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7 Modern Mysteries for Fans of Agatha Christie
These stories evoke the feeling of the master of mystery, with clever plots, sharp twists, and endings that truly satisfy.
While I’m mostly known as a fantasy writer, that doesn’t mean I don’t love a good mystery. In fact, puzzles often lie at the centre of my stories, and a lot of that is down to the influence of Agatha Christie.
Mystery is malleable; it can infuse any genre, and often does. But there’s something pure about a classic “who-dunnit?” and Agatha Christie, the “Queen-of-Crime” and the best-selling fiction writer of all time, is a touchstone when it comes to mystery. From her widely celebrated “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile” starring her world-famous protagonist Poirot, to her Miss Marple series, Agatha Christie charted a path many still follow.
From films like Knives Out and the recent Kenneth Branagh Poirot adaptations to TV series like Only Murders In The Building and Yellowjackets, the mystery genre is thriving.
And it’s no different in the realms of books. Crime Fiction, particularly with a mystery at its core, is still big business.
Readers like the unknown. We like the thrills and spills. We like the guesswork of trying to figure out the mystery before our protagonist does. What’s more, we like answers. Mystery books in the style of Agatha Christie give us a sense of closure and they satisfy us: it’s a well-spun story with an intriguing beginning, an enticing middle, and a thrilling end.
Here are some examples of the best modern reads continuing the fine work Agatha Christie began…
If there was ever a book that you absolutely needed to know nothing about – aside from the excellent title – before diving in, then this was it.
The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle wears its Agatha Christie influence on its sleeve, but becomes so much more. Inventive, experimental, surreal and addictive, there are few murder mysteries like the one you’ll find between the pages of Stuart Turton’s 2018 debut.
Evelyn Hardcastle will die every day until Aiden Bishop can break the cycle and identify her killer. Her death was witnessed by eight different people and, each day, Bishop wakes up in the body of a different one, viewing the day’s events from a different point-of-view. Only one thing is certain: Evelyn Hardcastle will die at 11pm. Can Aiden Bishop find the killer?
Essential.
A modern phenomenon.
The first in the series, The Thursday Murder Club finds four friends living in a retirement village who team up to solve unsolved crimes each and every Thursday. But, after a brutal killing occurs on their doorstep, the four friends are thrown into their first live case.
Carrying on the strong character work found in Christie’s work, and adding a slash of cosy, The Thursday Murder Club has been a resounding success, and the series has picked up a legion of fans. Don’t believe me? The movie adaptation – starring Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, David Tennent and more – hits cinemas August 2025. The book is well worth a read first.
Released in 2024, How To Solve Your Own Murder is perfect for fans of Knives Out, the previously mentioned The Thursday Murder Club and those with even a passing interest in Agatha Christie.
A fun caper, Frances Adams is told by a fortune teller that, one day, she’ll be murdered. Frances begins trying to solve a murder that is yet to happen and, for sixty-years, no one believes her… Not until she turns up dead. It’s then up to her great-niece, Annie, to catch the killer.
Intelligent and captivating, How To Solve Your Own Murder is refreshingly modern and pacey. And if you enjoy it, the sequel (How To Seal Your Own Fate) is available.
If you love Agatha Christie, The Maid by Nita Prose is like slipping into a perfectly pressed pair of vintage mystery gloves.
Molly Gray is an unforgettable heroine. Socially awkward, fiercely observant, and accidentally caught in the middle of a murder at the grand Regency Grand Hotel. Like Christie’s best sleuths, Molly notices what others miss, and the mystery unfolds through clever clues, suspicious guests, and delicious misdirection.
It’s cozy, witty, and satisfyingly puzzle-driven, with that irresistible “just one more chapter” pull. If you enjoy charming characters and classic whodunit energy with a fresh modern twist, this book is pure mystery comfort reading.
A deviously dark take on the classic mystery thriller by one of the modern-day greats.
Magpie Murders finds Susan Ryeland as our protagonist. Ryeland is the editor of the best-selling crime novelist, Alan Conway, and is an expert in all-things Atticus Pűnd, the author’s protagonist. When Conway’s latest manuscript hits her desk, Ryeland expects the same homage to Agatha Christie as usual. But, as she reads, she finds a real mystery contained in the book’s pages… One that will lead to murder.
The first in a series of three, Magie Murders is a fresh spin on Christie and is easily devoured.
Written by a life-long Agatha Christie fan, this article wouldn’t be complete without The Guest List.
Set on an island off the coast of Ireland during a wedding (a brilliant set up for a mystery), a group of friends and family gather for the wedding of a rising TV star and a magazine publisher. But things soon turn sour: festering feuds erupt as the wine flows, as do long-buried opinions and desires… Then someone turns up dead.
There are plot twists galore in The Guest List, as well as a host of well-drawn characters, as the tale deepens. Who wanted to deny the new couple happiness? And why? Read and find out…
Agatha Christie wasn’t just a writer of the mysterious. There were mysteries about her, too. The Christie Affair, a historical mystery fiction, explores one of the more famous ones.
On December 3, 1926, Agatha Christie was told by her husband that he was leaving her for another woman, a Nancy Neele. Christie hopped into her car and drove off, only to have her car discovered abandoned with her clothing and driver's license inside. Christie disappeared for eleven days. Finally, on December 14, 1926, she was discovered at a hotel staying under the name Mrs. Tressa Neele.
What happened in those eleven days? Well…
The Christine Affair is told from the point of view of Nancy Neele, referred to as Ms. Nan O'Dea in the novel. Cleaving close to history, de Gramont’s book still spins a wild and gripping mystery, exploring romance, revenge, murder and what people will do in the name of love.
A must-read for fans of Agatha Christie, and for those enamoured by the writer herself.
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