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Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot #3)

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 · rating details · 9,539 ratings · 232 reviews

What connects a movie star, an archaeologist, a French maid, a prime minister, a wealthy dowager, and an Italian count? Crime, of course - and the master crime-solver, Hercule Poirot. Half of them have fallen victim to a terrible crime; the others have fallen under suspicion. This collection brings together 14 stories, 14 crimes, and twice as many suspects from Poirot's my...more

Hardcover, Large Print, 318 pages

Published December 1st 2011 by Center Point Large Print (first published 1924)

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May 07, 2011 Sammy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Someone once said that if you only read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, and only read Christie’s short stories, you’d think they were both bad writers. Well, it’s emphatically true of Conan Doyle, and I think it’s at least partly true for Dame Agatha as well.

Christie’s first collection of short stories united eleven Poirot and Hastings tales first published in The Sketch magazine in 1923. This is the first incarnation of Poirot: a respected detective, certainly, but one who struggles just as of...more Someone once said that if you only read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels, and only read Christie’s short stories, you’d think they were both bad writers. Well, it’s emphatically true of Conan Doyle, and I think it’s at least partly true for Dame Agatha as well.

Christie’s first collection of short stories united eleven Poirot and Hastings tales first published in The Sketch magazine in 1923. This is the first incarnation of Poirot: a respected detective, certainly, but one who struggles just as often with being a foreigner, and whose understanding of Western mores is far from complete, while his abilities can often be overshadowed by his arrogance. It is, indeed, the characterisation that has been the template for all the film adaptations, and the actors who have portrayed the Belgian. David Suchet, with his desire to create a more nuanced character (and 20 years in which to develop him), was able to take this as the basis for Poirot’s early years, and then develop him through the 1940s incarnation – someone who wants to retire and, as he ages, grows slightly gruffer – to the final Poirot, an older, justifiably famous man who now understands humankind all too well, and begins to wonder about the things he missed in life. (The Suchet TV series, incidentally, utilised these short stories as templates for some lovely episodes. The central quartet – rounded out by Miss Lemon and Inspector Japp – made those early episodes delightful. They don’t all work, but they’re a good lesson in taking a short story and developing it into a full hour.)

There’s nothing explicitly wrong with this collection: a few stories sparkle, and the pairing of Hastings and Poirot (even though Christie quickly tired of it) works quite well. There is a sense of newness and wonder in their relationship, being set only a few years after their meeting in (or after?) World War I. But, truth be told, these are the lesser short stories in Poirot’s canon. Robert Barnard, in his analytical book "A Talent to Deceive", sees them as very much “in the shadow of Holmes and Watson”, and it’s hard to disagree. Picking one story and reading it can be good fun, but reading a few quickly exposes the formula. Hastings can easily be written off as a bit of a goof, so Christie made the right decision in limiting his appearances from here on out. This is not a waste of time, but – as with all Christie – her short stories have nothing on the novels.

[For once, US and UK readers got essentially the same collection this time. Nowadays, seek out a copy of the lovely "Complete Short Stories of Poirot" instead.]

Two and a half stars.

Poirot ranking: 32nd out of 38.(less)

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May 21, 2013 Tina Rae rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Agatha fans

Okay, so, I picked this up after finishing the horror that was Revolutionary Road, thinking it would be a quick read before my book club started its next book. Plus it was the next Hercule Poirot mystery and I'm attempting to read them all in order. Well, I didn't realize this wasn't an actual mystery novel but a collection of short mysteries.

So, here's my beef with short mysteries. One of the main reasons I love mysteries is because I love to see the case unravel before your very eyes. I love t...more Okay, so, I picked this up after finishing the horror that was Revolutionary Road, thinking it would be a quick read before my book club started its next book. Plus it was the next Hercule Poirot mystery and I'm attempting to read them all in order. Well, I didn't realize this wasn't an actual mystery novel but a collection of short mysteries.

So, here's my beef with short mysteries. One of the main reasons I love mysteries is because I love to see the case unravel before your very eyes. I love to watch them keep you guessing until almost the last page. I love to dive headfirst into the problem and dig for the solution as new pieces are added. Basically, I love puzzles and mysteries are just puzzles on paper.

Except short mysteries which are a small description of the case and then, a couple pages later, boom, conclusion and then off to the next case. WHAT?! Where's the meat? Where's my story? Honestly, I feel like reading short mysteries are the equivalent to an adult trying to put together those 4 giant piece children's puzzles. You can mix them up all you want but it's still going to be four pieces. And then when you finally, easily, put them together you just sit there staring at it going "now what?" and not really feeling like you've accomplished anything.

However, the redeeming factor of this book is that it's a Hercule Poirot book. And as much as I'm not a fan of short mysteries, I still love Hercule Poirot. And, as a result, I still enjoyed this book. Granted it took me a lot longer to read than if it had been a full mystery but I still enjoyed, well, I enjoy everything about Hercule. I just wish it had been a full length book rather than short stories. Or, rather, that I'd realized it before I started reading. (Believe me, my copy is completely misleading and I was, therefore, shocked when I got to the end of the first chapter and the mystery was already solved. Um, excuse me? What are you doing there? We still have all this book left.)

So, still good. Just not so great if you're a fan of full mysteries.(less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Manuel De rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: agata-christie

Più che essere un libro, Hercule Poirot indaga è una raccolta di racconti scritti dalla Christie che riguardano indagini di Poirot.
I racconti sono i seguenti:
- Il caso della Stella d'Occidente
- La tragedia di Marsdon Manor
- Un appartamento a buon mercato
- Il mistero di Hunter's Lodge
- Un furto da un milione di dollari in obbligazioni
- La maledizione della tomba egizia
- Il furto di gioielli al Grand Metropolitan
- Il rapimento del Primo Ministro
- La sparizione del signor Davenheim
- La dis...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-stories, library-sale, detective-fiction

I had thought of Poirot as a detective only of novel-length cases. I did not realize that he was also featured in short stories. Yay!

The Stories.

1. The Adventure of “The Western Star”. A famous movie actress has been receiving mysterious notes which threaten to steal her precious diamond, the Western Star. Can Poirot determine from whence these notes come? And can he forestall the robbery?

2. The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor. A man’s body has been found. It was the body of Mr. Maltravers, a middle-ag...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Noha Basiouny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

مجموعة قصص بوليسية بطلها المحقق بوارو ، تشبه في تكوينها كثيرا شيرلوك هولمز. محقق عبقري يسكن في إحدي البيوت بلندن ولديه ال "سنيد" أو صديق المحقق الذي يساعده في كثير من القضايا ، بينما صاحبة المنزل تعني بهم من آن لآخر وتخبره بقدوم أحدهم ليستشيره في جريمة قتل أو سرقة. ما علينا...
المهم أن المحقق بوارو هنا كان شديد الغرور والاعتداد بنفسه ، وكثير السخرية والاستختفاف بصديقه "هستنجز" علي عكس هولمز ، وقد كان بوارو نسخة ذكرية من الآنسة ماربل (إحدي شخصيات أجاثا كريستي المشهورة) في طريقة البحث عن الحقيقة. إ...more
مجموعة قصص بوليسية بطلها المحقق بوارو ، تشبه في تكوينها كثيرا شيرلوك هولمز. محقق عبقري يسكن في إحدي البيوت بلندن ولديه ال "سنيد" أو صديق المحقق الذي يساعده في كثير من القضايا ، بينما صاحبة المنزل تعني بهم من آن لآخر وتخبره بقدوم أحدهم ليستشيره في جريمة قتل أو سرقة. ما علينا...
المهم أن المحقق بوارو هنا كان شديد الغرور والاعتداد بنفسه ، وكثير السخرية والاستختفاف بصديقه "هستنجز" علي عكس هولمز ، وقد كان بوارو نسخة ذكرية من الآنسة ماربل (إحدي شخصيات أجاثا كريستي المشهورة) في طريقة البحث عن الحقيقة. إذ أنه كان - بعد أن تعرض عليه قضية ما - يسأل سؤالين أو ثلاثة ، ثم تسري الأحداث كما قدرت لها الكاتبة أن تسري ، وقد تتطور أو تتعقد وأبقي أنا في حيرة من أمري لا أعرف كيف سيحل بوارو هذه العقدة ، وكثيرا ما ألحق الحيرة بالحنق عليه لأنه قلما يبدي أي ردة فعل تجاه هذه التطورات ، وقبل نهاية القصة بصفحة أو اثنتان أجد بوارو قادما من لا مكان ل "ينحشر" وسط الأحداث ، وفجأة ومن دون مقدمات أجده قد ظهر بالحل الكامل المكمل الذي لا يقبل النقاش ، بل وقد قدمه ملفوفا في قصة مقنعة جديدة نوعا علي مسامعي ، وقبل أن أتبادر بالسؤال: كيف عرف كل ذلك؟ أكاد أتخيل أجاثا كريستي تنظر لي شزرا وكأن الإجابة واضحة وضوح الشمس متمثلة في حقيقة كون بوارو محققا ، والمحقق عالم بكل شئ حتي أسرار الفنانة اكس وما تخفيه في درج الكومود!
الحقيقة أن أول تعليق أطلقته علي هذا الكتاب كان: الراجل ده شكله قرا الكتاب قبل ما يبقي فيه!
بعض القصص كانت مثيرة ولكن أطفأها بوارو بأسلوبه المنفر.
(less)

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May 04, 2012 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I loved Poirot Investigates. Perhaps because I had low expectations? This was my first experience reading Christie's short stories. And since I'm not generally a fan of short stories, I didn't have great expectations for enjoying these fourteen stories. Each story is narrated by Captain Hastings. And he is a character that I tend to love and adore. I've found that Hercule Poirot needs a little help either from Hastings or Ariadne Oliver to help tame his arrogance. I have definitely come to love...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Amber Ditullio rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, audio-book-version

I like to have something playing when I sleep. Whether it be a television show, a movie or an audio book, having something that can lull me into dreamland is a necessity for me to fall asleep. This week, I've put on the audio book version of this book. David Suchet is one of my favorite readers of Poirot stories, so that was a huge draw for me to have it for my bedtime listening.

Part of why I enjoyed this was because I was pretty familiar with all the stories. I'd watched several of them through...more

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Apr 11, 2011 Laurel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my-year-of-agatha

[Note: Poirot Investigates contains 14 stories, not 11, and my copy was read by me, not by David Suchet! However, this seems to be the only edition in Goodreads, so it will do.]

Had Dame Agatha's publishers consulted me (ha!) I would have suggested they title this collection after the last story it contains, "The Chocolate Box." To me that title is the perfect metaphor for Poirot Investigates: it is a box chock-full of 14 perfect little bon-bons for the delectation of the mystery connoisseur who...more [Note: Poirot Investigates contains 14 stories, not 11, and my copy was read by me, not by David Suchet! However, this seems to be the only edition in Goodreads, so it will do.]

Had Dame Agatha's publishers consulted me (ha!) I would have suggested they title this collection after the last story it contains, "The Chocolate Box." To me that title is the perfect metaphor for Poirot Investigates: it is a box chock-full of 14 perfect little bon-bons for the delectation of the mystery connoisseur who won't settle for literary junk food! Each one is a standalone treat, but taken together they are even better since each has a different flavor to it.

Poirot Investigates came out very early in Agatha Christie's career, 1924, when she had only written 2 novels featuring Poirot. He was thus still a new character, and these stories serve to establish his reputation as a renowned detective by giving us a crash course in tricky cases he has solved. They lay the foundation for all his future appearances by showing that his famous hubris is not baseless.

In structure, Christie stuck close to the model of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. The titles are similar to his, tending to start with "The Adventure of the..." or "The Case of..." etc. Poirot appears here as a consulting detective who sees clients in the sitting room of the London apartment he shares with his friend-and-narrator, Watson...er, Hastings. I wonder if this familiar setup came about because Christie was still such a novice at this point--her ingenuity is on full display, but perhaps she wasn't quite confident enough to break from the accepted format of a Great Detective story. Or perhaps she was VERY confident and wanted to establish herself as Doyle's successor--he was still writing about Holmes up until 1927 so there was slight overlap with Christie, but he was almost finished writing when she began. Either way, the stories are delightful for the many clever variations on the mystery theme, even including the bittersweet truffle of a case that Poirot DIDN'T solve! (less)

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Jan 17, 2013 Biondy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-story, kumpulan-cerpen

A compilation of short stories from Agatha Christie. This time we have 11 stories from our favorite detective, Poirot, and his sidekick, Hastings. From a thievery to kidnap. Eleven stories of interesting adventures of Poirot and his little grey cells.

Review
Ah, Agatha Christie. How I adore thee. I always like detective stories and Christie's novels have always been on the top of my favorite list. I like Poirot and his sometimes "ego-centric" attitude. I think it's irritating yet funny.

I love the...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Rebekah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: agatha-christie

Many of these stories reminded me very much of Sherlock Holmes and Watson's adventures.

I will review each story in the book.

1) The Adventure of the Western Star
I think this story kicked off the book in a good way and it was a good twist although the outcome was highly guessable.

2) The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
I think this was one of my favorites in the book. It had a good plot and the reasonings were very likely. However, the 'actor' theory came up again though I thought the motive.

3) The Adv...more

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May 09, 2013 Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: golden_age_detection, mystery

*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Golden Summer (May-September 2013).

While Poirot takes on cases that are immense in scope, occasionally he takes on those smaller, but still significant cases, sometimes with the fate of the world in the balance, that can be solved very quickly, comme ca. From jewel heists to mysterious deaths, people in disguises to Egyptian curses, disappearances, both staged and unfortunate, to a will most cunningly hidden, Poirot has a h...more *Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Golden Summer (May-September 2013).

While Poirot takes on cases that are immense in scope, occasionally he takes on those smaller, but still significant cases, sometimes with the fate of the world in the balance, that can be solved very quickly, comme ca. From jewel heists to mysterious deaths, people in disguises to Egyptian curses, disappearances, both staged and unfortunate, to a will most cunningly hidden, Poirot has a host of clients, thankfully none of them with missing dogs. Poirot's genius succeeds at every turn and the police and Hastings are baffled that his little grey cells are able to make such leaps of intuition, in more than one case, without even leaving his bed. Because all you need is your little grey cells, everything else is just fodder.

Recently I read an article about Terry Pratchett and his distaste for modern storytelling, in particular Doctor Who. In the interview he said "On planet Earth it's generally taken for granted that it's a bad thing to introduce into a narrative some last-minute solution that was totally unexpected and unheralded ... The unexpected, unadvertised solution which kisses it all better is known as a deus ex machina – literally, a god from the machine. And a god from the machine is what the Doctor now is. A decent detective story provides you with enough tantalising information to allow you to make a stab at a solution before the famous detective struts his stuff in the library. Doctor Who replaces this with speed, fast talking, and what appears to be that wonderful element 'makeitupasyougalongeum'."

This is exactly my problem when you take a Poirot story and make it short. I have always had reservations about short stories. They can be shallow and way too short. With the case of Poirot, you don't get the joy of following him every step of the way so that it's conceivable that you could solve it, instead you get his, and here's how it happened, with Poirot as God. We aren't given "enough tantalising information!" Also, while I was familiar with a lot of these stories from the TV series, I can see why they had to expand and pad them out, they were making them what Christie should have made them in the first place, fully formed stories without "unexpected and unheralded" endings. Instead, we are left with Hastings scratching out heads. And if I've said it once I'll say it a thousand times, I do not want any comparison between me and Hastings, thank you very much.

Speaking of Hastings... he seems really a little hard on Poirot in his narration. Always commenting on how Poirot is full of himself, a little man with a big ego and unjustifiably vain in his abilities. I'm sorry Hastings, but seeing as he can solve cases without leaving his house and is able to get a result every time, that isn't unjustifiably vain, it's justifiably vain. That lovely little Belgian has every right to toot his own horn, and you even are going "How does he do it?" and marvelling at his little grey cells. You can't praise him to his face and then grumble about his genius too! You can't have it both ways the way you are written. Either you think he's vain or he's a justifiably vain genius, you aren't written to begrudgingly talk about his genius. You are astounded so much that your carping on makes you sound like a bitter little man not accepting of his friends personality quirks but still riding his coattails. Another reason not to like Hastings. The Argentine can't come soon enough for you matey.(less)

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Aug 11, 2011 Mifo4ka added it · review of another edition

Shelves: half-read-books

Приключение «Звезды Запада» (The Adventure of the Western Star)
Трагедия в Масдон Мэйнор (The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor)
~~Слишком дешёвая квартира (The Adventure of the Cheap Flat)~~
Тайна охотничьей сторожки (The Mystery of the Hunters Lodge)
Украденный миллион (The Million Dollar Bond Robbery)
Тайна египетской гробницы (The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb)
~~Кража в Гранд-отеле (The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolita)~~
Похищение премьер-министра (The Kidnapped Prime Minister)
Исчезновение мистера Давенхе...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Hadi Wijaya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

This book is a compilation of 11 shorts detective story of Hercule Poirot. This is the first time I read Poirot's case. He is arrogant, but very brilliant.

The story is brought in type of detective book and it means that the author will cover up the detective analysis until almost the end of story. And then in just only 2 last page every truth is told.

Somehow I prefer if the detective can be more open. In this book Poirot is more like a miserly guy who always want to keep the truth himself. For s...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mysteries, ebooks

This collection of fourteen Hercule Poirot short stories shows just how difficult it is to work well in the format, especially when it comes to mysteries. It's very hard to include many red herrings or an expanded cast of potential guilty parties when you don't have hundreds of pages of narrative at your disposal, which means that it's very hard to trick your readers and leave them in the dark until the final denouement. (This is also why mystery television series composed of standalone episodes...more

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May 14, 2013 Jean Naylor rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book of short stories is perhaps not the best way to display Agatha Christie's talents. She is known to fashion inventive plots, but has little skill at characterisation. Most of her stereotypical characters could happily be switched between stories. For some reason this seems even more annoying in the short story; perhaps because she does not even attempt to flesh them out.
The only exceptions to cardboard characterisation are the two protagonists, Poirot and Hastings, and anyone who already r...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Bart Van Loon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The third in the Poirot series of Agatha Christie, the fourth one for me to read, I was least impressed by `Poirot Investigates'. This book is a small series in itself with about ten short stories of Poirot investigating and solving distinct cases.

Sure, the murders, crimes and mysteries are all very well thought off, much distinct and unique, but there is hardly any room in the stories for plot lines other than the straightforward solving the case one. Nor do the stories shed muchextra light on...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Brett rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is now one of my favorites from Agatha Christie. I really liked the way the book was set up. It is about these investigators solving mysteries, but there is about 30 separate mysteries in the book. I really like this because you can never really get bored, and if you don't find on mystery particularly interesting, you only have about two pages to go until your next mystery! Another reason that I really like it is because it gives me a lot of chances to act like an investigator and gues...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Trevor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: agatha-christie, i-own, 1000-b4-40

Excellent collection - every story was a mystery until Poirot revealed what should have been obvious! I didn't appreciate how stupid Hastings seemed to be in this collection. A few stories made me pause and scratch my head over how he could miss so much. (view spoiler)...more

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May 16, 2013 Cassie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A few stories were actually really good, but the rest were sort of trying too hard to trick us, I thought. I thought the stories were too short for the reader to be able to start picking up on what Poirot picks up, and we're left with things like (view spoiler) It's something the reader could have done with hearing about, even if Hastings chalked it up to nothing at all, sort of like (view spoiler)...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Despair Speaking rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, think-until-your-brain-rots

Where did I put my copy of this book? I bought one while I was still in high school and I'm sure it's around here somewhere... Maybe I should hire Poirot to help me with this "mystery". Hahahaha...

This book revolves on, obviously, Poirot and the mysteries he solves with his dear friend, Captain Hastings. You could totally see the duo's similarities with Sherlock and Watson but even so, I love those two! Anyway, the book begins with The Adventure of the Western Star where a famous actress asks Po...more

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Feb 14, 2012 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, historical, mystery

A series of original Poirot stories read expertly by David Suchet, who has played Poirot on TV for many years.

I loved Christie in high school and college, but since I haven't read the actual books in years, I thought it would be fun to revisit them after seeing so many of them dramatised. They do hold up if you take Christie at face value--these are classic mysteries that you read for the puzzles, the solutions, and the quirky, well-known characters. They are quite stripped-down compared to the...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Symz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a collection of short stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings. There are 11 stories in total, ranging from the some of reasonable quality, 'The case of the missing will',and 'The disappearance Mr Davenheim', to some of execrable merit such as 'The kidnapped prime minister', or 'The mystery of Hunters Lodge'.

The stories are rather short, all being approximately nine page long, so they don't really show Poirot's ingenuity and 'logic' very well. Lacking time to demonstrat...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Phoebes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

POIROT IO TI ADORO! :)

Lo dico sempre che la Christie è sempre una piacevolissima lettura!
Ho amato moltissimo l’atmosfera che si respirava in queste pagine, questo mondo aristocratico in cui c’è un libro (il Who’s Who) su cui trovare informazioni su tutti, in cui la servitù è solitamente invisibile e senza nome, ma c’è sempre e dovunque, e infine questo mondo in cui ci si cambia vestito ad ogni pasto (anche per il tè!)! E poi adoro come sempre lo stile della Christie, la sua ironia sempre present...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Lauren Salisbury rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Meh. I was really quite surprised to find that I did not enjoy these stories one bit. For some reason Poirot just does not work for me in short story form. Christie leaves something to be desired in these vignettes. They are of course authentic Poirot and i believe him in the situations presented, but the charm usually found in her novels is lacking here. There are fewer moments where you find yourself in awe of Poirot, perhaps because we as readers are never offered the opportunity to play dete...more

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Aug 09, 2011 Kirsty Darbyshire added it · review of another edition

Poirot in short story format is curiously unsatisfying. The plots and the twists are perfectly decent but since Christie's book's aren't generally epics anyway these stories just seem to lack the characterisation and the eventfulness of her books.

There are a couple of complete duds here (The Veiled Lady was awful in my ever so humble opinion) and a couple of absolute gems (I liked The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim best: a good twist that wouldn't have been sustainable in a longer work) but most...more

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Nov 21, 2010 Stina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: agatha-christie-perpetual-challenge, finished-in-2010

I re-read this book for the Agatha Christie Perpetual Challenge to read all of Dame Agatha's books in publication order. This is a short story collection containing the following stories:
The Adventure of "The Western Star"
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
The Kidnapped Prime Minister
The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim
The Adventure of the...more

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Aug 07, 2011 Mary Ronan Drew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-book

Watching the many episodes of the TV adaptation of Poirot mysteries I was puzzled to see “based on a story by Agatha Christie” in the credits of many of them. I had read all of Agatha Christie’s novels and these stories were definitely not among them.

Now I know where they came from. Poirot Investigated, which I borrowed from the library thinking it was a novel, turns out to be a book of short stories and I hadn’t read it so I was in for a treat. The mystery stories originally appeared in a magaz...more

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Jan 12, 2009 Candy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't enjoy Christie's short stories as much as her novels. Too much of the same.

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Jul 15, 2011 Jodi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Told by Hastings, these short stories were great. As I read them I wondered if it was because they were short the reader was given a fighting chance to figure out the mystery. Think it had something to do with the fact that there couldn't be too many characters to keep straight, clues were more condensed so recognized right away while reading them and Hastings gives more to the narrative.
They took about 15 minutes each to read and although I cheated a bit selecting this for my travels, the Belg...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Rose added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, fiction

Not the most sparkling of Christie's stories, but decent enough.

1 like · like · see review

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About Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more

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Books by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)

The Mysterious Affair At Styles (Hercule Poirot #1)

Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple, #1)

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“« [...] É il cervello, le piccole cellule grigie» si batté una mano sulla fronte, «la cosa su cui bisogna basarsi. I sensi inducono in errore. Bisogna cercare la verità dal di dentro, non dal di fuori.»” — 2 people liked it

“One must have consideration for those less gifted than oneself. - Hercuule Poirot” — 2 people liked it

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Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot #3)

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