Wednesday 5 September 2018

A list of the Bantam Book collection of Agatha Christie stories.

Bantam Books, The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection.

Published between June 1982 and October 2000, by Dodd, Mead & Company of New York, and their subsidiary companies. The Black Leatherette collection was known as The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection, but there were some printed in a Blue Leatherette edition and although they all have the same imprint on the front cover, some are printed on the copyright page as Agatha Christie Hardcover Collection. If you feel the need to collect them all, the total collection consists of 101 books. The books were published as a new one each month, as can be seen by the ISBN details, however, the original series had only 92 novels in the collection. A further nine books were added to the collection when G.P. Putnam’s Sons published stories with the English titles. These books are not rare but were printed as part of a small print run. They also printed some of the original collection with a new ISBN. Somehow two titles in the original collection were given the same ISBN number, which is most unusual. Witness for the Prosecution was published as The Witness for the Prosecution, in Aug 1999, having two additional short stories. I am still researching for some missing information, but I am confident that this is the definitive list and hope it is of interest.

If you have any data that can be used to update the list please email me. In the list, there are 20 USA titles of which 9 are UK duplicates. The USA titles are denoted with a ‘*’, duplicates have a corresponding UK list number. The Mary Westmacott book is identified with ‘**’. The collection includes two plays, two books of poetry and the Christie autobiography.
The list has been updated with the help of Peter Scott 09/09/2018, GKCfan 04/12/2018 and Daisy … 15/12/2018

I have set the list out in two parts which highlight the different ISBN and print dates.

Book Title Print date ISBN #
1 A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY May-85 0-553-30532-3
2 A HOLIDAY FOR MURDER * Aug-85 0-553-35035-8
3 A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED Jan-86 0-553-35040-4
4 A POCKET FULL OF RYE Apr-86 0-553-35044-7
5 ABSENT IN THE SPRING ** Jun-92 0-553-35082-X
6 AKHNATON (Play) May-96 0-553-35102-8
7 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (NON-FICTION) Nov-90 0-553-35081-1
8 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE Feb-83 0-553-35000-5
9 APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH Jul-87 0-553-35062-5
10 AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL Aug-87 0-553-35063-3
11 BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS Oct-84 0-553-35021-8
12 CARDS ON THE TABLE Nov-84 0-553-35025-5
13 CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS Mar-84 0-553-35014-5
14 COME, TELL ME HOW YOU LIVE Nov-85 0-553-35049-8
15 CROOKED HOUSE Dec-86 0-553-35054-4
16 CURTAIN Dec-84 0-553-35026-9
17 DEAD MAN'S FOLLY Sep-88 0-553-35078-1
18 DEAD MAN'S MIRROR * (#37) May-98 0-553-3507-9
19 DEATH COMES AS THE END Feb-84 0-553-35013-7
20 DEATH IN THE AIR * Jun-86 0-553-35047-1
21 DEATH ON THE NILE May-83 0-553-35003-X
22 DOUBLE SIN AND OTHER STORIES Feb-87 0-553-35057-9
23 DUMB WITNESS Jun-85 0-553-35098-6
24 EASY TO KILL * Jan-87 0-553-35055-2
25 ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER Jun-84 0-553-35017-X
26 ENDLESS NIGHT Dec-85 0-553-35039-0
27 EVIL UNDER THE SUN Nov-83 0-553-35010-2
28 FUNERALS ARE FATAL * (#93) May-84 0-553-35016-1
29 HALLOWE'EN PARTY Sep-84 0-553-35020-X
30 HICKORY DICKORY DEATH * (#98) Jan-84 0-553-35012-9
31 LORD EDGWARE DIES 96 0-553-35009-4
32 MR. PARKER PYNE, DETECTIVE * Jun-82 0-553-35061-7
33 MRS. MCGINTY'S DEAD Apr-87 0-553-35059-5
34 MURDER AT HAZELMOOR * (#80) Nov-84 0-553-35024-2
35 MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA Mar-85 0-553-35029-3
36 MURDER IN RETROSPECT * (#97) Nov-85 0-553-35038-2
37 MURDER IN THE MEWS 1997 0-553-35093-5
38 MURDER IN THREE ACTS * (#87) Jan-88 0-553-35069-2
39 MURDER ON THE LINKS Oct-85 0-553-35037-4
40 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS Jan-83 0-553-03000-0
41 MURDER WITH MIRRORS * Apr-85 0-553-35027-7
42 N OR M? Apr-88 0-553-35072-2 
43 NEMESIS Oct-84 0-553-35022-6
44 ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE Nov-87 0-553-35067-6
45 PARTNERS IN CRIME Oct-83 0-553-35008-0
46 PASSENGER TO FRANKFURT Jun-88 0-553-35075-7
47 PERIL AT END HOUSE Apr-88 0-553-35073-0
48 POEMS Oct-96 0-553-35103-6
49 POIROT INVESTIGATES Apr-85 0-553-35031-5
50 POIROT LOSES A CLIENT * (#23) Jun-85 0-553-35033-1
51 POSTERN OF FATE Jan-87 0-553-35056-0
52 REMEMBERED DEATH * Mar-85 0-553-35030-7
53 SAD CYPRESS Nov-84 0-553-35023-4
54 SLEEPING MURDER Sep-85  0-553-35036-6
55 SO MANY STEPS TO DEATH * (#96) Oct-86 0-553-35052-8
56 STAR OVER BETHLEHEM (Poems) Oct-96 0-553-35104-4
57 TAKEN AT THE FLOOD Nov-87 0-553-35066-8
58 THE A.B.C. MURDERS Apr-83 0-553-35002-1
59 THE BIG FOUR Feb-86 0-553-35041-2
60 THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY Mar-87 0-553-35058-7
61 THE CLOCKS Mar-88 0-553-35071-4
62 THE GOLDEN BALL AND OTHER STORIES Oct-87 0-553-35065-X
63 THE HARLEQUIN TEA SET Feb-98 0-553-35010-2
64 THE HOLLOW Aug-86 0-553-35050-1
65 THE LABORS OF HERCULES Aug-84 0-553-35019-6
66 THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT Aug-88 0-553-35077-3
67 THE MIRROR CRACK'D * Apr-84 0-553-35015-3
68 THE MOVING FINGER Oct-83 0-553-35009-9
69 THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE Aug-83 0-553-35006-4
70 THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD Mar-83 0-553-35001-3 
71 THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES Jun-83 0-553-35004-8
72 THE MYSTERIOUS MR. QUIN Mar-86 0-553-35043-9
73 THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN Dec-85 0-553-35068-4
74 THE PALE HORSE May-86 0-553-35046-3
75 THE PATRIOTIC MURDERS * Mar-86 0-553-35042-0
76 THE REGATTA MYSTERY AND OTHER STORIES Nov-86 0-553-35079-X
77 THE SECRET ADVERSARY May-85  0-553-35028-5
78 THE SECRET OF CHIMNEYS Sep-87 0-553-35064-1
79 THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY Nov-86 0-553-35051-X
80 THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY Nov-84 0-553-35024-2
81 THE TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS * (#100) Jul-86 0-553-35048-X
82 THE UNDERDOG AND OTHER STORIES Feb-88 0-553-35070-6
83 THERE IS A TIDE * (#57) Nov-87 0-553-35066-8
84 THEY CAME TO BAGHDAD Jul-85 0-553-35034-X
85 THIRD GIRL May-87 0-553-35060-9
86 THIRTEEN AT DINNER * (#31) Jul-88 0-553-35076-5
87 THREE ACT TRAGEDY Jan-88 0-553-35069-2
88 THREE BLIND MICE AND OTHER STORIES Sep-88 0-553-35080-3
89 TOWARDS ZERO Dec-83 0-553-35011-0
90 WHAT MRS. MCGILLICUDDY SAW! * Jul-84 0-553-35018-8
91 WHY DIDN'T THEY ASK EVANS? Jul-83 0-553-35005-6
92 WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION Apr-89 0-553-35007-2


Book Title Print date ISBN #
93 AFTER THE FUNERAL Oct-00 1-58165-153-8
94 BLACK COFFEE Sep-98 1-58165-078-7
95 DEATH IN THE CLOUDS Mar-00 1-58165-130-9
96 DESTINATION UNKNOWN 1-58165-129-5
97 FIVE LITTLE PIGS Mar-98 1-58165-016-7
98 HICKORY DICKORY DOCK Oct-00 1-58165-152-X
99 SPARKLING CYANIDE Mar-98 1-58165-015-9
100 THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS May-00 1-58165-133-3
101 THE UNEXPECTED GUEST Sep-99  1-58165-110-4
A book titled The Agatha Christie Engagement Diary was published in April 1996, but as it is not a story it is not included in the list.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for this list. I've been trying to find out if my Agatha Christie Mystery Collection (published by Bantam Books) of 89 volumes is complete. Your list has 92. Time to compare and go hunting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr. Sheppard, my collection is still in boxes after my last move. I'm looking for the bookshelf Bantam offered me upon receiving my final book in their collection. I was naive not to spend the $27.! Maybe you can give me the measurements so I can have one made. I'd appreciate any information you can give me! Thank you, Susan Fitz, sjfitz2@gmail.com

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  3. Hi. What do you know about the "Murder in Mesopotamia" title that was published by Bookspan in 2000 with the same ISBN as "Death in the Clouds"? I have this in my collection. Thanks for your help.

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