Product Description

The very first collection of superb short stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings...First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond! then came the 'suicide' that was murder! the mystery of the absurdly chaep flat! a suspicious death in a locked gun-room! a million dollar bond robbery! the curse of a pharoah's tomb! a jewel robbery by the sea! the abduction of a Prime Minister! the disappearance of a banker! a phone call from a dying man! and, finally, the mystery of the missing willl. What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60890 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Inferior to the novels
The blurb says it all: "What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot!" And that, really, is my problem with the collection: the cases seem to have *nothing* in common, to the point where there is almost no continuity from one story to the next. I had hopes for the book after the first story ended with Hastings storming out of the room, declaring to the reader, "I decided that he [Poirot] needed a sharp lesson. I would let some time pass before I forgave him." And yet, the very next story begins with the two of them getting along famously - Hastings' annoyance is never mentioned again.

This perhaps wouldn't be quite so bad if the stories were well-written in their own right, but sadly this is not the case. Too often the villain is the obvious choice - something that regular readers of Christie will not appreciate. There's no reason why this should be so as it is perfectly possible to make a short detective story captivating - Conan Doyle managed it admirably. Furthermore, all the stories seem to have an identical theme or punchline: Hastings belittles Poirot's detecting abilities but is made a fool of by the end. After a while this gets tiresome - the reader *knows* that Poirot is going to get to the bottom of the case - and Hastings starts to seem quite idiotic. I wish he'd been right about something just *once.*

A few good points, in order to make this review slightly more balanced: "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor" has an entertaining ending, and "The Mystery of the Missing Will" has a more interesting premise than most of the other stories in the collection. It's certainly good if you're more interested in the world Poirot lives in and are willing to overlook the flaws of the mysteries: Poirot is seen in all sorts of settings, from Egypt to London to numerous country houses. Really, though, most of the stories were fairly uninspiring and I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a starting point for people new to Poirot.

Poirot investigates
This is avery enjoyable read, made up of 11 self-contained short stories featuring the famous Belgian sleuth, Poirot. With Hastings, he solves more fascinating cases, featuring film stars, suspicous occurances and a kidnapped prime minister. The stories keep you wondering who the criminal is, and the results are ingenious.

vintage Christie
This was written in 1924 so is one of Christie's very early books. Not all of her short stories are successful, but I really enjoy these. They all feature Poirot and Hastings, but you can feel the difference in their relationship from the later novels: here Poirot can be unbearably arrogant (in Hasting's view), and Hastings himself duller than in later stories. The tales themselves are miniature masterpieces, and cover the ground that Christie will later make her own: unfeasible robberies, exotic mysteries (there's one set in Egypt), and twisted relationships.
Hugely enjoyable, especially if you're a fan of Hastings - as I am!