Canon of Hercule Poirot vs Kay Scarpetta
Two crime fiction series side by side, straight from the catalog data: Canon of Hercule Poirot is the longer series (33 books vs 24 books); Kay Scarpetta is the more recent one, starting in 1990. There's no wrong answer — pick the shape that fits your reading appetite, and Shelfmark will keep your place in either (no account needed).
| Statistic | Canon of Hercule Poirot | Kay Scarpetta |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Agatha Christie | Patricia Cornwell |
| Books | 33 | 24 |
| Published | 1920–1975 | 1990–2016 |
| Books per year | 0.6 | 0.9 |
| Start with | The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) | Postmortem (1990) |
| Reading order | Full Canon of Hercule Poirot order → | Full Kay Scarpetta order → |
Numbers come from the Shelfmark catalog (Wikidata + Open Library). "Books per year" is catalogued books divided by the publication span — a rough cadence, not a quality score.