I’ve read dozens of Agatha Christie mysteries over the years. I have a small shelf of Christie mysteries that I’m slowly reading–a couple a year–trying to make them last (I’m doing the same thing with Anthony Trollop novels). I find it difficult to reread Christie classics like Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, and Death on the Nile once I know Whodunit.
I’ve been reading Agatha Christie’s short stories–about one or two a week. This 691 page collection brings together 39 of Christie’s short stories grouped by the character solving the crime: Parker Pyne, Harley Quin, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple.
With this doorstop volume, I’ve been jumping around. I’m not a big fan of Parker Pyne or Harley Quin but I’m dutifully reading their stories. I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favorite between Poirot and Marple. Sometimes “the little gray cells” annoy me. Miss Marple lives in the Murder Capital of the World: St. Mary Mead. I admire her ability to see what others don’t.
Are you an Agatha Christie fan? Do you prefer Pyne, Quin, Poirot, or Marple? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PART ONE: Parker Pyne — 1
Meeting Parker Pyne — by Agatha Christie –3
Case of the middle-aged wife — 5
Case of the discontented soldier — 18
Case of the distressed lady — 36
Case of the discontented husband — 47
Case of the city clerk — 60
Case of the rich woman — 75
Have you got everything you want? — 90
Gate of Baghdad — 104
House at Shiraz — 130
Pearl of price — 133
Death on the Nile — 145
Oracle at Delphi — 159
PART TWO: Harley Quin — 173
Presenting Mr. Harley Quin — by Agatha Christie — 175
Coming of Mr. Quin — 177
Shadow on the glass — 195
At the Bells and Motley — 217
Sign in the sky — 235
Soul of the croupier — 252
World’s end — 269
Voice in the dark — 289
Face of Helen — 307
Dead Harlequin — 325
Bird with the broken wing — 348
Man from the sea — 368
Harlequin’s Lane — 396
Love detectives — 419
PART THREE: Hercule Poirot –441
Third-floor flat — 443
Adventure of Johnnie Waverly — 461
Four and twenty blackbirds — 474
Double clue — 489
Double sin — 500
Wasps’ nest — 515
Theft of the royal ruby — 525
Second gong — 569
PART FOUR: Miss Jane Marple
Strange jest — 595
Tape-measure murder — 607
Case of the perfect maid — 621
Case of the caretaker — 634
Greenshaw’s folly — 648
Sanctuary — 672
Yes!
As a young teenager before I became a Sciemce Fiction fan I read mainly stories of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot (also Edgar Wallace) which a friend of my parents had collected. Often I’d spend the whole afternoon as a guest in his library – he wouldn’t give out those books to take home, not for anyone!
And later I of course enjoyed all the movies, great times.
They probably were responsible for me becoming a fan of Great Britain and the USA and starting to learn the English language – in school we had French, being a part of the French Occupied Zone in South West Germany.
Wolf, along with Christie’s books, I’m also hoarding some Edgar Wallace books to make them last a few more years!
This book seems to contain the complete books Parker Pyne Investigates and The Mysterious Mr Quin, and random selections of Poirot and Marple stories.
I just read (reread) The Mysterious Mr Quin, and liked it a lot more than I expected to. I have read a lot more Poirot than Marple, first because there are a lot more, and also because most of the Marple novels came along later. I’m currently re/reading the Christie books in chronological order. My previous Christie binge in the early 70s had me reading about half of them, not in order but focused on the early ones because I would go into the bookstore and buy the earliest couple they had (or because it was the early 70s and I was poor, the cheapest one they had; sometimes I could afford a 60 cent one but not a 75 cent one).
Jeff, congratulations on your Chronological reading of Agatha Christie! I bought many of those Christie paperbacks for the William Teason covers on the DELLs.
I think I’ve read everything she wrote—a number of her books multiple times. I think even when you know who the culprit is, it’s still interesting to read Christie’s work to see how cleverly she plants the clues, her amazing sleight-of-hand. For example, I’ve read DEATH IN THE CLOUDS a number of times—and every time, I’m astonished at how obvious the main clue is and how neatly Christie inserts it so that it calls absolutely no attention to itself. And then there’s A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED where so much hinges on a rather scatter-brained woman calling a character by the wrong name. Christie was the queen of hiding clues in plain sight.
Deb, you are so right! Christie inserted her clues cleverly and knew how to distract the reader with red herrings!
Like Deb, I’ve read just about everything Christie ever wrote (with the exception of a few plays and the Mary Westmacott novels). She approached each of detectives differently and the stories should be read with that in mind. A Parker Pyne story is on a different level than a Harley Quin Story — the same with Poirot and Marple.
Maybe it’s me, but I find the Jane Marple stories the most rewarding.
And let me give a shoutout to Christie’s other main characters, Tommy and Tuppence, whose few short stories were incorporated into PARTNERS IN CRIME.
Jerry, I enjoyed PARTNERS IN CRIME on PBS and intend on reading those Tommy and Tuppence stories someday.
I haven’t read everything – the Westmacott books – but have read all the mysteries and probably all the short stories, plus the plays and the autobiography. So I guess that is pretty much all of them after all. As mentioned before, Jackie liked the Mr. Quin stories. She also (like Jeff S.) likes the “young adventurer” books more than I do, though I thought PARTNERS IN CRIME was clever. Of course, even 50 years ago when I read it, some of the detectives they parodied were pretty much forgotten, so I doubt anyone today would have a clue who they were! On the short stories, I’d have to put the Marples first ahead of the Poirots.
Jeff, I’m with you and Jerry: I enjoyed the Miss Marple short stories best.
I may have missed some of these short stories. I know there are some Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple I have not yet read. But I have read no Parker Pyne at all. I did get a copy of it last year and need to read some of the stories soon.
Tracy, MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE is an excellent collection of Agatha Christie’s short stories! Big bang for a few bucks! Inexpensive copies are available online.