#MyAgathaChristieYear-Part 5-‘Poirot Investigates’

Nom de nom de nom!
A SHOCKINGLY appalling break between the last part of’ My Agatha Christie Year’ (link at the foot of the page) due to life and other things getting in the way-my books have literally been in the same place for 3 years, on their own bookcase yet when I want to read them they literally vanish into thin air!

Much as Ms Christie did here!

I put them down and poof! they disappear for days because they a little smaller than the massive doorstops I have been reading lately…

Anyhow…this time I am looking at ‘‘Poirot Investigates’

Here is a little about the book…

‘The very first collection of superb short stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings…

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond… then came the `suicide’ that was murder… the mystery of the absurdly chaep flat… a suspicious death in a locked gun-room… a million dollar bond robbery… the curse of a pharoah’s tomb… a jewel robbery by the sea… the abduction of a Prime Minister… the disappearance of a banker… a phone call from a dying man… and, finally, the mystery of the missing willl.

What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot!’

To be honest, it has been such a long time since I read this book that my views are little skewed.

Having read a lot of later Poirot it is strange coming back to this first collection and seeing him in a more raw, unformed state and the beginnings of his relationship with Captain Hastings.

Here, Poirot is a little insufferable to the reader in that he dashes through each of these crimes, seeing immediately what has gone on and having little patience with those who do not.

Take, for instance, this exchange between the two of them in ‘The Million Dollar Bond Robbery’

‘Good Lord Poirot! Do you know ,I;d give a considerable sum of money to see you make a thorough ass of yourself-just for once.You’re so confoundedly conceited!’

‘Do not enrage yourself, Hastings. In verity,I Observe that there are times when you almost detest me!Alas,I suffer the penalties of greatness!’

ARGHH!

But, however, each story is so perfectly formed, a miniature mystery revealed, investigated and solved, that it reminds you why the short story form is such an art and also why Christie was at the top of her game, in my humble opinion, when she wrote them.

Perfect for dipping in and out of, this is a lovely collection of early stories which is a great introduction to the Poiort/Hastings dynamic.

Join me next time, when I will be (hopefully!) reading ‘‘Five Little Pigs’

About the author…

Agatha Christie is the best-selling author of all time. She wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym ,Mary Westmacott.

Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, she remains the most-translated individual author, having been translated into at least 103 languages.

She is the creator of two of the most enduring figures in crime literature-Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple-and author of ‘The Mousetrap’, the longest-running play in the history of modern theatre.

Links-https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-sgq2s-30a5a97

https://www.agathachristie.com/

Links to other review posts-

My Agatha Christie Year Part 9-Halloween Party

My Agatha Christie Year Part 8-Lord Edgware Dies

My Agatha Christie Year Part 7-After The Funeral

My Agatha Christie Year Part 6-Five Little Pigs

My Agatha Christie Year Part 5 -Poirot Investigates

My Agatha Christie Year Part 4-Cards On the Table

My Agatha Christie Year Part 3- N Or M?

My Agatha Christie Year-Part 2-The Man In The Brown Suit

My Agatha Christie Year Part 1-Miss Marple’s Final Cases