Criminals/Murderers you actually liked!

Sometimes- very rarely- I find that I actually like the killer in a Christie novel! Like in Murder on the Nile I love the two murderers and in Murder on the Orient Express. Any other criminals that you liked/admired?

I think it's one of the interesting things about her mysteries that you often detest the victim (Appointment with Death, Murder at the Vicarage etc) but feel quite warmly towards the murderer (Murder in Mesopotamia etc).

I find the latter particularly in cases where there is a budding romance involving one or more of the killers. I wonder if this is more a deliberate red-herring or the by-product of her unfortunate experience with Mr. Christie?

I love all of the books that you mention, and now that I think about it, they all do have romantic tendencies. Does romance makes us sympathetic, or does the detestable victim?

The murderer in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. He seemed like such a nice, normal guy and despite his murderous and manipulative ways, I enjoyed his company.

Warning - the post below mine gives away the name of the killer and will most definitley ruin the book for you if you haven't read it and want to.

Oh - good point! Some people criticised Christie for The Murder of Roger Ackroyd at the time because of the rules she broke in it.

Count: I think it's a bit of both, but probably weighing in on the detestable victim side, because in some novels there's no romance and the murder is still seen as justifiable.

So sorry about the spoiler! I'll try to avoid that in future.

Death in the Clouds. The murderer was one of my favourite characters and it was one of her stories that I had no idea about whodunnit!

A Murder Is Announced is one of my favorite Christies because of the murderer who was just so poignantly sympathetic.

There is romantic undertone in many of his books though that is usually also one of the things which help you limit the possible suspects...The Couple Who Clearly Belong Together are never murderers because that would separate them in the end, and we can't have that.

There are some other likable murderers, and that was actually something I wondered about elsewhere, that victims in Christie books are usually unlikable because after all you need good amount of suspects who would like to see the victim killed, while murderers operated with variety of reasons...so the responsibility of the victim is a popular topic in many of her books.
That said, there have also been some horribly vile criminals...I wanted to strangle myself the murderer in A Pocket Full of Rye though it should be said that all the characters in that book are hugely unlikable.

I liked the murderer in Three Act Tragedy, an engaging personality.

On a different note, I felt sorry for the murderer in Murder At Hazelmoor. Part of that may be because we never meet the victim firsthand, and as the murder investigation goes on, he (the victim) seems less and less likable, while the murderer seems more sympathetic, at least to me.

>8 hdcclassic: - good point re The Couple Who Clearly belong Together - I worked out the murderer in Blue Train for that very reason, and remember feeling both very clever and slightly let down because of it. I mean, I'd never be able to solve a real life murder that way!

#8 & #10: Good point, although in Death in the Clouds, the Couple Who Belong Together was not as obvious, and I was totally fooled into thinking that one of them was not the murderer.

I realize this thread is old, but having just finished The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, I have to concur with poster #4. I also liked the murderer a great deal and was angry to discover that person was putting on a very convincing act. Yes, angry! I felt so betrayed. I greatly admire the genius it took to write that book so skillfully.