Plays and Non-Fiction
Reading Order.

Agatha Christie was already a celebrated writer of mysteries in 1930 when she married archaeologist Max Mallowan. She enthusiastically joined him on archaeological expeditions in the Middle East, providing backgrounds for novels and "everyday doings and happenings". Pre-war Syria years are remembered here, not chronologically, but in a cluster of vignettes about servants and aristocrats who peppered their lives with annoyances and pleasures.

An unhappy game of romantic follow-the-leader explodes into murder one weekend at The Hollow, home of Sir Henry and Lucy Angkatell, arguably Christie’s finest comic grande dame. Dr. Cristow, the Harley Street lothario, is at the centre of the trouble when, assembled in one place, we find his dull but devoted wife Gerda, his mistress and prominent sculptor Henrietta and his former lover and Hollywood film star Veronica. Also visiting are Edward and Midge whose romantic assertions are likewise thrown into the mix. As the list of romantic associations grows so does the list of potential suspects when Cristow is shot dead. Nearly everyone has a motive but only one of them did the deed.

This collection of classic short mysteries by the author of The Mousetrap will have you asking, “Whodunit, howdunit, and whydunit?” At the same time every day, Jack’s morning golf routine is interrupted by the sound of a woman calling for help. Though the cry is clearly coming from a nearby cottage, the lady who lives there has no distress to report—until she starts having nightmares about a mysterious woman and a blue Chinese vase. Could the cottage be haunted? Or is Jack losing his mind? His attempts to find out will lead him down a dangerous path. A taut psychological thriller, “The Mystery of the Blue Jar” is quintessential Agatha Christie. This volume presents that story alongside other short works by the British master of mystery and suspense.

Agatha Christie created magnificent works of suspense for the theater, and eight of her riveting stage dramas are collected in The Mousetrap and Other Plays—including the title piece, the longest running play in history, still a smash hit in London's West End after 60 years! On an isolated island, ten people have been brought together to be killed off. An evil old woman has a rendezvous with death in the desert heat of Jerusalem. A scheming wife testifies against her husband in a shocking murder trial. And a homicidal maniac terrorizes a group of snowbound guests to the refrain of "Three Blind Mice." This collection of eight works proves that Agatha Christie's plays are as compulsive as her novels, with their colorful characters and ingenious plots providing yet more evidence of her mastery of the detective thriller. Includes: And Then There Were None, Appointment with Death, The Hollow, The Mousetrap, Witness for the Prosecution, Towards Zero, Verdict, and Go Back for Murder.

Driving through dense Welsh fog, Michael Starkwedder runs his car into a ditch. After making his way to an isolated house, he discovers Laura Warwick standing near the dead body of her wheelchair-bound husband Richard, revolver in hand. She admits to murder, and her unexpected guest offers to help her concoct a cover story. But it is possible that Laura did not commit the crime after all ... If so, who is she shielding? The victim's mentally disabled half-brother? Her lover? Perhaps the father of the little boy Richard accidentally killed? The house seems full of possible suspects ...

With Star Over Bethlehem, the beloved Queen of Mystery Agatha Christie shines in a totally unexpected way, offering readers a wondrous collection of poems and holiday short stories. A retelling of the Christmas Story in a way you’ve never heard it before. . . . The fable of a donkey who carries a mother and child safely to Egypt. . . . The tale of a widow who dislikes people until she meets a stranger. . . . From the most popular writer of all time comes a treasured collection of short stories and poems celebrating the holiday season. This special edition also contains a wealth of Agatha Christie rarities—not only all the stories, poems, and illustrations from her long out-of-print book Star over Bethlehem (1965) but also a reproduction of all her rare poetry from the two collections The Road of Dreams (1924) and Poems (1973).

Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976, having become the best-selling novelist in history. Her autobiography, published in 1977 a year after her death, tells of her fascinating private life, from early childhood through two marriages and two World Wars, and her experiences both as a writer and on archaeological expeditions with her second husband, Max Mallowan. Not only does the book reveal the true genius of her legendary success, but the story is vividly told and as captivating as one of her novels. - Publisher.

This is the first volume of the series Ages in Chaos, in which Immanuel Velikovsky undertakes a reconstruction of the history of antiquity. With utmost precision and the exciting style of a presentation that's typical for him he shows, beyond doubt, what nobody would consider possible: in the conventional history of Egypt - and therefore also of many neighboring cultures - a span of 600 years is described, which has never happened! This assertion is as unbelievable and outrageous as the assertions in Worlds in Collision or Earth in Upheaval. But Velikovsky takes us on a detailed and highly interesting journey through the - corrected - history and makes us a witness to how many question marks disappear, doubts vanish and corresponding facts from the entire Near East furnish a picture of overall conformity and correctness. You will meet an Egyptian eyewitness of the biblical plagues and the mysterious Queen of Sheba. You will find out to where her legendary visit led her. You will, moreover, learn surprising details about the temple of Solomon and learn who was behind its sacking. In the end you do not only wonder how conventional historiography has come into existence, but why it is still taught and published. Just as Velikovsky became the father of "neo-catastrophism" by Worlds in Collision, he became the father of "new chronology" by Ages in Chaos.

Sir Claud Amory’s formula for a powerful new explosive has been stolen, presumably by a member of his large household. Sir Claud assembles his suspects in the library and locks the door, instructing them that the when the lights go out, the formula must be replaced on the table—and no questions will be asked. But when the lights come on, Sir Claud is dead. Now Hercule Poirot, assisted by Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp, must unravel a tangle of family feuds, old flames, and suspicious foreigners to find the killer and prevent a global catastrophe.