christie originally called this novel "Remembered Death". Murder in Retrospect Elephants Can Remember Sparkling Cyanide Rosemary for Remembrance

6. "Mrs Ariadne Oliver has gone with the friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children's party which was to take place that same evening." This novel features both Ariadne Oliver and Hercule Poirot. Cat Among the Pigeons Dead Man's Folly Third Girl Hallowe'en Party

7. "Stephen pulled up the collar of his coat as he walked briskly along the platform. Overhead a dim fog clouded the station." This novel is about a murder which takes place on Christmas Eve. It is a particularly violent murder with lots of blood. Murder for Christmas Hercule Poirot's Christmas All three titles are correct – they are the same story A Holiday for Murder

8. "In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper. Two newspapers were delivered at her house every morning." The theme of this novel is retribution. Miss Marple receives a posthumous request to solve a murder case. Sleeping Murder An Eye for an Eye Double Clue Nemesis

9. "Mrs Bantry was dreaming. Her sweet peas had just taken a First at the flower show. The vicar, dressed in cassock and surplice, was giving out the prizes in church. His wife wandered past, dressed in a bathing-suit…". The first murder in this book appears very close to home – too close for Mrs Bantry's comfort! The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side The Body in the Library Sleeping Murder The Thirteen Problems

10. "Linnet Ridgeway. 'That's HER!' said Mr Barnaby, the landlord of the Three Crowns." Hercule Poirot solves several murders on the S.S. Karnak, including the death of Linnet Ridgeway. Death on the Nile Death Comes as the End Appointment with Death Evil Under the Sun