The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge: a Hercule Poirot Short Story

Hercule Poirot #0.12

by Agatha Christie

Belgian investigator Hercule Poirot, now London based, tasks his friend Arthur Hastings with solving a murder that is more like a riddle. It occurs at a hunting lodge. The owner has been murdered, and his nephew wants Poirot to investigate. But our favourite private detective has the flu so its Hastings or nobody!

Originally published in "Sketch" on May 26, 1923.

Librarian's note: this entry is for the story, "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere on Goodreads. Individual entries, including the characters and settings, for all 51 Poirot short stories, plus a 52nd, "Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly" which was discovered in 2014, can be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Hercule Poirot Short Story."

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime, Classics

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 1923

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

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill)]

Hercule Poirot, in this book, investigates a murder case of a lodge owner. The murder occurs at his lode, named Hunting Lodge.

It is the owner’s nephew who calls Poirot to investigate this case. The specialty of this case is that Hastings gets a chance to shine at last. Will Hastings solve this case? Will the sick Poirot intervene in this case? Can flu tire down Poirot’s grey cells? Is Poirot’s physical presence necessary to solve a case? Agatha Christie answers all these questions in this book.
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[Anne]

Hasting gets to take off the training wheels!
Sort of.



A man contacts Poirot asking for his help in solving the murder of his elderly uncle, but Hercule (still recovering from the flu) sends Hastings in as his proxy. As you can imagine, Hastings gets it all wrong and Poirot ends up solving the case from his comfy chair.



This is one of those cases where justice isn't meted out by an earthly judicial system. Even someone as clever as Poirot has to deal in evidence. Karma, however? Well, that's a whole different story.

First published in the magazine The Sketch in May 1923.
This can also be found in the short story collection The Early Cases of Hercule Poirot & Midwinter Murders.

[Razvan Banciu]

The best from this series so far.
Unfortunately for him, Hastings loses a big opportunity to show some detective skills, so he remains only a narrator...

[Mai]

Illogical

How unrealistic the story can be. So a man in his bed across the country was able to understand deeply the case and realized that the maid and the lady of the house are the same person but she was just hiding it to kill the man.
Like? Even children will question this illogical way of investigations.

[itsdanixx]

Hastings gets his chance to shine (sort of...) and Poirot solves another case without leaving his room

[Bobby Underwood]

Poirot has a bout of influenza which prevents him from traveling to Hunter’s Lodge in this one. Hastings is obviously eager to go in his stead. Poirot allows him to do so on the condition that he report back every detail to Poirot, and follows his old friend’s instructions. This of course makes The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge an especially fun one.

Japp is around when Hastings arrives, managing to get in some fun digs. Both men are of course completely in the dark in regard to the solution of the crime, while a bed-ridden Poirot is way ahead of them. Unfortunately, being so far away, Poirot is unable to clue in Hastings and Jap on the solution in time to prevent the culprit(s) — don’t want to ruin it — from getting away.

Only an off-stage moment of justice prevents this from being perfect, but it’s close enough. Great fun.

[Mystery, She Read]

3.5 🌟

While I have enjoyed one of her short stories… I don’t know if Poirot’s are for me.

[Susan]

Poirot is recuperating after a nasty bout of flu, so he tasks his friend and sidekick Captain Hastings to travel North to investigate a murder that’s been brought to his notice by the nephew of the victim.

Hastings interviews the other occupants of the house in which the crime has been committed, takes some photographs, snoops about, speaks to the leading police Detective, and conveys his findings and conclusions to the famous Belgian sleuth.

It seems though, that even when he’s confined to his bed, Poirot can knock the socks of every other crime fighter, amateur or professional, and see through even the cleverest subterfuge…..

An enjoyable short story, that kept me guessing……

[Mallory]

Overall I think this story could have used a little bit more to it and I didn’t love the ending, but it was an interesting one. It was so short there wasn’t really time to try to figure anything out really. I did like the mystery itself, I’m just not a fan of karma taking are of ensuring there is justice as a satisfying ending. When I read a mystery I want the bad guys to be caught. I did really like the dual pages of English and French. I am working on my French and it was really helpful to be able to read a sentence or two and then go make sure I was right or identify words I didn’t know. It seemed to be well done to me (but I am far from fluent so I could be wrong about that).

[Julie]

This Hercule Poirot short story was first published in The Sketch magazine in the UK in May, 1923. US publication followed in The Blue Book magazine in June 1924.

Even famous detectives get the flu! A gentleman comes to beg help from Hercule Poirot, but he is laid up in bed recovering from his illness. Captain Hastings agrees to accompany Roger Havering to his family's hunting lodge. His uncle was shot to death on the property and they need help to ferret out the murderer. Hastings gathers clues, sending them by wire to Poirot, who sends his instructions by return wire. Very interesting case! Even while sick and miles away, Poirot can still use his wonderous little grey cells to solve crimes!

I love how this story shows the close relationship between Poirot and Hastings.....even the little bouts of jealousy that Hastings has when it comes to Poirot's gift for investigation. Hastings really wishes he could wrap up confusing cases as easily as Poirot...but he always seems to miss the mark by just that little bit.

The long-running television show, Agatha Christie's Poirot, adapted this story into an episode (Series 3, episode 10). The story is short so the plot had to be padded a bit to make it episode length. The basics are true to the original story. Very well done as usual! I love David Suchet as Poirot!

I am enjoying all these early Hercule Poirot stories! I have loved Agatha Christie's books for 40+ years, but I never read any of the short stories. Nice to read something "new'' from my favorite author!

[Jack Heath]

3 Stars. Can you imagine Hercule Poirot sick? With his idiosyncrasies? He has influenza, the grip as it was known then. Could it have been the terrible Spanish Flu of 1918-1920 which Christie is referring to? Right up there as a pandemic with COVID-19. A gossip columnist even has a comment, "Our own pet society detective can't get a grip on you!" First the background stuff; The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge is a seventeen page short story from a 1924 collection, Poirot Investigates. It appeared in Sketch magazine in 1923. Roger Havering tries to visit Poirot; he needs him to come to the family's hunting lodge in Derbyshire near the moors immediately. His uncle has been murdered. As a substitute, our sick detective sends his partner, Hastings, with explicit instructions to report back regularly. Was the black-bearded man who visited Roger's uncle, Harrington Pace, the murderer? And where was Mrs. Middleton the housekeeper? One only needs to try to follow all the movements of the various characters to end up confused! This is one of the few Poirot stories, long or short, where the ending is less than clear-cut. (Au2020/Se2026)

[Lovely Day]

4⭐️ first read, 4⭐️ second read

Poirot is requested to help solve a murder but he is down with the flu, so Hastings goes in his place and corresponds with Poirot about the evidence.

[Christine]

So, Poirot and Hastings are basically Holmes and Watson?

[Richard Derus]

Rating: 3.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Previously published in the print anthology Poirot Investigates.

Poirot tasks his friends with solving a murder that is more like a riddle.

My Review: A third season Agatha Christie's Poirot episode, and a 99¢ Kindle Single.

The story is a completely different angle on the tale being told. It is more or less a report of events from Hastings to Poirot. Poirot and Hastings are there at the time the murder occurred. It makes a completely different experience of the tale.

The story was a bit dry; the entire ending was ridiculous, a piece of cheatery. But the ending of the episode, well now, that was a lovely bit of stagecraft. The tale itself is a standard murder-for-greed plot. The addition of a hunting party and a poor Bolshevik cousin to the episode made the experience more nuanced. The story is a good base for the episode, and really best appreciated as a source for the more satisfying realization on television.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Noninuna]

A simple and well thought mystery. I tried to solve it as I'm sure many other mystery readers do but thinking too much into it just diverted me with too much possibilities so I missed the actual thing.

[Whitney (The Cover Collector)]

This one was clever but…uhhhh…I don’t know. Poirot solves this too easily from scraps of information while massively sick from a flu worse than ours. One could argue that Poirot is just that godly at detective work, but it feels like Christie just let him have it.

[debbicat *made of stardust*]

A nice Little short story to listen to while running errands today.

[William]

As a fan of Agatha Christie, I picked this e-book up from by local library. It was part of a set of twelve novellas Midwinter Murder: Fireside Tales from the Queen of Mystery. I found each individual story entertaining with a great mystery. I would recommond to readers of Agatha Christie. 2023

[Anne]

Hasting gets to take off the training wheels!
Sort of.



A man contacts Poirot asking for his help in solving the murder of his elderly uncle, but Hercule (still recovering from the flu) sends Hastings in as his proxy. As you can imagine, Hastings gets it all wrong and Poirot ends up solving the case from his comfy chair.



This is one of those cases where justice isn't meted out by an earthly judicial system. Even someone as clever as Poirot has to deal in evidence. Karma, however? Well, that's a whole different story.

First published in the magazine The Sketch in May 1923.
This can also be found in the short story collection The Early Cases of Hercule Poirot & Midwinter Murders.

[Ari]

Audiolibro que escuche mientras manejaba, entretenido!

[mairiachi]

(edit: this is a really old review, not well-written, and may or may not come back and rewrite it.)

for a short story, and for a short murder mystery written by Agatha Christie, it's five stars.

I was really excited when I started reading it - unlike the ones I'd just finished reading a few minutes before, it was actually a murder. It's not as interesting as Christie's full-length murder mysteries because duh, but it's still really good for a short story. The plot twist and the story, and how the murderer carried the thing out, were interesting and engaging.

[Tojuan Gordon]

I honestly like that Poirot and Hastings couldnt get the murders convicted. Adds a nice touch of realism to these stories like how in some Sherlock stories he fails to protect. These Two great men and detectives are awe inspiring but they are men and they do not hos powers amd sometimes bad people get away with things. Of course Agatha hates that so she has a bit of a deus ex machina ending to give the killers their comeuppance through a convenient plane crash but I still really like the story despite that somewhat disjointed ending.

[Carolyn F.]

Audiobook - part of Poirot Investigates

Another story showing cruelty for someone you are supposed to love. 3-1/2 stars.

[catherine ♡]

Unfortunately, it looks like Hastings is still not using his grey cells. In longer stories it's fine but in these short stories he really seems like a lacking narrator — the story isn't that interesting until Poiret comes in.

[Erica]

Several of Agatha Christie's short stories were on Hoopla as Bonus borrows. I've read them in a short story collection, but it was fun to listen to them being told in a posh British accent.

[Chlo Bolton 🍃]

What a guy! I love how Poirot has caught a bad cold, is bed-bound, and yet is still able to solve the murder quicker than the actual police at the scene 😭

[Diana Long]

One of the stories in The Collection by Agatha Christie

[Lorie]

This might be one of my favorites! Lol Spoiler Alert

They were guilty, they got away with it, but they were killed in a plane crash: justice 😆 🤣

[Omar]

في The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge تقدم أغاثا كريستي واحدة من القصص القصيرة الممتعة التي تحمل بصمتها الكلاسيكية في الحبكة والتحقيق. منذ اللحظة الأولى، يجد القارئ نفسه داخل أجواء ريفية هادئة لا تلبث أن تتكسر بجريمة قتل مفاجئة، ما يخلق التوتر المطلوب لبدء رحلة فك الغموض. القصة لا تعتمد على العنف أو التشويق المفرط، بل على الدقة في الملاحظة واللعب الذكي بالتفاصيل، وهي السمات التي جعلت من كريستي سيدة أدب الجريمة.

اللافت في هذه القصة أن بوارو، رغم كونه الشخصية المحورية، لا يتواجد فعليًا في مسرح الجريمة، ما يمنح الكابتن هيستنغز فرصة للتعامل مع التحقيق الأولي. هذا الغياب المؤقت لا يُضعف من حضور بوارو، بل يكشف عن تأثيره حتى حين يكون بعيدًا، كما أنه يُظهر حدود قدرات هيستنغز الذي يتصرف بإخلاص وفضول، لكن دائمًا بحاجة إلى بصيرة صديقه الأذكى.

الحبكة مشغولة بإتقان، ومع أنها لا تحمل مفاجآت مدوية، إلا أن متعة تتبع الخيوط واستنتاج الحل تمنح القارئ شعورًا بالرضا. كل شيء موضوع في مكانه الصحيح: الشخصيات، الأدلة، وحتى التضليل. لا وقت يُهدر في وصف زائد أو مشاهد هامشية، فكل سطر في هذه القصة يخدم الهدف الأساسي منها.

الشخصيات، وإن لم تتطور بشكل كبير نظرًا لقصر النص، تؤدي دورها بفعالية. كل منها يحمل وظيفة محددة ضمن اللغز، دون أن يسحب الأضواء من بوارو أو من منطقية الحل النهائي. القصة أيضًا تنجح في تقديم بيئة مغلقة توظفها كريستي لتقوية الإحساس بالعزلة والتوتر، وهو أمر يصعب إنجازه في مساحة قصيرة دون أن يبدو مصطنعًا.

هذه القصة مثال جيد على أن المتعة لا ترتبط دائمًا بالحجم أو التعقيد. في مساحة محدودة، تنجح كريستي في تقديم عمل محكم، رشيق، وذكي، يرضي من يبحث عن قصة بوليسية تقليدية بأسلوب كلاسيكي، دون أن يُثقِل على القارئ أو يفرط في المفاجآت.


In The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge, Agatha Christie delivers one of her enjoyable short stories that carries her signature approach to plot and investigation. From the very beginning, the reader is placed in a quiet countryside setting that is quickly disrupted by a sudden murder, creating just the right amount of tension to set the mystery in motion. The story doesn’t rely on violence or extreme suspense, but rather on careful observation and clever use of small details—hallmarks of Christie’s mastery in crime fiction.

Interestingly, Hercule Poirot, though central to the narrative, is not physically present at the crime scene. This gives Captain Hastings the chance to take on the initial investigation. Poirot’s temporary absence doesn’t weaken the story; in fact, it highlights his influence even from afar, and it also exposes the limitations of Hastings, who, despite his sincerity and curiosity, still relies on his friend’s superior intellect.

The plot is crafted with precision. While it may not deliver shocking twists, the pleasure comes from following the clues and arriving at a logical resolution. Everything is placed just right: the characters, the evidence, even the misdirection. There’s no wasted time on excessive description or unnecessary scenes—every line serves the story’s core mystery.

Though the characters aren’t deeply developed, which is expected in a short story, each plays their role effectively. They function within the puzzle without overshadowing Poirot or disrupting the story’s coherence. The closed, rural setting is also used skillfully to reinforce a sense of isolation and tension, a challenge in a brief format that Christie handles effortlessly.

This story is a good example of how enjoyment doesn’t always come from complexity or length. Within a concise space, Christie succeeds in delivering a well-constructed, sharp, and clever piece that satisfies anyone looking for a classic detective tale—one that is light, well-paced, and subtly intelligent.

[ᗩᗰIᖇᗩ ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚]

نايس :)