The Mind’s Labyrinth: Psychoanalytical Detection and Deductive Reasoning in Agatha Christie’s Select Novels

Abstract

This research article examines how Agatha Christie creatively combined psychoanalytical detection with conventional logical reasoning in Murder on the Orient Express (1934) and The ABC Murders (1936). Christie foreshadows contemporary psychological profiling by emphasizing on unconscious motive, suppression, victim vulnerability, and communal trauma, going beyond the Golden Age tradition of puzzle-based mysteries.  The article makes the case that Christie turns detective fiction into a psychological probe where detection relies on examining hidden motives rather than tangible clues, drawing on Freudian and Jungian psychoanalytical frameworks.Three significant advances are highlighted in the analysis: Hercule Poirot’s transformation from logical detective to psychological analyst, Christie’s foresight in knowing criminal psychology, and her use of reader psychology to replicate the unconscious prejudices in her stories. The article delineates Christie’s significance as a psychological pioneer whose writings foreshadow modern perspectives on crime, justice, and human behaviour by placing these novels against past critique that focused on plot mechanics.