The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie. You can find it as a novella or a play.
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As a part of her Three Pines series Louise Penny has a novella called The Hangman. You don’t need to have read the rest of the novels in the series to be able to understand what is going on in the story and how the characters are connected.
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If you want relatively simple English, I’m going to stick to the last 20 years–not because things were impossible in the 1980s, but because I know ‘golden age’ mysteries (which can be hard by contemporary standards) and things from 2000 and newer.
I’ll also be including a sample, so you can assess if it is actually easy/simple. The samples are going to be disproportionately descriptions, so that I don’t spoil anything.
The “Everyone…” books by Stevenson. A truly random (I dragged the scrollbar blindly) sample from the Christmas special (remember, in Australia, Christmas is in the summertime): “As I passed him, Josh was bickering about handing over his recordings, so I was first outside. The night was searing, without a lick of breeze for relief. Heat from the sun is one thing, but a still night is like a blanket pressed over you. I felt vacuum-packed into my own skin. The summer cicadas chirped with their papery rattle in the treetops, and filled the air with static. The stars were gems in the navy sky. The parking lot was dotted with the remaining seven civilian cars and a police cruiser. This fit my number of suspects currently inside the theater. Factor in a victim, however, and the number of vehicles in the lot appeared to be one short.”
(For Stevenson’s books: The ‘Christmas special’ is VERY short and doesn’t really spoil any previous books. It does reference them, so you know he’s been injured a couple of times and that two specific recurring characters were innocent, but that’s all.)
The Thursday Night Murder Club books by Osman. From the first book: “Joyce is having her hair cut. Anthony comes in every Thursday and Friday, and appointments at his mobile salon are like gold dust. Joyce always books the first appointment, because that’s when you get the best stories. Elizabeth knows this, and so is sitting outside by the open doorway, waiting and listening. She could just walk in, but waiting and listening are old habits she can’t break. In a lifetime of listening, you pick up all sorts. She looks at her watch. If Joyce isn’t out in five minutes she will make her presence known.”
Horowitz, Magpie Murders. “I wasn’t sure if Mr Khan would see me without an appointment but I walked in anyway. I needn’t have worried. The place was quite dead, with a girl reading a magazine behind the reception desk and a young man staring vacantly at a computer screen opposite. The building was old with uneven walls and floorboards that creaked. They’d added grey carpets and strip lighting but it still looked like somebody’s home.”
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The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie. You can find it as a novella or a play.
As a part of her Three Pines series Louise Penny has a novella called The Hangman. You don’t need to have read the rest of the novels in the series to be able to understand what is going on in the story and how the characters are connected.
If you want relatively simple English, I’m going to stick to the last 20 years–not because things were impossible in the 1980s, but because I know ‘golden age’ mysteries (which can be hard by contemporary standards) and things from 2000 and newer.
I’ll also be including a sample, so you can assess if it is actually easy/simple. The samples are going to be disproportionately descriptions, so that I don’t spoil anything.
The “Everyone…” books by Stevenson. A truly random (I dragged the scrollbar blindly) sample from the Christmas special (remember, in Australia, Christmas is in the summertime): “As I passed him, Josh was bickering about handing over his recordings, so I was first outside. The night was searing, without a lick of breeze for relief. Heat from the sun is one thing, but a still night is like a blanket pressed over you. I felt vacuum-packed into my own skin. The summer cicadas chirped with their papery rattle in the treetops, and filled the air with static. The stars were gems in the navy sky. The parking lot was dotted with the remaining seven civilian cars and a police cruiser. This fit my number of suspects currently inside the theater. Factor in a victim, however, and the number of vehicles in the lot appeared to be one short.”
(For Stevenson’s books: The ‘Christmas special’ is VERY short and doesn’t really spoil any previous books. It does reference them, so you know he’s been injured a couple of times and that two specific recurring characters were innocent, but that’s all.)
The Thursday Night Murder Club books by Osman. From the first book: “Joyce is having her hair cut. Anthony comes in every Thursday and Friday, and appointments at his mobile salon are like gold dust. Joyce always books the first appointment, because that’s when you get the best stories. Elizabeth knows this, and so is sitting outside by the open doorway, waiting and listening. She could just walk in, but waiting and listening are old habits she can’t break. In a lifetime of listening, you pick up all sorts. She looks at her watch. If Joyce isn’t out in five minutes she will make her presence known.”
Horowitz, Magpie Murders. “I wasn’t sure if Mr Khan would see me without an appointment but I walked in anyway. I needn’t have worried. The place was quite dead, with a girl reading a magazine behind the reception desk and a young man staring vacantly at a computer screen opposite. The building was old with uneven walls and floorboards that creaked. They’d added grey carpets and strip lighting but it still looked like somebody’s home.”