Jessica-sim’s Comments (group member since Jan 01, 2016)

Jessica-sim’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

I'm totally open for any changes. Just tell me what you'd prefer :-).
I picked the list just as strategy and because I like crossing off lists.

I'm also travelling overseas, wifi is not as readily available as expected. So answers may be late till the 22nd of march.

Hi! I'm sorry for you guys in the spoiler thread but your thread host is one who has never read the book before ;-), so I can only come here as I progress myself. I am now three stories in. I enjoyed them, though I find the active and fast Poirot a bit difficult to adjust to and oh my is Hasting getting a bashing!

I wonder why Poirot chooses him as his detecting companion, is he just an amusement?

Jill wrote: "Just finished this and found the stories were good, but I would rather read a full novel. I found that the stories were over before I had time to think about the answers to the mysteries."

Hi Jill! I completely agree. The stories are over way too fast.

Oh my, perhaps reading chronologically is hampering us here... these stories have to be read with a fair amount of good-natured humour or they can be rather annoying I fear! haha

Poirot is really speeding things along here with unexpected physical activity and speed interviewing of his suspects.

Personally, I was in a need of a Poirot fix last night and already read the first one. It was fun. Obviously, short stories can never compare to the "real deal" of a full-scale detective novel but at least with detective shorts, you can be sure of a satisfying ending.

The first story was decidedly Holmesian, with the window scene and parlour reception. I did feel sorry for Hastings though....

Dear all, we have a short story collection ahead of us for this month.
For those of you owning other formats of Poirot short stories, these 11 are included in this months reading:

1 The Adventure of the Western Star
2 The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
3 The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
4 The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
5 The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
6 The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
7 The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
8 The Kidnapped Prime Minister
9 The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim
10 The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
11 The Case of the Missing Will

I hope we can structure the discussion in such a way that everyone has time to read the whole book this month and participate in the spoiler thread whilst doing so. Let's focus on 4 stories per week and have the last week for an overall discussion.

oh.. almost fell into the trap of a short February month! I will go and open up the Spoiler Thread now.

I think I will opt for the gradual approach in the spoiler thread to give people time to read the book in March and discuss the stories spoilers included while they go.

Before we start discussing the book itself (and before I open up the spoiler thread), let's discuss here two other pressing matters:

1. When sticking to the reading-order-list also scheduled this month is Christmas Adventure (short story).

There are some problems with that: it's difficult to find and it's getting close to easter... so we could keep it for December.

2. How do you want to discuss the short stories?

Shall we try and structure the spoiler discussion for 4 stories per week and use the last week for the complete set?

Do you have other strategies for discussing short story collections?

Dear all! It's almost March and we have a short story collection scheduled for this month. For those of you owning other formats of Poirot short stories, these 11 are included in this months reading:

1 The Adventure of the Western Star
2 The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
3 The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
4 The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
5 The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
6 The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
7 The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
8 The Kidnapped Prime Minister
9 The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim
10 The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
11 The Case of the Missing Will

It's a delicate balance between the satisfaction of list-following and adapting the reading order to suit seasons. I think the Christmas Adventure can very well be left for the December when we are all in the mood for a Christmas adventure.
Though in The Netherlands we do have access to the English ebook version (Harpercollins), it seems hard to find in the international stores. Isn't it that weird?

Phew that was quite an adventure in the last couple of chapters! I quite liked the book, off the next one! I might yet make it to be back on track for March ;-)

I'm about 50% in now, and quite surprised at how enjoyable the book is to read! I am happy that some of you are also "cheating" the system by listing the books as separate entities whilst reading from a collection ;-)

I also quite like Nigel, he could have worked as the recurring character too I think. Glad to read that he does indeed come back occasionally.

Hello all! I'm organising the Poirot Buddy Reads and next up is a collection of short stories... Poirot Investigates

It contains the following short stories (for those having short story collections in other formats)

1.1 The Adventure of the Western Star
1.2 The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
1.3 The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
1.4 The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
1.5 The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
1.6 The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
1.7 The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
1.8 The Kidnapped Prime Minister
1.9 The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim
1.10 The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
1.11 The Case of the Missing Will

Robin wrote: "I haven't a guide to Poirot, but bought the one to miss Marple. I thought it was interesting enough, but fairly simplistic. I'd love to write one on poirot. I think it would be fun."

Yes that would be so much fun! Please do, I'd gladly edit it for you haha

Over at the Ngaio Marsh challenge page, I complained of having waited in vain on a book order to arrive... Included in that order was a Ultimate Poirot companion book (or something to that order). So I cannot yet delight you all with interesting facts 🤣. Do any of you have a reading guide to Poirot? And if so, do you like it / recommend using one?

Oh my, completely late to the game but I'm starting now. I've waited 6 weeks for a paper copy, every week I was promised it'd be there shortly... But now I gave up and went with the ibook version. It's gonna be a digital reading spree for me. This will also be my introduction to Ngaio Marsh. I'm looking forward to finally digging in.

Though decision indeed Adrian... but I still liked the episode despite the changes

Adrian wrote: "Jessica wrote: "You know that's a good idea! I'll join you and watch some Poirot tonight. I've never seen the episode before, but I watched Murder on the Links last week and enjoyed that very much...."

Thanks! I enjoyed it. How strange that they didn't start with this one as their first episode.

You know that's a good idea! I'll join you and watch some Poirot tonight. I've never seen the episode before, but I watched Murder on the Links last week and enjoyed that very much.

Judy wrote: "Sorry to moan, but, as well as all the plot points I found hard to swallow, I also found the romances in this book unbelievable. Hastings falls in love with "Cinderella" after meeting her only 3 ti..."

Don't worry Judy! Isn't it fun how we can get so worked up about these books? The best reaction I can hope for from my friends is:
"hmm well, I can see you find this very interesting" ... (this was literally said to me yesterday evening as I enthusiastically recalled my visit to Torquay last year and my Agatha/ Poirot quest... )