I felt so sorry for Miss Bulstrode. Imagine having an institution you built up over the decades come crashing down in a few weeks, through basically no fault of your own. She seemed bored at the beginning of the book, though, so maybe she'll be excited to help build the school again. Lucy Eyelesbarrow should have her own mystery series, maybe with the help and encouragement of Miss Marple. In the book she seems set to marry Bryan and run his business for him. If anyone can make it work, she can. Lucy certainly has the contacts.

I love Cecilia Williams. When Poirot says that Amyas was a great artist, I love her retort to the effect of "people keep saying that, as if that justifies him being a terrible human." I find myself thinking about that a lot. Agatha Christie really understood teachers. They aren't angels or devils; they're generally presented as being pragmatic and sensible, with odd moments of idiosyncrasies. (Source: My own bias - I teach 😂).

I've got a grievance lol. My favourite character didn't even make your list! Rosamund Shane from "After the Funeral". I love the way everyone dismisses her as a vacant nitwit but actually she knows what is going on. Asking Poirot about his refugees when she knows all the time he is a detective. Not telling the rest of the family he is a detective "because I thought it would be more fun not to." Knowing her husband is having an affair and enjoying him squirming in discomfort because he thinks she doesn't know. And finally having her head screwed on when she tells her husband "It's our money, I think that's rather important." A very tactful way of saying "We both know it's my money but I'm happy to finance your theatre ventures, as long as (within reason) you behave yourself with other women!" Also I'm surprised that you didn't have her on your list because Jane Wilkinson was no.2 on your list of favourite Christie killers and Poirot pretty much directly compares Rosamund with Jane in the book, pointing out their similarity of outlook. It's the scene when Mr. Goby reports back to him about the members of the Abernethie family.

Great video. Very enjoyable. I'm glad that Amy Folliat made the list. I've always liked her character: strong and loyal to her codes of honour. I find the final scene, where she wants to be left alone to await her fate - be it suicide, or the imminent arrival of the police - very moving. And unusual for Christie, whose works generally end on an upbeat note with the baddie identified and the young hero and heroine partnered off. Off the top of my head I can think of only a couple of other moving endings: Michael Rafiel declining Verity's photo in Nemesis and the reaction of Alice, Prince Ali's "unofficial widow", to the jewels in Cat Among the Pigeons.

Frances had a unique subtlety. Feeling entitled to a share of Gordon's money and unable to get money by fair means she was prepared to resort to blackmail - but she's genuinely shocked by Poirot's suggestion that she would invent a lie to swindle Rosaleen out of everything. It reminds me of how Angela Warren shuts down Poirot's idea that she realizes having cat-and-dog fights doesn't fit the psychology of stealing poison and then using it the next day. Lucy Eyelesbarrow feels like a second or third draft of Mary Dove, only a force for good rather than evil. Sticking up for the underrepresented males I'll salute Jean Dupont and Jim Lazarus, JD for his spot-on assessments of Lady Horbury and Miss Kerr, JL for stumping Poirot. I suppose one might say Lucy Angkatell was an improvement on Maud Dane Calthrop. Maud's knowing that the anonymous letters weren't real might have been more significant but Lucy's prattling on to Henrietta about how she might have forgotten the holster seems inimitable.

I am a fellow Agatha Christie nerd and I totally agree with Lucy Eyelesbarrow as number one she is the coolest. Thank you for the thorough list, I really enjoyed the video!

Oh goodie! Loved seeing a new video. ❤😊

The fact that you are analytically meticulous but also keep the scale of the books as a whole is very impressive. And this is reflected by the quality of comments here - excellent. An idea for a video (no rush as it’s a moving target) - a reranking of the novels based on your latest thinking. Maybe there are no reranks - that’s not a problem either. But I sense you are continuously engaged in your thinking about these books and it might be interesting.

There's a neat book I picked up years ago called the Agatha Christie's Whos Who that just contains all the characters from all her work with info about them and which stories they appeared in. Would be interested in knowing of any other similar works you'd recommend beyond the usual biography-type books.

I would put there vicar from Murder at the vicarage

Called it. LOL

For pity's sake, please learn how to pronounce Aristide Leonides. I cringe every time you say either of those. You can Google the Greek pronounciation.