1920s Agatha Christie, Volume Four

by Agatha Christie

Seven Dials Mystery
Partners in Crime
Mysterious Mr.Quin

Genres: Agatha Christie, Mystery

Paperback

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

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

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[V She · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond excellent! Didn't want the book to end, really, even though the volume was thick ! Truly captivating characters, humour, mischief, intrigue and good old sleuthing as only Dame Agatha can invent it. Tommy and Tuppence were my favourite of the sleuths. 5stars no less. Need to read the other volumes now...;-D

[Linda Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Seven Dials Mystery':- I found this story a bit difficult to get into, mainly because of the dated, upper class language. It starts to really liven up in the second half of the book with the ending being hugely different to the one you expect. Really enjoyed this after a slow start.

'Partners in Crime':- Agatha Christie is back on form in this series of short stories featuring Tommy & Tuppence. It very cleverly lays the ground in the first story for what happens in the last. The stories in-between are all individual & tongue in cheek. An easy book to dip in & out of. Again, some of the language used is very much of the time & makes you appreciate some of the changes made in acceptable language to date. If you can accept that it is written 'of the time' you'll enjoy it.

'The Mysterious Mr Quin':- A series of short stories which were OK in themselves. Read together as a book they become a bit repetitive regarding the descriptions of the main characters. I was slightly confused by the last story which explains who Mr Quin is. I couldn't quite understand who he took with him in the end though? A fairly strange group of supernatural style stories.

[léa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of stories. The resolutions seem a bit surface-level to any seasoned reader because they were so pioneering back then, but the characters mostly make up for it. They were certainly put in the right order. If I hadn't ended on the good note of Mr Harley Quin, this would probably have been 3 stars.