The Last Seance: Tales of the Supernatural

by Agatha Christie

From the Queen of Suspense, an all-new collection of her spookiest and most sinister stories, including one never before published in the U.S.

“Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.”—Tana French, New York Times Bestselling Author

For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling stories from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Fantastic psychic visions, specters looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, a man who switches bodies with a cat—be sure to keep the light on whilst reading these tales.

The Last Séance gathers twenty stories, some featuring Christie’s beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, in one haunting compendium that explores all things occult and paranormal, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.

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

362 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2019

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

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary stories?
This is a bunch of short stories that deal with the supernatural or the appearance of the supernatural. So not all of the stories are actually dealing with paranormal things, just the pretense of the spooky was used to commit crimes. In fact, if Marple or Poirot shows up, you can bet your ass there's a logical explanation for things.



The Last Séance
A medium with a bad feeling about her last client is proven right. This one is straight-up horror, and I wish the rest of the stories had all been this out there.

In a Glass Darkly
A man sees what he thinks is a premonition of his best friend's sister being strangled by her fiancé. Years later, he sees things differently.
PS - Christie has a thing with having her heroes almost strangle the women they love to death and then reconcile with them. WTF, Agatha?

S.O.S.
A house with a sinister atmosphere may be responsible for the bad things some of the inhabitants are plotting.
But probably it was just the money angle.

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
This one just has the mummy vibe, so how can you go wrong?

The Fourth Man
This one was an incredibly inaccurate portrayal of dissociative identity disorder (multiple personalities) AND hypnotism, but it was so entertaining! Bananas plot about a woman with DID who killed herself. Or was she actually killing someone else?
A wacky must-read!

The Idol House of Astarte
I'd read this before somewhere, but it's still a really good one.
Miss Marple and some friends listen to a clergyman tell a story about the time he witnessed a man killed by seemingly supernatural forces. And of course, she correctly figures out who stabbed a young man at that house party so many years ago.

The Gipsy
A love story (ish) about reincarnation.

Philomel Cottage
A woman saves herself by being clever and outwitting a serial killer. <--finally!
A Bluebeard gets the tables turned on him by a wife who listens to her intuition and does some digging into her new husband's past. This was one of the best of the bunch!

The Lamp
Depressing story about a dying child and a child ghost.

The Dream
This was another one that I'd read before in a different collection. Poirot solves the mystery of a rich man who supposedly committed suicide after having a recurring dream that he killed himself.

Wireless
A radio transmits a ghostly voice from beyond telling an old woman that she will soon be reunited with her long-dead husband.
Well. Maybe.

The Wife of the Kenite
A mother gets gruesome revenge on the soldier who killed her child.
This is also credited as her 1st short story.

The Mystery of the Blue Jar
A young man falls for a con dressed up to look supernatural.

The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael
A man who was turned into a cat by his greedy stepmother gets payback.

The Blue Gernaium
Miss Marple solves the case of the hypochondriac who believed in mediums to her detriment.

The Call of Wings
A sappy story about a millionaire who gives up his fortune in time to save a life and get carried about on wings.

The Flock of Geryon
With the help of Poirot and Japp, a clever woman named Miss Carnaby defeats a cult leader who is killing off the rich women in his following for their money.
Miss Carnaby was in another short story (The Nemean Lion in the The Labours of Hercules), and she's someone who was smart enough to have made a great criminal if she had so desired. This story is also found in that collection.


The Red Signal
A man uses intuition to escape a plot to set him up for the murder of his uncle.

The Dressmaker's Doll
A creepy doll just wants to be loved.
Ahhhh! One of the better ones.

The Hound of Death
This was a weird one to end on. It was a bit convoluted at times as it revolved around a priestess of an ancient religion who was reincarnated as a nun. She blew some shit up to save her convent from the Nazis. However, when an unscrupulous doctor tries to harness her power, things go a bit awry for him.



They vary in quality and spookiness, but overall, it was a solid set of tales. I think this would make a good Halloween read for fans of cozy mysteries.

HarperAudio
English
13h 3m
Narrated by Fenella Woolgar

[Alex.andthebooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

Baaardzo klimatyczny zbiór opowiadań! Nie wszystkie były idealne, ale totalnie wpasował się w mój nastrój

[Vikas Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant collection of supernatural and chilling tales from the Queen of mystery and crime. There are a total of 20 stories in the collection, 19 of which have been published previously in various Christie collections. The only story that has been published for the first time is The Wife of the Kenite. It was published previously in an Australian magazine and was subsequently published in Bodies from the Library (2018). It is always fascinating to note how Agatha could manage this genre also with so much suspense and chill. Interesting read.

[Hamad · Rating 2 out of 5]

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ARC provided by the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange of an honest review.

★ This review will be shorter than usual because I obviously DNF the book, I read 5 short stories (20% of the book) but enjoyed none of them enough to continue the book.

★ Now Agatha is one of my favorite authors and most of the books I read by her were 4 or 5 stars for me. The lady was a genius and I am always amused by her books and how she thought and analyzed the human psychology! You may also know that I am not a fan of short stories because they tend to be under-developed and not satisfying. writing them may be harder than writing a full novel. So maybe I should have skipped this one but I could not resist something new by the Queen!

★ They marketed this as some of the stories never published before by the author and I now know why! Maybe Agatha thought they were not good enough to be published and thus there was a good reason not to do so. I could hardly believe they were written by Agatha.

★ I am not going to write thoughts on each story because one of the GR review does that perfectly and because they were 1 and 2 star reads for me so no need to roast them. I am just used to excellent books by Agatha and this was her weakest book so far.

★ Summary: I am going to pretend this book does not exist and maybe it should have been better left unpublished. Agtha’s brilliance lies in how real and relate-able her stories were and this was the complete opposite.

You can get more books from Book Depository

[Bill Riggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not typically a fan of short stories so I wasn’t expecting much from this collection. Boy was I surprised. This is a phenomenal collection of stories from Agatha Christie that will definitely thrill and chill the reader. Not a single dud in the entire book. Highly recommended.

[spillingthematcha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liczyłam na o wiele bardziej klimatyczne i mroczne opowiadania.

[Tanya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dipped my toes into Christie's work for the first time last year, starting with the first Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles , and I wasn't very impressed. I'd been meaning to give her another chance eventually though, and figured that a collection of short stories would be perfect to get a sense of her range as a writer—and spooky, paranormal stories are much more up my alley than murder mysteries.

This book claims to collect her most sinister tales, and while her recurring characters (such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple) appear in some, most of these are stand-alone stories that require no prior knowledge. As expected, the unusual, ghostly ones with ambiguous, open endings and unexplained phenomena were my favorites (The Dressmaker's Doll and The Lamp), while the convoluted murder mysteries were misses, for the most part—that's entirely personal preference though. Christie may just not be the author for me, since even in this short collection, so many of her stories seemed formulaic and predictable to me; they often combine the same cliché elements: dinner parties, lonely abodes, the trauma of the Great War, an outdated view of women's and non-white-people's place in society, and a strong fascination for hypnosis, visions, recurring dreams, and the occult.

While a lot of these were just okay, I find that I don't mind so much in short stories, so I'm being generous in my individual ratings. Her experimenting with the supernatural didn't always work in the stories' favor, but any collection is bound to be a mixed bag. In any case, this one is at least well-curated, and most of the stories were nicely atmospheric.

The Last Séance · ★★½
In this gothic ghost story, a young medium agrees to perform one last séance for a bereaved mother before retiring from the spirit world, which she feels is becoming increasingly dangerous to her. Very reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe, I found it quite predictable with a rather abrupt and melodramatic ending, but quite enjoyable regardless.

In A Glass Darkly · ★★★
The title is a deliberate misquotation of the biblical passage describing humanity as perceiving the world "through a glass, darkly", which perfectly fits the premise: Our narrator sees a haunting vision of an unknown woman being strangled by a scarred man in a mirror, meets her and her scarred fiancé later, falls in love and feels compelled to tell her of his premonition, so she breaks off the engagement. It was fast-paced and engaging, but I would've liked it a lot more if it hadn't been for that ending.

S.O.S. · ★★★½
A psychic researcher's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, and he seeks shelter at an isolated family home, where he discovers a cry for help etched into the dust of his bedside table and decides to get to the bottom of the weird family dynamic he witnessed at dinner. The supernatural element ended up only playing a very minor role, which worked in the story's favor—mystery is Christie's forte, after all, although I'm finding that I usually don't much like how she wraps her tales up.

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb · ★★
The leader of an archaeological expedition that found and opened an Egyptian tomb dies of a heart attack. Another man involved dies of blood poisoning, and a week later, yet another commits suicide. The leader's widow is concerned for her son, who has taken over the dig, and asks Hercule Poirot to investigate whether this is truly an ancient curse. The solution to this one was perfectly rational, albeit quite convoluted, and Hastings is still the most useless sidekick I've ever encountered.

The Fourth Man · ★★★★
This one starts almost as a joke: A clergyman, a lawyer, and a doctor meet on a train... and they start discussing the details of a strange case of a French woman who suffered of multiple personalities, and strangled herself to death. But there's a fourth man who overhears the conversation and chimes in with details that didn't make the papers. Misguided psychology meets the supernatural and metaphysical in this one, so it was kind of a mess of themes, but for all that, it was the most engaging tale in this collection so far.

The Idol House of Astarte · ★★
I'm not familiar with Miss Marple, and the framing of this story was weird enough that I researched it afterwards. Apparently this story first appeared in a collection of Marple shorts where each case is told during the "Tuesday Night Club", a gathering at her house, where each week mystery stories are told by a guest, and solved by Miss Marple. As with the Poirot story in the collection, this one appears to be supernatural on the surface (something about pagan rituals), but turns out to have a completely rational explanation.

The Gypsy · ★★★½
I don't know why she had to go and give this one a racist slant—the actual "gypsy" in the story is a fair-skinned English woman with second sight—but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have a soft spot for stories about fate, predetermination, and trying to alter one's future life path, and this one ticked all the boxes, and for once it was a satisfying and well-written (albeit predictable) ending.

Philomel Cottage · ★★★★½
A recently married woman moves into an isolated country cottage with her husband and is plagued by recurring dreams of his murder. This was a refreshingly modern take on the Bluebeard story with a little 1001 Nights thrown in, and I liked the little Greek mythology nod in the title. I absolutely love the ambiguity of the ending, it blindsided and delighted me—it was the first time Agatha has managed to surprise me!

The Lamp · ★★★★½
Mrs. Lancaster is a pragmatic woman who doesn't believe in ghosts. She moves her family into a house that stood empty for years, unbothered by the story about a young boy who starved to death there... but her own sickly son feels very sorry for his new friend living in the attic all by himself, and wants to play with him. I'm not sure how the title fits the story (perhaps there was a very casual mention I missed), but this one was my favorite so far, it gave me chills on a hot August evening.

The Dream · ★★½
Another Poirot story, in which a reclusive and eccentric millionaire summons him to ask his advice on a recurring dream of death—one which comes true a week later, when the man commits suicide in the fashion and at the exact time as in his dream. Surprising no one, there is no supernatural element about this one either, save for a flimsy theory about hypnotism which is readily discarded.

Wireless · ★★★★
Old, wealthy, widowed, and childless Mrs. Harter has taken a nephew under her wing. She has a heart condition and must not exert herself, so he buys her a radio for amusement, but she starts receiving strange messages from the ether through it—her dead husband warns her that he's coming for her. I loved the kind of tongue-in-cheek resolution, it was very satisfying!

The Wife of Kenite · ★★
An early, obscure, and quite dark story for Christie, this concerns itself with harsh vengeance of the biblical type. I probably would've rated it higher if I was more familiar with the historical background, as well as the referenced Bible verses—in any case, this will likely be the hidden gem for many readers, since it's the first time it's being published in the US.

The Mystery of the Blue Jar · ★★½
A golf aficionado starts hearing cries of help coming from a cottage at the same time every morning. He may not be going mad, but receiving messages from the beyond by a previously murdered tenant... I'll admit she managed to surprise me with this one, but if it weren't for that fun ending, it wouldn't be very memorable—I couldn't much care about the credulous protagonist's sanity or lack thereof, one way or the other.

The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael · ★★
The young and healthy heir to a large estate starts behaving strangely, and a psychiatrist is summoned to assess the situation. The story consists of the (kind of obtuse) doctor's epistolary retelling of the events. The story was enjoyable enough, but were women made differently back in Agatha's day? They are always swooning or dying of shock.

The Blue Geranium · ★★★★
In the second Miss Marple story of the collection, an unlikable woman is warned by a clairvoyant—on a full moon, she must watch for the signs: Blue primrose means caution, blue hollyhock is danger, and blue geranium is death. The rational husband tries to calm the anxious wife, but when the flowers on her wallpaper indeed change color after the full moon, he must face the possibilities of something supernatural being at work. This one was great fun, and I really liked the scientific explanation to the mystery.

The Call of Wings · ★★
A materialist millionaire has a spiritual reawakening when he hears a legless homeless man play a peculiar instrument in an alley. I'm not sure what to make of this one at all, it was very weird. I assume it's meant as an odd sort of morality tale with a mythological backdrop, but I'm not entirely sure what lesson Christie wishes the reader to draw.

The Flock of Geryon · ★★★½
Leaving aside the fact that I'm not familiar with Miss Carnaby's backstory as "most successful criminal", according to Poirot, and so many of those references flew right by me, this story was still fun on its own. A charismatic and attractive doctor gets lonely and rich women to join his sect and when they die (under no suspicious circumstances, however), they leave all their worldly possessions to the movement. Miss Carnaby's friend has been taken in, and she's worried enough about these seeming coincidences to involve Poirot to get to the bottom of it.

The Red Signal · ★★★
Casual dinner party conversation veers toward the subject of the "sixth sense", dismissed as a female fancy, when and one of the male guests asserts that he himself has something of the sort, but he refers to it as the 'red signal', which warns him of danger. A medium shows up for a séance (just your regular evening entertainment...), and the red signal makes itself felt... this was a twisty tale that surprised me a few times, but was ultimately needlessly convoluted to be truly memorable.

The Dressmaker's Doll · ★★★★★
My favorite story in the collection—it reminded me of Daphne du Maurier, it's very much outside of Christie's usual mold. No murder mystery to work out, but a straight-up spooky short story about the floppy doll that suddenly appears in an aging dressmaker's fitting room, and proceeds to creep out all employees and customers that lay eyes on it. There was a bit of humor despite the uncanny atmosphere; I was thoroughly engrossed by this one.

The Hound of Death · ★★½
A young man visiting Cornwall meets a Belgian refugee nun who is rumored to possess supernatural powers and to have caused her convent to explode when it was occupied by invading Germans during WWI, leaving her the only survivor. Quite weird and out-there, and not at all what I'd expected—another tale that's quite a departure from her usual fare, but I'm not sure it really worked here, a bit too metaphysical for my taste.

—————

Note: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Katya]

"Há certas forças elementares primitivas(...). Muitas delas foram destruídas pela civilização, mas a da maternidade continua no ponto em que estava no início. Os animais... os seres humanos continuam iguais. O amor de uma mãe por um filho não se compara a nada no mundo. Não conhece leis nem piedade, desafia todas a coisas e esmaga sem remorsos tudo o que estiver no caminho."
A ÚLTIMA SESSÃO

Agatha Christie cedo encontrou um género literário da sua preferência, aquilo a que chamava "terror leve", um género comercial com laivos de macabro e suspense, e que se manifesta de forma subtil em títulos como Cavalo Amarelo, e de forma muito evidente em As Dez Figuras Negras. Da mesma forma, ao longo da sua carreira, a autora escreveu dezenas de contos em que estes elementos de sobrenatural, macabro e terror concorrem frequentes vezes.
Este volume Contos Macabros é uma compilação possível de vários dos inúmeros contos de temática de "terror leve" a que Agatha Christie frequentes vezes se dedicava e que incluía em variadas coletâneas de grande sucesso.
Curiosamente, acho que estes contos "sobrenaturais" funcionam muito melhor do que qualquer conto sobre detetives que a autora tenha escrito (o "policial" requer mais espaço): não só a sua evidente preferência pelo género tem efeitos positivos no processo criativo, como também fica evidente - para minha muito agradável surpresa - que a autora é exímia a criar cenários desconfortáveis. Não aconteceu por acaso num ou outro livro, e não se tratou de uma aposta puramente vendável, Agatha Christie domina muito claramente os ambientes misteriosos e assustadores, e os desfechos ardilosos.
No seu todo, e agrupados nesta compilação, os contos funcionam muito bem, com um ou outro que se destaca pela capacidade de ser imprevisível até ao fim e um assustador de verdade.
Boa aposta, tia Agatha!

"Passamos pela vida como um comboio que atravessa velozmente a escuridão a caminho de um destino desconhecido."
O SINAL VERMELHO



A ÚLTIMA SESSÃO
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
REFLEXO SINISTRO
⭐⭐⭐
SOS
⭐⭐⭐
A AVENTURA DO TÚMULO EGÍPCIO
⭐⭐⭐
O QUARTO HOMEM
⭐⭐⭐⭐
A CASA DO ÍDOLO DE ASTARTE
⭐⭐⭐
A CIGANA
⭐⭐⭐⭐
A CASA DA FILOMELA
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A CANDEIA
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
O SONHO
⭐⭐⭐
A TELEFONIA
⭐⭐⭐⭐
A MULHER DO QUENITA
⭐⭐⭐⭐
O MISTÉRIO DO POTE CHINÊS
⭐⭐⭐⭐
O ESTRANHO CASO DE SIR ARTHUR CARMICHAEL
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
O GERÂNIO AZUL
⭐⭐⭐
O APELO DAS ASAS
⭐⭐⭐⭐
O GADO DE GERIÃO
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
O SINAL VERMELHO
⭐⭐⭐
A BONECA DA MODISTA
⭐⭐⭐
O CÃO DA MORTE
⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Rothan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ze względu na wyjątkowo krótką formę (opowiadania nie przekraczają długością dwudziestu-kilku stron) większość z nich była przewidywalna.

Z drugiej strony jest to zbiór o tyle ciekawy, że można w nim znaleźć wiele nietypowych dla Christie tekstów uciekających od logicznego wywodu i wpadających w mistycyzm a niekiedy nawet fantastykę.

Szczególnie upodobałem sobie ostatnie opowiadanie w tym zbiorze, tj. "Ogara Śmierci", które w swej naturze zbliżone jest do niektórych opowieści Lovecrafta. Oferuje nam tajemnicę zupełnie innego rodzaju niż te, do których Christie nas przyzwyczaiła.

Jak wskazuje tytuł - idealna pozycja na jesień🍂

[Marta Demianiuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐️, bo nie wszystkie opowiadania mi się podobały, ale podciągam pod 4.

Idealna książka na spooky season - część opowiadań była właśnie bardziej w klimacie grozy niż kryminału. I jak nie przepadam za krótką formą, tutaj mi to bardzo pasowało.

[Nikoletta (nikisjournal) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ Ostatnia Christie z mojej półki. Po pierwsze: jak najbardziej można czytać te opowiadania poza jesienią. Po drugie: w większości mi się podobały. Były inne. Autorka wyszła z nimi ze swojej strefy komfortu, a przynajmniej takie mam wrażenie. Był tu horror, tajemnice, kryminały, ale nawet i jakieś próby nakreślenia fantastyki. Moim zdaniem, warto się zapoznać, żeby zobaczyć, że Christie potrafiła odnaleźć się nawet w historiach z elementami nadnaturalnymi. Chętnie przeczytałabym całą książkę opartą na którymś z tych motywów. Moje dwie ulubione historie to "Cyganka" i "Domek pod Słowikami" (to jest zdecydowanie najlepsze!).

[Gina House · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟 Wonderfully spooky and full of atmosphere!

Although these are not new Agatha Christie stories, I love that they're all together in one edition—with such a great title.

While some of the mysteries in this collection are better than others, they're all amazingly interesting. I am always incredibly impressed with the clever mind of one of my all-time favorite authors.

My favorite short stories in this collection include:

The Last Seance
Philomel Cottage
The Dressmaker's Doll
The Gipsy
The Lamp
Wireless

The perfect choice for the Halloween season—or anytime!

[Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big fan of Agatha Christie novels, I was so excited to get my hands on this! This book is a collection of twenty supernatural and mysterious short stories. While all of the stories included in this collection are stand alone, this book does contain a few short tales starring a couple of familiar favorites, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

My favorites included:
The Last Séance
S.O.S.
Philomel Cottage
The Dream
Wireless
The Blue Geranium

This was such a fun, spooky read and would be a great option for someone looking for some quick, seasonal stories for Halloween.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Séance 4⭐
In a Glass Darkly 3⭐
S.O.S. 3⭐
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb 5⭐
The Fourth Man 4⭐
The Idol House of Astarte 5⭐
The Gipsy 5⭐
Philomel Cottage 5⭐
The Lamp 5⭐
The Dream 4⭐
Wireless 5⭐
The Wife of the Kenite 3⭐
The Mystery of the Blue Jar 5⭐
The Strange Case of Arthur Carmichael 5⭐
The Blue Geranium 5⭐
The Call of Wings 4⭐
The Flock of Geryon 5⭐
The Red Signal 4.5⭐
The Dressmaker's Doll 5⭐
The Hound of Death 5⭐

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The publishing company William Morrow Paperbacks decided that they could squeeze another dollar out of Agatha Christie by repackaging some of “her spookiest and most sinister stories” into an anthology. The problem is that there weren’t really enough quality short stories that fit that bill, so the publisher made up the difference with some subpar supernatural short stories (including the eponymous short story) and short stories that really aren’t that sinister — or suspenseful.

Stick with “In a Glass Darkly,” “The Fourth Man,” “The Idol of Astarte,” the very ambiguous “Philomel Cottage,” “The Lamp,” “The Dream,” “Wireless,” “The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael,” “The Blue Geranium” and “The Dressmaker’s Doll.” Most of the rest are just not worth your time.

[Audra (ouija.reads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There are certain places imbued and saturated with good or evil influences which can make their power felt.”

Though I’ve read many of her novels, I am a newcomer to Christie’s short stories. She is a consummate storyteller, whether in the long or short form! I so thoroughly enjoyed the spooky atmosphere as well as the variety of different settings, characters, and stories offered here.

You will also see a few familiar faces, as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple make appearances in a few of the stories. See them solve crime at lightning speed!

I think what I loved most about these stories is that Christie doesn’t shy away from the supernatural. Though her novels contain spectacular and strange crimes, there is always a logical explanation once all the details get straightened out. That isn’t always the case with these short stories. There are some mystical, unexplainable things at work, and those stories were some of my favorites!

Favorites include:
“The Last Séance”—a spooky, atmospheric tale about a medium and the dangerous strength of her powers.

“S.O.S.”—a weird tale that is almost Angela Carter-esque following a man who seeks shelter with a strange family.

“The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael”—a creepy old house and a mysterious cat: this is a strange and dark story!

“The Dressmaker’s Doll”—a doll that moves around, seemingly on its own? Nope, no thank you!

I’ve been enjoying this collection all month long, reading a story every night or so, and this is the perfect story collection for celebrating our favorite spooky month.

My thanks to William Morrow for my copy of this one to read and review.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only problem that I had with this book, is that I wanted more of the stories!

[AlenGarou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Devo essere onesta: ho acquistato questo libro un anno fa e all’epoca non avevo intuito che si trattasse di una raccolta di racconti. Ma meglio così! Chi sono io per dire di no a un’antologia, soprattutto se uscita dalla penna della Regina del Giallo?
E, ovviamente, alcune delle novelle presenti hanno come protagonisti Miss Marple e Hercule Poirot. Ma niente paura, la maggior parte sono originali.
Le tematiche centrali ruotano intorno alla superstizione, l’occulto, il mistero e la morte, rendendo questo volume un’ideale lettura per la spooky season. Le atmosfere sono on point, così come lo stile della Christie, che riesce a dare il suo tocco a entrambi i generi.
A essere sincera, mi aspettavo qualche elemento sovrannaturale in più, ma molti dei racconti gialli sono di tutto rispetto.
Tra tutte, quella che mi è rimasta più impressa è La moglie del Kenita. E non tanto perché sia una delle mie preferite, quanto per il fatto che il finale mi ha disturbata leggermente. Ma un po’ di gore ogni tanto ci sta quando l’occasione lo richiede.
L’unico difetto che ho trovato, e questo solo per gusti personali, è che l’intera lettura è stata sulla stessa lunghezza d’onda dall’inizio alla fine, senza un vero e proprio climax o coinvolgimento particolare. È anche vero che ero sotto schiavismo, ma ammetto che mi aspettavo qualcosina di più.
Nel complesso, L’ultima seduta spiritica si è rivelata un’antologia gradevole con racconti vari e interessanti. Adatta a tutti gli amanti di Agatha Christie e dell’ignoto, non può mancare nella tbr di Halloween.

[Pedro Fernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great collection of short stories, and I particulary liked the ones with Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. You may have read most of these stories in other Agatha Christie books, but it's nice to have them on the same volume.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some clever things, some creepy things, but for me, this was mostly interesting from an academic standpoint.

[Anna L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tirando 2 ou 3 contos, adorei todos! Já tinha saudades da Agatha ❤️

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m dangerously nearing the end of all Agatha Christie books and stories, and although it was my goal to read them all, it still makes me more and more sad that I won’t get to read them forever anew.

Her supernatural stories were always the strangest to me; they are so opposite to the Poirot and Miss Marple books where there is logic and a sound explanation to everything. And yet it’s obvious that she enjoyed writing these “unexplainable” stories just as much. Some of these were quite creepy and reminded me of a few Edgar Allan Poe short stories I read ages ago.

[Анастасія ꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Напевно було наївно сподіватися, що в цій збірці будуть тільки ті оповідання, які я раніше ще не читала, але вони були, і якщо не помиляюсь як мінімум 3.

Найбільше мені сподобалося в цій збірці те, що тут були Марпл та Пуаро, останній навіть 2 чи 3 рази.

Мені не подобаються у Крісті персонажі, у мене або якась відраза до них, або байдужість, єдиний на данний момент, який мені більш менш до вподоби це хлопець, якого душа пересилилась у кота, бо там майже з ним нічого не було, але сама оповідка цікава і він нічого негативного не сказав.

[Mariann · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.hyperebaaktiivne.ee/2020/1...

Aitäh, Varrak, raamatu eest!

Kui õhtud muutuvad üha pikemaks ja pimedamaks, on paras aeg kätte võtta riiulil oma aega ootavad tondijutud. Minul on selleks Agatha Christie lühijuttude kogum "Viimane vaimudetund". Sellest on õige tükk aega möödas, kui viimati kirjaniku teoseid lugesin, mistõttu ootasin taaskohtumist väga.

20. sajand, Inglismaa. Hauatagused hääled, sünged ettekuulutused, seletamatud surmad, kummalised unenäod, viirastused varjudes. Meediumid, doktorid, usuhullud, kummituskass ja surmakoer, Hercule Poirot ja miss Marple. Üksikud majad, hämarad toad, neetud hauakambrid ja pühapaigad, saatuslikud õhtusöögipeod, lukus uksed.

Valisin lugemiseks väga õige hetke ja nautisin neid lugusid väga. Nad olid täpselt parajalt närve kõditavad, aga mitte liiga õudsed. Eriti nauditavaks tegi lugemise see, kui erinevad lood olid. Mõnes kummitas täiega, teises olid vaid õrnad seosed üleloomulikuga nagu unenäod või tugevnenud ohutaju. Kuna osades juttudes sai paranormaalsus täiesti maise selgituse, aga teistes jäigi kummaline nähtus seletamatuks, oli raske aimata, kuhu iga lugu nüüd tüürib. Oli ka lugusid, mis teiste kõrval kahvatusid, liiga segaseks jäid ja nüüdseks juba ununenud on. Mõni üksik jääb aga veel pikaks ajaks mind kummitama.

Minu erilised lemmikud olid: Philomel Cottage, SOS, Unenägu ja Sinise vaasi mõistatus. Igatahes pean lähiajal veel midagi Christie'lt käsile võtma, soovitavalt muidugi mõne mõrvaloo. Näiteks üks kuulsamaid, "Roger Ackroydi mõrvamine" on mul veel siiani lugemata selle koleda kaanekujunduse tõttu.

"Viimane vaimudetund" koondab krimikuninganna lühijutud, millel on seoseid teispoolsusega. Valik erineb omajagu, ulatudes seletamatutest juhtumistest üleloomulikuga maskeeritud kuritegudeni. Nii mõnigi ajas mul kuklakarvad püsti, aga oli ka selliseid lugusid, mis kiirelt ununesid. Kogumikust leiab parajalt sünge atmosfääri, ootusärevust ja närvikõdi. Soovitan lugeda küünlavalgel, kui akna taga ulub tormituul!

[Lilirose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mi piange il cuore ad ammetterlo, ma questa raccolta di racconti è decisamente fiacca.
Le storie migliori, quelle più autenticamente "gialle", le avevo già lette in altre antologie; le altre pasticciano un po' troppo col soprannaturale per essere davvero avvincenti, senza contare che la brevità non permette di affezionarsi ai personaggi o di tratteggiare un'atmosfera suggestiva.
Come dico sempre, più zia Agatha si discosta dalla sua formula vincente, più la qualità si abbassa. In questo caso direi che siamo lontani anni luce dai suoi soliti standard, in molti racconti non c'è nemmeno un crimine vero e proprio ma solo occultismo e fenomeni paranormali: non è questo che cerco dalla Christie.
Ovviamente parliamo di una scrittrice che conosce bene il suo mestiere, quindi lo stile è scorrevole e la tensione è costruita a perfezione anche ne racconti peggiori; alcuni poi sono dei gioiellini, come Il villino degli usignoli o Il segnale rosso.
Tutto sommato è stata una lettura piacevole, ma dalla regina del giallo mi sarei aspettata molto, molto di più.

[Summer (speaking_bookish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

👻Reading for Summerween 2023👻 (didn't end up finishing until Jan 2024)

1. The Last Séance | 4★
A medium has a bad feeling about her last séance but goes ahead with it anyway at the behest (or encouragement) of her fiancé. I quite liked this story- AC did a good job building the tension and it was legitimately creepy. It lost a star due to the main conflict resting on a character’s agreement to do something very stupid and obvious.

2. In a Glass Darkly | 4★
A man sees a scene in a mirror that he believes is a premonition and shares it with the people involved. I thought this story was clever but I had hoped for a more twisty ending. Still a very good story, though.

3. S.O.S. | 4.5★
A man moves his family to a cottage many, many miles from the nearest town or neighbor. They don’t expect any visitors that far out but one shows up against all odds and thwarts an act of evil. I really liked how much was packed into this story- it was very clever and the twist at the end quite good.

4. The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb | 3★
This story features Poirot from one of AC’s popular series. It seems as though the story was a spin off from one of the books. I haven’t read any of the Poirot novels and this one about an Egyptian tomb being opened and cursing the people who took part was my least favorite story so far. The writing was consistently good but the twist was more like a ‘gotcha’ from a character who clearly thinks very highly of himself. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more with more background knowledge of the characters.

5. The Fourth Man | 3.5★
Three acquaintances and a stranger meet on a train and stumble into a conversation about a girl who was thought to have four different personalities.. turns out the stranger has a different point of view. This is another story that relies too heavily on coincidence to be truly great. Regardless, I did like it and the ending was twisty enough that I had to sit with it for a few minutes before I really understood the implications.

6. The Idol House of Astarte | 4.5★
During a moonlit costume party one of the dinner guests appears to have transformed into a goddess, using her powers to take the life of another guest. What I loved most about this one was the atmosphere which is quite fitting as atmosphere is a prominent theme in the storytelling taking place within this story. A warm moonlit night, dinner guests in costume, dancing and making merry? Add in a pinch of the supernatural and you’ve perfectly described a story created with me in mind. I enjoyed the twist at the end but have to agree with the clergyman “…I still think there was an evil influence in that grove…”

7. Gipsy | 4★
Gipsy is about a man who has a fear of Gipsy's ever since one from his dreams appeared in real life warning him from taking a bridge that he then fell through. He then tells his good friend that he has met another such woman in his adult life and if something were to happen to him he'd know where to look. This story was fun even if it, like many other stories by AC, relies heavily on the characters making dumb choices. If I were told that danger was ahead and then discovered that the person who told me this was right... more than once, I'd definitely heed her warning from then on. Maybe People in 1933 didn't have the same drive to live, who knows.

8. Philomel Cottage | 5★
A woman marries a man she's only known for a week after inheriting a large sum of money. Shortly after she begins noticing suspicious behavior and decides to do a little digging to find out more about him. This is my favorite story so far- it was gripping and clever and finally featured a character making smart choices. I loved this one!

9. The Lamp | 4★
A large house remains empty for a very long time due to the death of a child happening within until a widowed woman who doesn’t believe in ghosts moves herself, her young son and her father into the house. This story is a tad bittersweet but I really liked it. The ending was very moving- at the halfway point I did expect something like it to happen but not exactly as it did. It was very well done.

10. The Dream | 4★
Another story featuring Hercule Poirot but this one I liked infinitely better. A man has a recurring dream in which he commits suicide- at a loss for answers he contacts Hercule to see if he can get to the bottom of his dream and why it occurs. This is a twisty little tale in which I didn’t see the ending coming. Even though it was a bit silly in nature I still found it quite entertaining!

11. Wireless | 3.5★
A woman gifted a wireless (radio) by her live-in nephew begins hearing the voice of her dead husband telling her he will be coming for her and they will be reunited once again. The woman makes preparations including updating her will and labeling her belongings. Based on enjoyment alone this story would have gotten a higher rating but I guessed the twist immediately, lessening the fun a bit. Still a great story.

12. The Wife of the Kenite | 3★
At the risk of sounding like a broken record I can’t help but mention that this story could have been much better if coincidence and chance weren’t relied on so heavily. A “German soldier” finds himself at the farm of an ally only to be faced with the man’s vengeful wife. I really liked the themes in the story and can especially get behind the wife’s vengeance but she states that God brought the man to her doorstep. I need a more solid foundation than that. The woman was standing at the door already when this man appeared, how could she know he would be coming?

13. The mystery of the Blue Jar | 2★
A man who is terrible at golfing is determined to get better with practice- while out on the course one morning he hears a woman screaming and goes to investigate. This is my least favorite story so far. In prior stories even when the plot or twist were weak the act of reading the story was still a good time. I was so bored with this one and found the ending absurd. I would have appreciated the twist more if I was convinced of everything that took place in order to get us there.. unfortunately I wasn’t.

14. The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael | 3★
A young man wakes up one more morning seemingly catatonic and expressing unusual characteristics. This one was just ok- I was quite interested in the very beginning but once the whole picture had begun revealing itself I was pretty unimpressed.

15. The Blue Geranium | 4★
A man’s wife learns of an evil in their house and believes it will kill her after she has spoken to a fortune teller- her husband doesn’t believe in the supernatural and is shocked when she turns up dead. I thought this story was very clever and fun. I enjoyed Miss Marple so much- I definitely prefer her to Hercule Poirot based on these stories alone.

16. The Call of Wings | 1★
A man previously obsessed and content in his wealth has an unusual experience and slowly spirals deeper into madness? I’m not even sure honestly. This is the first story I actively dislike in this collection. I didn’t care for any of it, I found it boring and nonsensical and nothing was revealed in the end. I read that this was one of Christie’s earlier works so maybe that explains it.

17. The Flock of Geryon | 3.5★
This one was much better than the last; another Hercule Poirot story involving a single middle-aged woman with a friend who is caught up in a cult-type religious institution. She agrees to join this cult in order to help Poirot take the leader down and discover his secrets. I pretty quickly guessed how some of the women were dying- anyone with a brain would have guessed as soon as certain things came to light in the story but it was still fun discovering things along with both Poirot and Miss Carnaby. Some suspension of belief is required as is the case with a lot of these stories.

18. The Red Signal | 3.5★
A young man and his physician uncle have a meal with the young man’s best friend and his friend’s wife. During that meal a medium comes and through her a spirit warns the three men present that they shouldn’t go home because something terrible will befall them. Listen, I literally hate myself for saying this right now because I sound like a broken freaking record but I cannot help it! The main thing keeping me from full enjoyment of these stories is the fact that too many things have to work perfectly for the plot to work. How would anyone know that before going out dancing the physician would ask his nephew to escort him home so they could have a quick chat? Or what would be said during that chat in front of the manservant? The entire plot is hinged on that happening and yet it was a random event. I just can’t look past it.

19. The Dressmaker’s Doll | 2★
A doll appears in a dress shop seemingly out of no where giving the ladies that work there an odd, creepy feeling. Several times the doll is found in different places and positions even though all the women swear they aren’t touching it. This is basically the entire story in a nutshell. I was glued to the page waiting for something to happen but unfortunately nothing did. It got an extra star for keeping me interested until the let down of an ending. There is only one story left so let’s hope we can finish this collection on a high note.

20. Hound of Death | 4★
Two friends meet for dinner and one tells the other of something that happened during the war- a nun was said to have called down the power of lightning and burned a building to the ground killing many people in order to protect herself and others. This story leans heavily on religious elements and is quite creepy. I did like it even if I didn’t completely understand it. This is one of the few stories that actually do seem to have something supernatural behind them rather than being debunked like many of the stories in this book.

I did the math to get an average rating for this book using my individual ratings for each story and it came 3.5★ but since I enjoyed the reading of this much more than most short story collections I'm going to bump it up to a 4. I think if you're looking for some classic mystery stories with a "gotcha!" vibe you'll love this. Even in the cases where the endings weren't that exciting the journey getting there was still a good time. I only actively disliked one or two stories so I consider that a success!

[João Sá Nogueira Rodrigues · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agatha Christie...um dom para (também) escrever histórias de terror e sobrenatural!Quase que se pode ver o Hitchcock a planear a rodagem de filmes com alguns dos contos deste livro (e isso é suficiente para que se veja o quão bons são estes contos!)!Extraordinário o que Agatha Christie consegue fazer com palavras e com a imaginação estupenda que tinha!

[Beth Cato · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly readable and enjoyable collection of Agatha Christie's supernaturally-tinged stories, some of them among her earliest publications in the 1920s. It includes several stories involving Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. They are still very much stories of their time--a few characters are blatantly racist--but the mysteries themselves remain solid.

[Len Evans Jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and fascinating group of stories!

A wonderful and fascinating group of stories by the queen of mystery! The variety of the stories was excellent an covered a lot of topics! A highly enjoyable compelation!

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Last Séance is a collection of spooky and mysterious short stories from Agatha Christie.

I feel bad criticizing Agatha Christie because honestly, who am I to do so?  She’s the undisputed Queen of the mystery genre and her work is legendary to say the least!  However, some of these stories just didn’t measure up to what I’ve previously read.  In fact, many of them were a real slog to get through.  And that’s on me as I find Christie difficult to read at times as some of these stories are creeping in at a hundred years of age.  The further you get away from the original publication dates, the more dated dialogue, style and plots are going to feel.  I’m sure that at the time, these stories may have lit the literary world on fire but they just felt dusty and tame by 2020 standards.

Now that I’ve truly drawn the ire of Christie-heads, let me calm things down by telling you I didn’t find all twenty stories boring.  There were a few good ones in here like “The Fourth Man” (a story about a woman with suspected multiple personalities), a great Miss Marple story called “The Idol House of Astarte” and a tricky tale featuring Hercule Poirot (The Dream).  My main issue comes down to the fact that this collection seems like sort of a cash grab.  It was released around Halloween last year to obviously attract those looking for some spooky stories in October, but many seem to only have the bare minimum in association with the macabre.

I will say one thing about the Poirot stories – it’s endlessly impressive that Christie can take a character that usually requires a ton of set-up, multiple players and a seemingly unsolvable mystery and supply an equally satisfying conclusion in what normally takes a few hundred pages in just a handful.