Don't Always Hit the Mark #1

I was reminded by a comment made here on MiP that novelists often vary in their attainment in their finished novels.
Or, at least, in the way that the reader feels about their novel.

My friend Crime Scraps had remarked on my post about H.R.F. Keating's THE PERFECT MURDER, that he had recently been to an event featuring Simon Brett interviewing Harry Keating who is in his 80s and not too well. Norman said "perhaps his later books are not up to the standard of those written in his physical and mental prime."

Our mutual friend Dorte from DJs Krimiblog pointed out that she has "not read any of Keating´s books, but if an author writes more than 60 books, there are quite often some which are not up to scratch. I would say the same about Agatha Christie, I like several of her books, but I could also mention some I would never read again. Even Ruth Rendell (one of my favourites) has written books that strike me as ordinary, almost boring."

So I decided to test this.
On my database (kept since end of 2004) I have 25 records of Agatha Christie titles, with very few duplicates. Not all these appear in my blog, despite the fact that I am working my way through the works of Agatha Christie in order of publication for the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.

Here are my records in rating order:

1. MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (audio)-1934- my rating 4.7
2. THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE-1930- my rating 4.7
3. Death in the Clouds (BBC Radio CD)-0- my rating 4.6
4. THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN-1928- my rating 4.6
5. LORD EDGWARE DIES-1933- my rating 4.5
6. THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS-1932- my rating 4.5
7. PERIL AT END HOUSE-1932- my rating 4.5
8. SLEEPING MURDER (Audio CD)-1976- my rating 4.5
9. THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES-1920- my rating 4.5
10. The Mystery of the Blue Train (Audio CD)-1928- my rating 4.5
11. AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (Audio CD)-1939- my rating 4.5
12. At Bertram's Hotel (Audio CD)-1965- my rating 4.4
13. THE BIG FOUR-1927- my rating 4.4
14. THE MYSTERIOUS MR QUIN-1930- my rating 4.4
15. THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY-1931- my rating 4.3
16. THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD-1926- my rating 4.2
17. AFTER THE FUNERAL (Audio CD)-1953- my rating 4.2
18. THE MURDER ON THE LINKS-1923- my rating 4.2
19. PERIL AT END HOUSE (Audio CD)-1932- my rating 4.2
20. POIROT INVESTIGATES-1924- my rating 4.2
21. THE SECRET ADVERSARY-1922- my rating 4.1
22. PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY and other stories-1997- my rating 4.0
23. THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY-1929- my rating 4.0
24. THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT-1924- my rating 3.8
25. THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS-1925- my rating 3.8
    

My general benchmarks are

5.0 Excellent
4.0 Very Good
3.0 Average
2.0 Poor
1.0 Did Not Like
0 Did Not Finish

So you can see even the books at the bottom of my list are close to Very Good.

You can check my reviews of Agatha Christie titles through the following links.

• LORD EDGWARE DIES
• THE BIG FOUR
• THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT
• THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE
• THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
• THE MURDER ON THE LINKS
• MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
• THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES
• THE MYSTERIOUS MR QUIN
• THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN
• PERIL AT END HOUSE
• POIROT INVESTIGATES
• PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY and other stories
• THE SECRET ADVERSARY
• THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS
• THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS (comic strip version)
• THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY
• THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY
• THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS

I'll continue this theme at another time with other authors.