Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149139 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Synopsis
A brand new Poirot omnibus, featuring four of the world-renowned detective's most challenging cases: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express, Murder in the Mews and Hercule Poirot's Christmas. It seems Hercule Poirot can never escape murder -- and in this collection, the crimes are probably the finest he has ever had to solve. Locked rooms, wealth and jealousy -- outwardly all very similar, but when the detective begins to dig, the motives and solutions couldn't be more different...The Murder of Roger Ackroyd In the quiet village of King's Abbot, a wealthy widower is found stabbbed to death in his study...Murder on the Orient Express A wealthy American dies of multiple stab wounds on a train bound for Paris...Murder in the Mews A widow is murdered in her apartment...Hercule Poirot's Christmas A sadistic old man is brutally murdered in his locked study...

Customer Reviews

Four excellent Poirot novels
3 Act Tragedy, Evil under the Sun, The Hollow, and Sad Cypress are all excellent vintage Christie's that show her at the height of her powers. They're more emotionally loaded than some of the lighter books, especially The Hollow, which focuses on grief and mourning in many different contexts. Sad Cypress too is quite emotionally troubling. Very good.

There are no spoilers in this review
Although these are not the most famous Poirot novels, they are certainly amongst the best and most sinister.

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (4/5)
This little-known mystery beginning with the apparent suicide of the detective's dentist is one of the darkest Poirot novels and a neglected gem.

Five Little Pigs (4/5)
Again, this novel is comparatively little-known, but features an enticingly high-concept setup. Poirot is asked to investigate a criminal case that occurred sixteen years previously based solely on the testimony of surviving participants. Like "Cards on the Table", this is a novel whose primary satisfaction is intellectual: one for the Christie connoisseur, perhaps.

Taken at the Flood (4/5)
This complex mystery follows so serpentine path that it is extremely difficult to solve more than a part of it.

There are no spoilers in this review
Although Poirot is past his prime for these novels, he is more active as a detective here than he was in the first volume of Ariadne Oliver novels, and in some ways this compendium represents his Indian Summer. This also represents better value and a more coherent anthology than the first Ariadne Oliver volume.

Third Girl (3/5)
One of the better among the late Poirot novels. Although there is a typical and far-fetched twist at the end of the book, the investigation is unusual, and both Poirot and Mrs. Oliver have plenty to do in the course of it.

Hallowe'en Party (3/5)
The whimsical period charm of television adaptations is far behind us now; this novel is so modern in feel that it could have been written almost at any time in the last forty years. Poirot himself is again rather spry for a man of over a hundred, and the solution is better than many of the late novels.

Elephants Can Remember (3/5)
I couldn't give this novel as much as 3/5 as a mystery: there is only one clue of any significance, and the solution is disappointingly straightforward. Nevertheless, as a melodrama, and perhaps for its autumnal examination of memory, this is not a negligible novel.

The Pale Horse (3/5)
This supernatural thriller is described on the back of the book as "one of Ariadne Oliver's darkest cases", but there is an atmosphere of excitement and adventure that rather works against the suggested atmosphere of evil. Rather an oddity amongst Christie's work.