Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is the world's most famous mystery writer. She's right up there with the Bible and Shakespeare in terms of sales, you can find her books in 45 different languages, and her most famous creation, the dapper Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, is the only fictional character to have his obituary published on the front page of The New York Times. She wasn't the world's most creative or thrilling or dramatic mystery novelist by a long chalk, but Dame Christie (knighted in 1971) certainly wrote a boatload of detective stories, and most of 'em are pretty entertaining.

Aftertaste:
Meh. This isn't really bitter, but we have to be in an Agatha Christie mood, you know?

Availability:
Everywhere.

Other Recommendations:
Any of the mysteries by Georgette Heyer

Anything by Josephine Tey

Anything by Dorothy Sayers

Website:
http://uk.agathachristie.com/site/home/ - --clearly designed by the same person who designed J. K. Rowling's website