Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas

Published December 20th 2025 - so this is a 'Christmas' gift article to all my readers as I've also included two unique videos that I created related to this book. I hope you enjoy them.

Introduction.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas is a surprisingly bloody murder for a Christmas book - but perhaps that's one of the beautiful aspects of Christie's writing that she could allow us to get cozy with a murder book.  Agatha's sister, Madge, was married to James Watts. He had asked her to write a good violent murder with lots of blood.  Not only did she oblige, but she set it at their house - Abney Hall near Manchester (called Gorston Hall in the book).  The dedication in the novel is likely the longest she wrote:

"You have always been one of the most faithful and kindly of my readers, and I was therefore seriously perturbed when I received from you a word of criticism. You complained that my murders were getting too refined--anaemic, in fact. You yearned for a 'good violent murder with lots of blood.' A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder! So this is your special story--written for you. I hope it may please." It was then signed, "Your affectionate sister-in-law, Agatha."

Christie visited Abney Hall often and is known to have written After the Funeral and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding while staying there.  She also used the house as the inspiration for buildings in many of her other books, including Styles, Chimneys, Rutherford Hall and Stonygates.

Collier's Magazine (USA).

Hercule Poirot's Christmas first appeared in Collier's Weekly, an American magazine, under the title Murder for Christmas. The first instalment was on November 12, 1938 and the last instalment was published on January 14, 1939. Each of the ten instalments in Collier’s Weekly were illustrationed by Mario Cooper (1905 - 1995). While Cooper’s artistic skill was primarily in watercolours. 

For your entertainment, this video I created shows all his artwork from Murder for Christmas, in the correct sequence as published. Turn on your volume and enjoy!

He taught at The Pratt Institute and was President of the American Watercolor Society, plus he wrote numerous books on the subject. He was also a noted illustrator of books and magazines. He worked extensively with Collier's Weekly, American Weekly, and Cosmopolitan.

Daily Express (UK).

In England, the Daily Express newspaper serialised it starting two days later, on November 14, 1938, under the slightly different title Murder at Christmas. Their last instalment was published on December 10, 1938.  All but one instalment were illustrated by ‘Prescott’.

For your amusement, I've also created a video of all his art in the correct sequence as used in the serialisation. Turn on the volume and enjoy!

In addition to illustrating Murder at Christmas for the Daily Express, ‘Prescott’ also illustrated their serialization of And Then There Were None (alt. title) in the following year, 1939. However, ‘Prescott’ was a pseudonym for Stuart Tresilian (1891 – 1974). He was a prolific illustrator from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, also working on magazines such as Nash’s Pall Mall Magazine and Britannia and Eve. Yet he is best known for his illustrations of children's books, including Rudyard Kipling's Animal Stories and All the Mowgli Stories, as well as Enid Blyton's Adventure Series.

Hardback First Editions.

In England, the hardback first edition was published on December 19, 1938 by Collins’s The Crime Club, priced 7/6, titled Hercule Poirot’s Christmas.

Rather oddly the copyright page inaccurately states 1939. This title was also part of the HarperCollins Facsimile Edition series, published in 2006, which replicated the first edition jacket design. However, the other hardback edition that I find highly appealing is the 1995 HarperCollins edition with the jacket design by Geoff Appleton (below right).

In the USA, the actual publication date is less clear. According to published printing records, Dodd, Mead & Co first published the book in December 1938. However, some records imply it wasn’t available for sale until February 1939.

In the States, it was originally published under the title Murder for Christmas, the same title that Collier’s had used. It was priced $2.00. The cover design was by Carl Cobbledick, who also created the American covers for Murder in Mesopotamia, Poirot Loses a Client (Dumb Witness) and Easy to Kill (Murder is Easy).

Initial reprints were by Grosset & Dunlap in July 1940 and July 1941, before publication rights were given to Books, Inc.

Paperbacks.

The first global paperback was published by Jonathan Press (USA) in November 1943. Titled Murder for Christmas, it was Series No. J7 from this publisher, and featured cover art by George Salter (1897-1967). However, due to wartime paper rationing, the story was abridged to fit their standard size format of 126 pages.

The first unabridged global edition was the Collins White Circle paperback, Series No. 149c, published in January 1945, and reprinted numerous times (later with a light green cover). Collins did also publish a Services Edition of this title, Series No. 352c, which appears to have been published in 1946. Given the later publication of these and the winding down of overseas deployments, most of this title’s Services Editions appear to have been sent to W.H. Smiths for resale.

Other paperback printings of note are as follows:

1947: Avon Books (USA). The first unabridged American paperback edition had yet another variant title - A Holiday for Murder.

1957: Fontana Books (UK). Series No. 175. The correct first state is blue across the bottom of the front cover.

1962 (June): Bantam Books (USA). It clearly sold well as it was republished twice in 1962.

1963: Fontana Books (UK). Series No. 901. The first Tom Adams cover.

1967: Pan Books (UK), Series No. X721

1972: Fontana Books (UK), Series No. 3090. The second Adams cover.

1978: Fontana Books (UK), Series No. 5394. The third Adams cover, later used by Bantam Books (USA).

Values:

In my last published price guide (July 2024), I estimated the value of the first Collins edition, in jacket, at £4,000, while the book without a jacket was valued at £200. For the American first edition, I estimated the values as £700 with a jacket, and £100 without (all for ‘very good’ condition examples). While listed prices today are significantly higher, that doesn’t always mean that they are selling at that price or are fairly valued. However, I would expect fair value today to be almost 50% higher than these prices from last summer marking a notable jump in valuations.

As to paperbacks, the first Collins White Circle and Collins Services editions are the most valuable, with prices likely to command £100 - £200 for either. Later White Circle printings will be significantly less. The other pre-1970s paperbacks listed above would be fairly priced at £20 or less for ‘very good’ examples.

For the Collier’s Weekly magazines, one vendor has a set for sale at £1,000. However, a patient collector can likely source individual issues and build the set over time for £300 - £400.  As to the Daily Express, I doubt there are any extant sets available. British newspapers from the late 1930s were rarely kept, and if they had been retained they likely were contributed to war effort recycling drives. Should one exist, a value of around £500 is likely reasonable.

Corrections, Edits, Recommendations.

I always value reader input to make my articles more accurate. So if there are any additions or corrections you'd like to provide, please email me at collectchristie@gmail.com

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Wishing all of you a very happy holiday season.