Publication date: 1960
Summary: A short story collection featuring the following Poirot stories:
-"The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding"
-"The Mystery of the Spanish Chest"
-"The Under Dog"
-"Four and Twenty Blackbirds"
-"The Dream"
and a Miss Marple offering:
-"Greenshaw's Folly"
These are reworkings of older stories from various magazines and US publications, modernized and put together to make an interesting but ultimately mediocre collection of long short stories.
Body count: A dead girl on the lawn of an estate?, a dead man in a Spanish chest, a husband killed in his study, a dead elderly twin, a dead wealthy industrialist, a dead old lady (shot through the neck with an arrow no less!)
Detective/Sleuth: First five, Poirot. Last story, Marple.
Rating: 2.75 rubies out of 5
Commentary:
Monday, July 5, 2010
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Hey, Matt!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have this collection, so I had to use my memory. I know a lot of them were collected in "The Underdog" and other stories. I can't think of much to say. I think Christie had two good story collections in her: the Labors of Hercules and the Tuesday Club Murders. Add "Witness for the Prosecution," "Accident," and maybe "The Murder in the Mews," and the rest of the stories are two underdeveloped to be more than a fun, quick read. I don't recall "The Underdog" being much fun at all. But I agree with you that the "Spanish Chest" story is probably the best; at least, the murderer's method of getting the guy into the trunk is psychologically interesting.
I have read in a few places that "The Pale Horse" held a special place in Christie's heart. I really liked it when I first read it, maybe a little less so now. But I look forward to talking about it with you.
Brad