(From Rick Robinson's blog TIP THE WINK.)
Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie, Delhi Open Books. Kindle ebook edition
This
is a short story collection written by Christie and first published in
the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. In the eleven stories, famed
eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety of mysteries
involving greed, jealousy, and revenge. The American version of this
book, published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1925, featured a further three stories. Those stories are included in this ebook.
Contents:
1. THE ADVENTURE OF “THE WESTERN STAR”
2. THE TRAGEDY AT MARSDON MANOR
3. THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHEAP FLAT
4. THE MYSTERY OF HUNTER’S LODGE
5. THE MILLION DOLLAR BOND ROBBERY
6. THE ADVENTURE OF THE EGYPTIAN TOMB
7. THE JEWEL ROBBERY AT THE GRAND METROPOLITAN
8. THE KIDNAPPED PRIME MINISTER
9. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MR DAVENHEIM
10. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ITALIAN NOBLEMAN
11. THE CASE OF THE MISSING WILL
12. THE VEILED LADY
13. THE LOST MINE
14. THE CHOCOLATE BOX
My Take:
In the mood for something simple, light, a little
old-fashioned, I picked this ebook of fourteen Poirot stories. As
expected, Poirot’s friend and companion Captain Hastings appears in each
of the stories, relating the story to the reader in all but one of
them, the other told by Poirot himself in flashback.
In a group of stories like this, especially as I read them one after the other, the bumbling ineptitude and various foibles of Hastings are on full, brightly lit display, and time after time his theories and guessed-at solutions are proved wrong, oft to his chagrin. Poirot, of course, is his usual intelligent and insightful self, his little grey cells leading him to the correct solution to each puzzle.
I read this on a pair of rainy afternoons, and thoroughly enjoyed it. One caution, however: the editing and especially the paragraph formatting are full of errors, so that it often appears as if one character has said something when it is actually another.
6 comments:
I read a different edition of this, Patti, with fewer errors (although you're right to caution readers; some errors were there). Christie is my favorite author, so being reminded of this one was a treat.
I miss Rick Robinson.
Ditto, George.
We watched the entire David Suchet Poirot series over a couple of years of Saturday nights, and they did do the short stories featuring Poirot before the novels (and one series in the middle). Yes, Hastings always seems pretty dim to me, in a way that makes Watson look better.
Patti, it is good to see a post from Rick Robinson's blog. I miss him too.
The only copy of this book I have is an old paperback with tiny print. But I do have a book of all the stories, and I could read some of these from that source. If the stories were done on TV, I usually remember how they end, but I do like Hastings' narration, even if he was usually very off base as far as solving the crime.
I always wondered if she saw her readers rather like Hastings. Well-meaning but dim.
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