What do you think?
Agatha Christie Mysteries: Philomel Cottage / The Red Signal / The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl
Contains "Philomel Cottage" "The Red Signal" and "The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl" 2 cassettes.
2 pages, Audio Cassette
Published January 1, 1986
About the author
Agatha Christie
6,438 books79.2k followersAgatha 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)
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)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 9, 2020
A set of great stories by Agatha Christie Christie is one of my nominated authors for this year. I began reading her works only knowing her for Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. So, it has been a great surprise and real joy to delve into other such stories by Christie.
April 4, 2015
I listened to this collection of short stories as an audio book, since I had another long road trip recently. I decided to return to Christie, since she seems to work well for me when driving. Once again, I was able to predict endings before they were revealed, but once again, that didn’t reduce my enjoyment of the stories. I would rate all of these stories as comedic, in the sense that I laughed as I heard them, though some would be “black comedies,” in the sense that people do die and otherwise have “tragic” things happen to them.
The first story, “Philomel Cottage,” was the longest and also the darkest of the three, being about a woman who begins to suspect her husband is planning to kill her, based on clues she finds. The whole piece takes place within the mind of the victim character, and Christie provides a very complete backstory to round it out. The end provides a dark chuckle or two, but it’s overall the least funny of the stories.
The second story, “The Red Signal,” involves Spiritualism and Psychiatry, and appears to be making fun of both of them. The young nephew of a famous psychologist attends a party held at his best friend’s house, and a medium warns everyone “don’t go home.” They all do, and it goes the worse for them. Along the way, we learn that the uncle is really there in his professional capacity and the hero is in love with his best friend’s wife. Fortunately for him, a psychic warning he calls “the Red Signal” will save his life.
The third story, “The Case of the Spanish Shawl” is probably the funniest, as it parodies a somewhat ditzy (male) writer of mysteries, who, fighting writer’s block, allows himself to be drawn into a plot by a mysterious woman’s voice on the telephone. As he gets deeper and deeper in, the situation becomes increasingly preposterous, leading to an amusing denouement.
The first story, “Philomel Cottage,” was the longest and also the darkest of the three, being about a woman who begins to suspect her husband is planning to kill her, based on clues she finds. The whole piece takes place within the mind of the victim character, and Christie provides a very complete backstory to round it out. The end provides a dark chuckle or two, but it’s overall the least funny of the stories.
The second story, “The Red Signal,” involves Spiritualism and Psychiatry, and appears to be making fun of both of them. The young nephew of a famous psychologist attends a party held at his best friend’s house, and a medium warns everyone “don’t go home.” They all do, and it goes the worse for them. Along the way, we learn that the uncle is really there in his professional capacity and the hero is in love with his best friend’s wife. Fortunately for him, a psychic warning he calls “the Red Signal” will save his life.
The third story, “The Case of the Spanish Shawl” is probably the funniest, as it parodies a somewhat ditzy (male) writer of mysteries, who, fighting writer’s block, allows himself to be drawn into a plot by a mysterious woman’s voice on the telephone. As he gets deeper and deeper in, the situation becomes increasingly preposterous, leading to an amusing denouement.
May 2, 2011
I picked it up and listened for the sake of the narrator: TPS is a favorite. The short stories were adequate. I am glad that I gave it chance; I wouldn't be averse to listening to it again sometime in the future. Stories are fine and the narration was satisfactory.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews