From the Publisher
"Whether a moustachioed dandy or a seemingly harmless spinster, the villains never see Christie’s sleuths coming—and that's half the fun." — Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy
"Captivating and addictive, Agatha Christie's work never fails to delight." — Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee
"The queen of jaw-dropping, heart-stopping twists." — Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying
"Billions of readers can’t be wrong." — Dreda Say Mitchell
"Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers" — Val McDermid
"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 of the Dublin Murder Squad novels
"Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction." — Peter James
"Christie's ingenious plots and fiendish twists set the bar for all of us who follow in her footsteps." — Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10
"There’s no such thing as a disappointing Agatha Christie: there are only good ones and better ones." — Naomi Alderman, New York Times bestselling author of The Power
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-23
Another unnecessary but rewarding collection of 12 stories culled from the archives of the Queen of Crime.
The least familiar item is the brief introduction, an excerpt from Christie’s autobiography describing her shock and sorrow when a well-meaning guide in the Pyrenees pinned a live butterfly to her hat. The stories that follow, all reprinted in earlier collections, feature her leading sleuths and then some. Miss Jane Marple plays armchair detective in the clever “The Blood-Stained Pavement” and “The Idol House of Astarte,” which is clearly meant to be creepier than it really is. Mr. Parker Pyne solves a poisoning in “Death on the Nile,” a story that shares only its setting with Christie’s novel, and a kidnapping in “The Oracle at Delphi,” which closes with a decided snap. Tommy and Tuppence unexpectedly find themselves in a Bulldog Drummond parody in the silly “The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger.” Elderly Mr. Satterthwaite meets spectral Harley Quin in “Harlequin’s Lane,” which shows Christie’s impatience with the whodunit formula and the limitations of her attempts to break out of it. The ingenious “The Rajah’s Emerald” and the amusing, improbable “Jane in Search of a Job” get along without any franchise detectives. The star, of course, is Hercule Poirot, who ebulliently solves “The Double Clue,” “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” “The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim,” and the longest tale here, “The Incredible Theft,” all of which showcase Christie’s underappreciated talent for enlivening the second movements of her stories—the questioning of suspects—with teasing undercurrents of suspicion and misdirection. Fans will charitably overlook the appearance of too many fake detectives.
Creaky, tasty bonbons from the golden age.
