Canon of Hercule Poirot vs The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Two crime fiction series side by side, straight from the catalog data: Canon of Hercule Poirot is the longer series (33 books vs 21 books); The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is the more recent one, starting in 1998. 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 | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Agatha Christie | Alexander McCall Smith |
| Books | 33 | 21 |
| Published | 1920–1975 | 1998–2020 |
| Books per year | 0.6 | 1.0 |
| Start with | The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) | The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (1998) |
| Reading order | Full Canon of Hercule Poirot order → | Full The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 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.