Top Ten Agatha Christie Red Herrings

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Hello again fellow mystery files. Today I am ranking the top 10 Agatha Christie red herrings from her novels. This list will not include short stories, which is probably a video I'll do in the future sometime. And what makes a good red herring? I've touched upon this in other videos, but a good red herring is a piece of misdirection that simply cannot be removed from the novel and the novel remains the same. It is ingrained in the novel's plot. It forms the basis at least in part of the plot and it misleads the reader into missing the solution, distracting them and maybe even confusing them so much they don't even know what they are should be looking for. Also, not every piece of obfuscation is a red herring. Some are just more like general obfuscation to cloud the situation rather than pointing the reader and the detective in a specific wrong direction.

[00:00:52]Now, there are spoilers in this video, but you can use the chapter titles to skip over any novels you would not like to be spoiled on. And before I begin, make sure you like and subscribe to keep up to date with the channel and join in the Discord if you haven't already, link in the description below.

[00:01:09]Starting out with honorable mentions and because of the spoilery nature of this video, I'm just going to name novels whose red herrings that didn't make the list and not the red herring itself.

[00:01:20]Death in the Clouds, And Then There Were None, Sparkling Cyanide, The Hollow, A Murder Is Announced, Mrs. McGinty's Dead, and The Clocks all have red herrings that missed out on the list and I think And Then There Were None and A Murder Is Announced might be like the most surprising omissions to most listeners, but the one that is directly named in And Then There Were None, I think it's something that works better on the characters than it does on the reader. And also, I'm not really sure it's a true red herring to be honest, again at least the way I define it. And it's also not something that's like sustained throughout the novel. It is a specific moment. And with A Murder Is Announced simply has a better version of that same red herring, though again, felt was a bit extraneous to need to include both of them on the list.

[00:02:05]Starting out with the list proper, at number 10, the red herring comes from a fairly weak novel, admittedly weaker than all even most of the honorable mentions on the list, but I think this specific red herring is very strong and its other parts of the book is what fail. But it comes from Halloween Party and it's Joyce's lie that she saw a murder. And I love the way Christie handles this because initially it is presented as a lie because Joyce is a liar who fibs for attention, but then she is murdered and then it becomes a question of, well, did she really see something or was she making it up, but there was a murderer anyway who thought it could be she would be talking about them. And in the end, it turns out this was a lie because Joyce repeats stories other people told to her and it's Miranda who saw the murder. And this is an excellent red herring because it forms the basis of the story, sets up multiple paths of misdirection while obscuring the obvious solution. If it becomes apparent Miranda is the one who saw the murder, the option becomes very limited that it really can only be Michael Garfield because Miranda spends all her time with Michael in the garden.

[00:03:08]You know, Christie does very good work in establishing this red herring by making it the backbone of the story while also dropping easily missed hints that this is a red herring. And that's also a key aspect of a good red herring is that when the solution is revealed and the red herring is revealed as such, it should pull the rug from under the reader, but it also should have been foretold. There needs to be clues that the red herring is a red herring. It's a cheap trick to just not have the clues there, but it's much better to drop the hint and let the reader miss them by the author leading them astray. So, I have Joyce's lie from Halloween Party at number 10.

[00:03:45]At number nine, we have one of two Miss Marple red herrings and it comes from The Body in the Library and it is the location of the body in Colonel Bantry's library. Now, I think you might suspect I would have said the body swap is a red herring, but I actually don't think that's a red herring. It's definitely misdirection, but it's more like general misdirection than a true red herring.

[00:04:06]But the location of the body is. And as a reminder, this body is Pamela Reeves, not Ruby Keene as originally assumed.

[00:04:13]And what I love about this red herring is that it's basically a double red herring, two in one. How and why this body wound up in Colonel Bantry's library is one red herring. They don't know her, but the double comes from that we learn eventually the body was found in Basil Blake's house and that is also a red herring. The location of the body is not important at all. Christie does a masterful job with this first of all by making it the title of the novel, stressing an emphasis on something that's not truly important, and then establishing two separate locations to the dead body, neither of which is important or even really any real connection exists. Basil Blake and Ruby Keene do sort of have like a loose connection, but it's not all that important. Christie [snorts] also has Josie and Mark frame Basil Blake, but the framing isn't taking hold because the body wasn't Colonel Bantry's house.

[00:05:02]And I think this trying to incriminate Basil Blake is excellent because if the body were found in his house, I think the red herring fails because it would be too much. It's not too much here. And it's a very effective amount where the reader can believe the murderer is Basil Blake. It's not an obvious piece of misdirection.

[00:05:20]So, I have The Body in the Library at number nine.

[00:05:25]At number eight, back to Poirot with a red herring from Taken at the Flood and that is Enoch Arden. Enoch Arden himself. And I did debate this one because if you're familiar with the Enoch Arden poem, you will probably assume this is an impersonation, but also that still plays into this red herring. If you don't know the poem, you know, it doesn't matter to you. Enoch Arden could be Rosaleen's first husband Robert Underhay or someone else. And if you do know the poem, you know this is an impersonation, but of whom? And this back and forth of who is this man really plays into the novel. Christie does such excellent work convincing the reader this man is an impostor and isn't Robert Underhay, but then she pulls the wool over your eyes and makes you think this is Robert Underhay and it goes back and forth until Enoch Arden is killed and Major Porter says it is Robert Underhay and we have scenes with David pushing Rosaleen to say on the stand this is not Underhay. And the question of is this Robert Underhay is a red herring because that question is not relevant at all because David and Rosaleen have no idea if this is Robert Underhay or not, which is the more interesting aspect of all of this. And while this is a red herring, it's also proposing the correct question of is everyone who they say they are, which is the question you should be asking. You're just asking it of the wrong person. The reader is just trying to answer that question on the wrong character. They should be asking if Rosaleen is really Rosaleen, but they are too distracted with Enoch Arden and his identity and Christie has primed the reader to assume Rosaleen is lying when in reality she doesn't even know if she's lying or not.

[00:06:57]This really is like an underrated twist and especially because this is not even the death of Enoch Arden is not even really like the true murder, it's an accident and the eventual murder of the fake Rosaleen is the real murder. But again, we don't know that. So, anyway, I think this is a really like underrated twist and red herring in a Christie novel. So, it comes in at number eight.

[00:07:21]At number seven, sticking with Poirot, we have sort of a double header and that is the murders of Alice Asher and Betty Barnard from The ABC Murders. And with this red herring, Christie establishes really a new standard in twisty serial killer literature by creating this twist of hiding the true target amongst other victims who are killed for no other reason than to obscure the true target.

[00:07:44]And while this isn't the first time Christie does this trick, it is the first time she did it in what's sort of like on a grand scale in universe. Alice Asher and Betty Barnard do not matter into the solution really at all other than I I guess to be fair, Franklin Clarke being sloppy when murdering Betty, but their deaths do not any clues as to the killer because they have no association with the killer. But the reader doesn't know that and the reader is spending a lot of time thinking like why murder these women that when Sir Carmichael Clark Sir Carmichael Clark is murdered, the readers think he he is the one who doesn't matter. He's just another victim of many, but he is the one who is the most important to solving the mystery.

[00:08:24]He is the target, but by this time after two murders that seem random, the readers just assuming Clark is again another random victim who happens to have the initial CC. And I think Mrs. Asher and Betty are better red herrings than like Alexander Bonaparte Cust because Cust feels like an obvious frame up. It feels a little bit like we're supposed to think it's him and therefore it's not. So, I have the deaths of Alice Asher and Betty Barnard here at number seven.

[00:08:53]At number six is a red herring that I've made fun of in the past, more so for a certain aspect of it, but as a red herring, I think it's extremely effective and that is Martine from 4:50 from Paddington. And my problem with Martine is that she turns out to be Lady Stoddart West. It's not her existence in the first place, which I find very effective. Martine is the prime candidate to be the unknown dead woman and this is insanely effective because it's extremely plausible she could be Martine based on her clothes and the connection to the Crackenthorpes and what murdering her could mean. And I think you could argue it's too obvious she could be Martine, so but I would disagree because it's repeatedly mentioned the police have not proof she's Martine. And also, if she is Martine, that does not really narrow down the suspects at all because all of the Crackenthorpes plus Brian Easley have reason to kill Martine, so it doesn't actually get you any further along. Also, Christie never presents us with a true alternate option. The actual correct answer as deduced by Miss Marple is that the dead body is Anna Stravinska, the French dancer.

[00:10:00]That's given some page time, but the way Christie writes that, she writes it in a way as if that's the red herring. The dancer passages feel very forced in there as if Christie just wrote them to come up with some like other a plausible option so the Martine thing isn't so obvious, but she's really, you know, reversing that and Christie is playing with the meta and playing with the expectations of the reader. It really feels like Martine is the dead body and because that doesn't point character, it's extremely effective. So I have Martine from 4:50 from Paddington here at number six.

[00:10:34]At number five, we have a red herring similar to one already on the list and that is the death of Stephen Babington from Three Act Tragedy. And this is another one that I've criticized before.

[00:10:44]I actually don't think it makes much sense from the in-universe point of view of Sir Charles. I don't think it makes much sense for him to do a dress rehearsal murder because like what if it failed then it just so happened to land on the exact right person even though Babington is probably the worst person for it to land on given what Sir Charles wanted to happen. But from the perspective of the reader, the random murder of Babington is an extremely effective red herring. I think it's more effective than, you know, spoiler alert for ABC Murders, than the similar randomly disconnected murders in that novel because here there's only one murder. The ABC Murders established a serial killer which could be anyone.

[00:11:24]Here the only one random murder, there's no larger conspiracy going on. The focus is entirely on Steven Babington and no subsequent events cloud that.

[00:11:34]You know, who would have wanted to murder Steven Babington? The focus is on him and when Dr. Strange's murder is much more convincingly an offshoot of the murder of Babington when it's the other way around and you know, this was tough because I feel like this red herring is much more effective on the reader than the one in the ABC Murders, but in universe, I think the ABC Murder red herring is much more effective on the characters and what like real like taking into like realism into account.

[00:12:02]But again, a red herring is meant to deceive the readers more so than anything else which is why I have Three Act Tragedy here a few spots above the ABC Murders here at number five.

[00:12:13]At number four is the only entry from a standalone and it comes from Ordeal by Innocence and that is Jacko's alibi. And what I really like about this one is because Christie is again playing with our expectations. We had Jacko convicted of the murder only to find out that he really did have an alibi and that was not known for really just convoluted reasons. Christie assumes a reader will think Jacko is innocent because these types of novels where the detective has to like prove the arrested person or the convicted person innocent almost always ends with that person being innocent and she delivers that right away with Jacko's alibi finally being proved so that's out of the way playing into our expectations and then at the end she toys with them by telling us Jacko was guilty all along as an accomplice. By shoving Jacko aside and proving his innocence, she is tricking the reader into discarding him altogether leaving us to neglect the fact that he could have been accomplice and his alibi was a red herring because it was created by Jacko to give himself an alibi which is something Christie had done a lot in previous novels, but those don't go beyond like the mere lie. This fake alibi forms the premise of the novel, is the main obfuscation and really clouds the judgment of the reader and the other characters. And when we continue to be presented with evidence of Jacko's guilt, we dismiss it. We dismiss other characters saying it still must be Jacko. Like other characters say that somehow Jacko did this. And to me, this is Christie's best alibi red herring. So Ordeal by Innocence comes in at number four.

[00:13:45]At number three and this might be a little odd because I think a lot of people sort of see through this red herring, but at number three, I have the attacks on Nick Buckley from Peril at End House. And I know a lot of people nowadays see through this trick of the apparent target was the murderer all along and the accidental victim was the true target. Christie did this a lot, other authors have done it a lot really to the point where it's not really a twist anymore. It's very recognizable, but the reason why it's very recognizable is because basically of this novel and because, you know, readers today know a lot of mysteries.

[00:14:18]They know all of the twists. They know all of these tricks that authors have done like Christie, like Doyle, like all these other authors who have existed now for a hundred years. But Peril at End House is the first time Christie used this twist in a novel and it is one of the first, possibly the first, I'm not sure like offhand, times where this twist was used and it is the most effective use of this twist. And if you are reading Christie in order, you probably will fall for this twist. Now, if you're reading Christie or other mystery novels and generally sort of like random mishmash, that's probably not as effective because I think readers are much more attuned to what could happen and what twists are nowadays. But I do think the concept of the murderer setting up the situation so they appear to be the victim is genius. This entire novel is not about investigating the murder of Maggie Buckley. It's about investigating who would want to kill Nick and Poirot is so into this and the way Nick keeps faking attacks on her life is great. The first couple we hear just passively about, but then we see an attack with the bullet hole in her hat and then the death of Maggie and then the poisoning of Nick. Poirot is operating under the premise that Nick is the victim and Maggie was collateral damage. Poirot and the reader are looking in entirely the wrong place and this is such a good example of what I mean when I say a good red herring is one that cannot be removed from the novel and the novel remains the same.

[00:15:37]You cannot surgically cut this out of the novel. It wouldn't make any sense and the red herring here is the plot. So Peril at End House comes in at number three.

[00:15:47]At number two is a red herring that I fell right into and it comes from Five Little Pigs and it is Angela's pranks on Amyas. And to be honest, you could probably include everything involving like Caroline Crale plus Angela's pranks as just one large red herring, but the first time I read this novel, I fell right into this trap. I thought for sure Angela had accidentally poisoned Amyas's beer, killed him by mistake and then Caroline took the rap to protect Angela.

[00:16:14]And Christie writes the novel dropping those subtle clues that this is what happened. This is not like an in-your-face red herring. This is a very subtle one revealed by brushing away the obvious as an astute reader would be inclined to do. This is buried under the surface and it's a very plausible situation that could have occurred. We know Angela loved to pour bad tasting things in Amyas's beer. She did it before and we know she thought about it the day he died and we also know Amyas drank beer that tasted foul and we know Caroline felt extremely guilty over scarring Angela and would do something like take the fall for her and none of this is what happened. It was Elsa Greer who killed Amyas for the very specific reason that he was dumping her and she realized she was just he was just using her for the painting and she meant nothing to him. And this is also a somewhat prevalent storyline that is arguably more out in front than the Angela storyline, but the Elsa thing looks more like a red herring. That looks like all the simple obvious solution while this Angela storyline is one that has to be like dug out and discovered for yourself. And it's just a very effective again reversal here.

[00:17:22]Usually the truth is what you have to dig out for yourself and the red herring is what's out in front. So the reader assumes it can't be Elsa, but it is and Angela was the red herring all along. So Five Little Pigs comes in at number two.

[00:17:37]And at number one, the best red herring in a Christie novel is the one that immediately comes to my mind as the perfect red herring and that is the natural death of Richard Abernathy from After the Funeral. And this is the one I often like to use as an example of a good red herring. Richard Abernathy dies. His sister Cora says he was murdered and then she's murdered. The assumption here being Richard was murdered and Cora was murdered because she knew something. Christie is again playing with our assumptions because she knows she's writing a Christie novel where every death is suspicious and is probably murder. She is assuming the reader will assume Richard was murdered especially since another victim said he was. And this is again a bit of target shifting. The main focus is solving the non-existent murder of Richard instead of focusing on the secondary victim in Cora who if only she had been murdered, is there is an obvious suspect in Miss Gilchrist, the woman she lives with.

[00:18:30]Christie is once again portraying a story that didn't even happen to prevent us from seeing the truth and the truth is very obvious if you realize Richard was not murdered. But there is such a meta red herring because Christie is aware her readers know of the it's always murder trope and is playing off that every death is a murder or suspicious in a Christie novel or any mystery novel. And this is a red herring that encompasses the entire story. You cannot remove this situation and have the same story. You cannot remove the situation at all because there is no story without it. It will not work. The red herring is the story once again.

[00:19:07]So After the Funeral comes in at number one.

[00:19:11]And that is it for this video. Let me know what your favorite red herring is in a Christie novel and what you think of my list. Uh next week, we're doing the reverse of this. We're doing the 10 worst uh red herrings in any Agatha Christie novel. That was actually the video suggestion, but again, didn't feel right to do the worst without doing the best first. And I actually think the worst is probably the more interesting list here. Again, uh you know, some of the red herrings from Christie novels are a little obvious and quite bad and that is something Agatha Christie admitted herself many times. So that should be a fun discussion. So stay tuned for that. Until next time, Mystery Files.