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Harley Quin
Masterpieces in Miniature: Stories: The Detectives; Parker Pyne; Harley Quin, Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple
A collection of short whodunits from the world's most popular crime writer brings together thirty-nine of her finest mystery tales, featuring her famed sleuths Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Parker Pyne, and Harley Quin as they take on some of their most baffling cases.
Contents:
Part I: Parker Pyne: Meeting Parker Pyne / by Agatha Christie ; The case of the middle-aged wife ; The case of the discontented soldier ; The case of the distressed lady ; The case of the discontented husband ; The case of the city clerk ; The case of the rich woman ; Have you got everything you want? ; The gate of Baghdad ; The house at Shiraz ; The pearl of price ; Death on the Nile ; The oracle at Delphi
--
Part II: Harley Quin: Presenting Mr. Harley Quin / by Agatha Christie ; The coming of Mr. Quin ; The shadow on the glass ; At the Bells and Motley ; The sign in the sky ; The soul of the croupier ; The world's end ; The voice in the dark ; The face of Helen ; The dead harlequin ; The bird with the broken wing ; The man from the sea ; Harlequin's Lane ; The love detectives
--
Part III: Hercule Poirot: The third-floor flat ; The adventure of Johnnie Waverly ; Four and twenty blackbirds ; The double clue ; Double sin ; Wasps' nest ; The theft of the royal ruby ; The second gong
--
Part IV: Miss Jane Marple: Strange jest ; Tape-measure murder ; The case of the perfect maid ; The case of the caretaker ; Greenshaw's folly ; Sanctuary.
Contents:
Part I: Parker Pyne: Meeting Parker Pyne / by Agatha Christie ; The case of the middle-aged wife ; The case of the discontented soldier ; The case of the distressed lady ; The case of the discontented husband ; The case of the city clerk ; The case of the rich woman ; Have you got everything you want? ; The gate of Baghdad ; The house at Shiraz ; The pearl of price ; Death on the Nile ; The oracle at Delphi
--
Part II: Harley Quin: Presenting Mr. Harley Quin / by Agatha Christie ; The coming of Mr. Quin ; The shadow on the glass ; At the Bells and Motley ; The sign in the sky ; The soul of the croupier ; The world's end ; The voice in the dark ; The face of Helen ; The dead harlequin ; The bird with the broken wing ; The man from the sea ; Harlequin's Lane ; The love detectives
--
Part III: Hercule Poirot: The third-floor flat ; The adventure of Johnnie Waverly ; Four and twenty blackbirds ; The double clue ; Double sin ; Wasps' nest ; The theft of the royal ruby ; The second gong
--
Part IV: Miss Jane Marple: Strange jest ; Tape-measure murder ; The case of the perfect maid ; The case of the caretaker ; Greenshaw's folly ; Sanctuary.
691 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
25 people are currently reading
1085 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,780 books74.7k followersAgatha 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)
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)
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 3, 2025
Wonderful collection of Christie's shorts.
Now, this doesn't have every single short story Christie ever wrote, but it has most of them. You could be pretty happy with this. And by pretty happy, I mean this would make a great Christmas gift for some of her fans. And by some of her fans, I mean me.
So if you're asking if I'm adding this to my list of books for my husband to buy me for Christmas, the answer is yes.
My god, you are so nosy!
Parker Pyne
The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife
The Case of the Discontented Soldier
The Case of the Distressed Lady
The Case of the Discontented Husband
The Case of the City Clerk
The Case of the Rich Woman
Have You Got Everything You Want?
The Gate of Baghdad
The House at Shiraz
The Pearl of Price
Death on the Nile
The Oracle at Delphi
Harley Quin
The Coming of Mr. Quin
The Shadow on the Glass
At the 'Bells and Motley'
The Sign in the Sky
The Soul of the Croupier
The World's End
The Voice in the Dark
The Face of Helen
The Dead Harlequin
The Bird with the Broken Wing
The Man from the Sea
Harlequin's Lane
The Love Detectives
Hercule Poirot:
The Third-Floor Flat
The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly
Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds
The Double Clue
Double Sin
Wasps' Nest
The Theft of the Royal Ruby
The Second Gong
Miss Jane Marple
Strange Jest
The Tape-Measure Murder
The Case of the Perfect Maid
The Case of the Caretaker
Greenshaw's Folly
Sanctuary
As always, there are links to longer reviews for each story if anyone is interested.
Highly Recommended.
Now, this doesn't have every single short story Christie ever wrote, but it has most of them. You could be pretty happy with this. And by pretty happy, I mean this would make a great Christmas gift for some of her fans. And by some of her fans, I mean me.
So if you're asking if I'm adding this to my list of books for my husband to buy me for Christmas, the answer is yes.
My god, you are so nosy!
Parker Pyne
The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife
The Case of the Discontented Soldier
The Case of the Distressed Lady
The Case of the Discontented Husband
The Case of the City Clerk
The Case of the Rich Woman
Have You Got Everything You Want?
The Gate of Baghdad
The House at Shiraz
The Pearl of Price
Death on the Nile
The Oracle at Delphi
Harley Quin
The Coming of Mr. Quin
The Shadow on the Glass
At the 'Bells and Motley'
The Sign in the Sky
The Soul of the Croupier
The World's End
The Voice in the Dark
The Face of Helen
The Dead Harlequin
The Bird with the Broken Wing
The Man from the Sea
Harlequin's Lane
The Love Detectives
Hercule Poirot:
The Third-Floor Flat
The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly
Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds
The Double Clue
Double Sin
Wasps' Nest
The Theft of the Royal Ruby
The Second Gong
Miss Jane Marple
Strange Jest
The Tape-Measure Murder
The Case of the Perfect Maid
The Case of the Caretaker
Greenshaw's Folly
Sanctuary
As always, there are links to longer reviews for each story if anyone is interested.
Highly Recommended.
May 13, 2024
If you are a Christie fan, this is a banquet of her short stories featuring four of her five continuing characters (there are no Beresford stories). I hadn't realized she had written so many short stories in the Poirot and Marple series although I knew that the Harley Quin and Parker Pyne works were all short stories. I have to admit that I did not read the Marple stories since I never could seem to enjoy that character.
There are 39 entries in the book and although 691 pages long, it is still a quick read but not one that has to be read straight through. A good bedtime book and it is a joy!
There are 39 entries in the book and although 691 pages long, it is still a quick read but not one that has to be read straight through. A good bedtime book and it is a joy!
July 9, 2025
In August 2005, as Kolkata simmered under its humid skies and the bookstores quietly rearranged their shelves, I walked into one and walked out with what would become one of my most treasured volumes — Masterpieces in Miniature, a posthumous collection of fifty short stories by Dame Agatha Christie. I was one of the first twenty buyers of the book in the city, and I still remember the peculiar sense of triumph I felt, almost as though I’d secured access to a private archive. Not just stories, but secrets. Not just pages, but poisons.
The book was—and still is—a carefully curated showcase of Christie’s lesser-seen brilliance: the short story form. It assembles five of her beloved sleuths under one metaphorical roof—Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Harley Quin, Parker Pyne, and the often-overlooked Mr. Satterthwaite. Each of them brings to the table a different sensibility, a different rhythm, a different philosophy of truth. And across these stories, Christie reveals not only the elasticity of her imagination but also the breadth of her literary mood—from the clinical to the comic, the metaphysical to the macabre.
Hercule Poirot, of course, dominates with his symmetry, logic, and his famous little grey cells. In stories like The Adventure of the Western Star or The Chocolate Box, we see Poirot not just as a solver of crimes, but as a kind of philosopher of motive—a man obsessed with human fallibility dressed in immaculate spats. Even in the briefest tales, his presence electrifies. He solves puzzles not merely by observing clues but by understanding character, contradiction, and performance.
And then there’s Miss Marple, who smiles politely as she dismantles entire moral universes. Christie’s quietest weapon. In The Blue Geranium or The Thumb Mark of St. Peter, Miss Marple unmasks murder not through forensics but through an intimate, and at times frighteningly accurate, reading of human nature. For her, crime is not deviance—it is a predictable result of social pressure, gossip, suppressed desire. One might say she was the first true behavioural detective, long before “profiling” was fashionable.
But what gives this collection its tonal depth is the inclusion of Christie’s lesser-known figures—especially Mr. Harley Quin. These stories defy categorisation. In The Coming of Mr. Quin or The Man from the Sea, detection morphs into mysticism. Mr. Quin appears not as a sleuth, but as a catalyst—an enigma wrapped in colour and metaphor, someone who awakens hidden truths simply by being present. He doesn’t deduce, he provokes. The tone here is lush, eerie, almost supernatural—Christie channelling her inner Jamesian Gothic, albeit through an Edwardian lens.
Parker Pyne, by contrast, offers warmth. Known as “the detective of the heart,” his cases rarely involve crime in the traditional sense. Rather, they focus on sadness, dissatisfaction, missed chances—stories like The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife or The Case of the Discontented Soldier are as much about healing as they are about mystery. There’s even a whiff of Wodehouse in their cheeriness. Pyne solves people, not puzzles, and in doing so, Christie shows a side of herself that’s often overlooked: one of emotional intelligence and tenderness.
And then we have Mr. Satterthwaite—Christie’s quietest and perhaps most poignant creation. Appearing mostly in the Harley Quin tales, he’s the observer, the audience surrogate, the man who sees without speaking. His perspective lends the stories an air of wistfulness, of lives half-lived and regrets half-acknowledged. He doesn’t solve crimes, but he notices—and in Christie’s world, that’s often the most dangerous thing of all.
Reading Masterpieces in Miniature is like wandering through a private gallery of miniatures—each one finely painted, tightly framed, and lit from within. Some shock. Some comfort. Some confuse. But all of them delight. Christie was a master of the form not just because she knew how to plant a clue, but because she knew when to withhold. In her short stories, she often plays with structure, tone, and perspective far more daringly than in her novels. And this collection captures that creative restlessness perfectly.
Looking back now, I realise that this book wasn’t just an indulgence—it was a turning point. It taught me that stories don’t need to sprawl to spook, that brevity can be a form of brutality, and that the true mastery of a writer often shows itself not in their epics, but in their interludes.
Nearly two decades later, Masterpieces in Miniature remains one of my most beloved possessions—not only for the stories it tells, but for the reader it shaped me into: one who listens for footsteps in short sentences, who suspects the smile in the first paragraph, and who knows that the truth—always—is hiding in plain sight.
The book was—and still is—a carefully curated showcase of Christie’s lesser-seen brilliance: the short story form. It assembles five of her beloved sleuths under one metaphorical roof—Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Harley Quin, Parker Pyne, and the often-overlooked Mr. Satterthwaite. Each of them brings to the table a different sensibility, a different rhythm, a different philosophy of truth. And across these stories, Christie reveals not only the elasticity of her imagination but also the breadth of her literary mood—from the clinical to the comic, the metaphysical to the macabre.
Hercule Poirot, of course, dominates with his symmetry, logic, and his famous little grey cells. In stories like The Adventure of the Western Star or The Chocolate Box, we see Poirot not just as a solver of crimes, but as a kind of philosopher of motive—a man obsessed with human fallibility dressed in immaculate spats. Even in the briefest tales, his presence electrifies. He solves puzzles not merely by observing clues but by understanding character, contradiction, and performance.
And then there’s Miss Marple, who smiles politely as she dismantles entire moral universes. Christie’s quietest weapon. In The Blue Geranium or The Thumb Mark of St. Peter, Miss Marple unmasks murder not through forensics but through an intimate, and at times frighteningly accurate, reading of human nature. For her, crime is not deviance—it is a predictable result of social pressure, gossip, suppressed desire. One might say she was the first true behavioural detective, long before “profiling” was fashionable.
But what gives this collection its tonal depth is the inclusion of Christie’s lesser-known figures—especially Mr. Harley Quin. These stories defy categorisation. In The Coming of Mr. Quin or The Man from the Sea, detection morphs into mysticism. Mr. Quin appears not as a sleuth, but as a catalyst—an enigma wrapped in colour and metaphor, someone who awakens hidden truths simply by being present. He doesn’t deduce, he provokes. The tone here is lush, eerie, almost supernatural—Christie channelling her inner Jamesian Gothic, albeit through an Edwardian lens.
Parker Pyne, by contrast, offers warmth. Known as “the detective of the heart,” his cases rarely involve crime in the traditional sense. Rather, they focus on sadness, dissatisfaction, missed chances—stories like The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife or The Case of the Discontented Soldier are as much about healing as they are about mystery. There’s even a whiff of Wodehouse in their cheeriness. Pyne solves people, not puzzles, and in doing so, Christie shows a side of herself that’s often overlooked: one of emotional intelligence and tenderness.
And then we have Mr. Satterthwaite—Christie’s quietest and perhaps most poignant creation. Appearing mostly in the Harley Quin tales, he’s the observer, the audience surrogate, the man who sees without speaking. His perspective lends the stories an air of wistfulness, of lives half-lived and regrets half-acknowledged. He doesn’t solve crimes, but he notices—and in Christie’s world, that’s often the most dangerous thing of all.
Reading Masterpieces in Miniature is like wandering through a private gallery of miniatures—each one finely painted, tightly framed, and lit from within. Some shock. Some comfort. Some confuse. But all of them delight. Christie was a master of the form not just because she knew how to plant a clue, but because she knew when to withhold. In her short stories, she often plays with structure, tone, and perspective far more daringly than in her novels. And this collection captures that creative restlessness perfectly.
Looking back now, I realise that this book wasn’t just an indulgence—it was a turning point. It taught me that stories don’t need to sprawl to spook, that brevity can be a form of brutality, and that the true mastery of a writer often shows itself not in their epics, but in their interludes.
Nearly two decades later, Masterpieces in Miniature remains one of my most beloved possessions—not only for the stories it tells, but for the reader it shaped me into: one who listens for footsteps in short sentences, who suspects the smile in the first paragraph, and who knows that the truth—always—is hiding in plain sight.
March 15, 2020
This piece of anthologies is undoubtedly a master in miniature .It primarily comprises of short stories consisting all the popular characters created by Agatha Christie. Each story was a gem and had its own beauty . This book is one place where you find all Harley Quin and Mr Satherwaite stories in one place . The Parker Pyne part is fun too . The Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple stories can be found in other collections too .
March 22, 2019
I think this is the book that tilted me into making Agatha my all time favorite author. I just adore the way her short stories work and they are one of my favorite comfort rereads
August 7, 2020
This collection of various Agatha Christie short stories is definitely something for completists and ardent fans of hers. It contains twelve Parker Pyne stories and thirteen Harley Quin/Mr. Satterthwaite stories, which are virtually all she wrote with these main characters/”detectives” and eight Poirot and six Miss Marple stories. Short stories aren’t really Christie’s forte, in my opinion, though I enjoyed reading these in a desultory fashion over the course of a week or so.
The first Parker Pyne stories, where he works out of his London office, are more like early Fantasy Island episodes where Pyne manipulates his clients with (unbeknownst to them) actors and contrived scenarios and the problems to be solved are those of the heart mostly. The later stories are more sinister mysteries (murder, kidnap, etc.) which could just have easily been Poirot stories, really.
The Harley Quin/Mr. Satterthwaite stories are more like later Fantasy Island episodes because they all have a touch of the magical since Mr. Quinn may or may not actually be human… and they are all fairly romantic in tone. Not really my cup of tea.
The Miss Marple and Poirot stories I had all read in other collections. It makes me sad to think that they weren’t able to film the Miss Marple short stories with the marvelous Joan Hickson. With some adaptation they would have been amazing, like the televised Poirot short stories starring David Suchet are.
The first Parker Pyne stories, where he works out of his London office, are more like early Fantasy Island episodes where Pyne manipulates his clients with (unbeknownst to them) actors and contrived scenarios and the problems to be solved are those of the heart mostly. The later stories are more sinister mysteries (murder, kidnap, etc.) which could just have easily been Poirot stories, really.
The Harley Quin/Mr. Satterthwaite stories are more like later Fantasy Island episodes because they all have a touch of the magical since Mr. Quinn may or may not actually be human… and they are all fairly romantic in tone. Not really my cup of tea.
The Miss Marple and Poirot stories I had all read in other collections. It makes me sad to think that they weren’t able to film the Miss Marple short stories with the marvelous Joan Hickson. With some adaptation they would have been amazing, like the televised Poirot short stories starring David Suchet are.
October 26, 2024
Unas estuvieron buenas otras no tanto. Uno lee y se ríe un rato se le olvida que lo escribió la señora hace mil años hasta que lees something out of pocket y dices claro principios de los 1900.
January 8, 2018
Short stories featuring Christie characters Parker Payne (12 stories), Harley Quin (13 stories), Hercule Poirot (8 stories) and Miss Marple (6 stories). Wonderful stuff. The Parker Payne stories (he has an ad in the agony column “Are you happy? If not consult Mr Parker Payne, 17 Richmond Street”), and Harley Quin (touch of the supernatural) off the beaten track for detective stories; Hercule and Miss Marple in the classic form.
“Money, I never think of money.”
“Do you know what they say, madame? Those who never think of money need a great deal of it.”
Her upper class background shows. It’s the world she knew and all her stories are set in a world where people didn’t worry about making ends meet, in the usual sense. Still, without doing a review, I recall a good portion of the crimes being about maintaining a standard of living. The rich are different from you and I. They want to stay rich.
Anyway, great stuff, a master at work.
“Money, I never think of money.”
“Do you know what they say, madame? Those who never think of money need a great deal of it.”
Her upper class background shows. It’s the world she knew and all her stories are set in a world where people didn’t worry about making ends meet, in the usual sense. Still, without doing a review, I recall a good portion of the crimes being about maintaining a standard of living. The rich are different from you and I. They want to stay rich.
Anyway, great stuff, a master at work.
October 8, 2014
I had read all the Poirots and Marples in this book, but don't think I'd read any Parker Pyne or Harley Quin. Fun, if you're in the mood for some golden age stories!
October 18, 2021
This lovely volume nicely showcases Christie's exquisite talent in easy, filling little bites. Parker Pyne's "Happiness Guarantee" was delightful, Poirot is as sharp as ever, and Miss Marple is her enigmatic, dear, intuitive self- but for me, it was really Harley Quin who took the day. In the Quin stories, Christie really taps into the latent symbolism, beauty, and mysticism that we only glimpse in most of her other stories. Meanwhile, she manages to sustain the freshness, energy, and surprise of her other mysteries. My favorite story is "Harlequin's Lane," which is in its own right a miniature masterpiece.
October 16, 2021
Well, there are certainly a lot of stories in this volume! My favorites were the Harley Quin ones. I re-read them every few years, and still enjoy them. "Harlequin's Lane" is a strange one though, Mr. Quin is quite different here, more anger and perhaps his true nature. I am not quite sure just who he is after reading this one, every time.
A very nice group of short stories with four of our favorite detectives. Well, Mr. Quin isn't a detective, but mysteries are solved, or deaths are prevented.
A very nice group of short stories with four of our favorite detectives. Well, Mr. Quin isn't a detective, but mysteries are solved, or deaths are prevented.
March 10, 2022
Someone else at the library put a hold on this book before I could finish it.
I read all of the Parker Pyne stories and loved them.
I’m not a fan of Harley Quin and Hercule Poirot, though a few lines from “The Man from the Sea” were inspiring.
Someday I’ll return to finish the Miss Marple stories, since I like her more than Poirot.
I read all of the Parker Pyne stories and loved them.
I’m not a fan of Harley Quin and Hercule Poirot, though a few lines from “The Man from the Sea” were inspiring.
Someday I’ll return to finish the Miss Marple stories, since I like her more than Poirot.
June 22, 2023
Agatha Christie has been one of my favourite authors since I was a teenager. This book of short stories confirmed that and then some. I could read Parker Pyne stories all day (also why isn’t there a modern-day Parker Pyne?). I was more familiar with Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, but will never tire of reading them. One of my best finds from a recent used book fair!
August 12, 2023
The classic Agatha Christie, perfect as always. There were some mysteries in this book, most likely her earlier detective stories that felt like they weren’t really detective stories and more fixer upper stories but the rest of them were amazing. She defiantly sets the scene and has amazing twists. Any mystery fan must read her stuff, even her miniature stories such as these.
August 23, 2018
A hefty collection of short stories by Christie. I enjoyed the Parker Pyne and Harley Quin ones best because there were a few I hadn't read before now. The Poirot and Miss Marple ones were good, too, but familiar. A nice find for a Christie fan.
July 14, 2021
A great short story sampler of four of Christie’s sleuths: Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Parker Pyne, and Harley Quin. These stories range from slightly supernatural to romance to foreign adventures to blatant murder. A great introduction for newcomers to the Queen of Mysteries.
November 18, 2018
Marvelous!
September 25, 2023
Great mysteries!
May 13, 2025
I found these stories very interesting, entertaining and intriguing! I enjoyed being able to read a whole mystery stories in one sitting.
May 30, 2012
A fun collection of short stories featuring four of Agatha Christie's detectives. Harley Quin has always been a personal favorite, and I enjoyed reading his development from start to finish. He brings an enigmatic, mystical element to what can otherwise be somewhat formulaic stories. I have to admit that Christie hasn't held up over time quite as well as I remember her from my youth. Some of the mysteries are still excellent-others fall a bit flat. There are also a few uncomfortable moments from time to time that I suppose could be attributed to these being written in a different age...I noticed this most strongly when Parker Pyne was traveling through Baghdad, Shiraz, and the Nile. Still, Christie's pacing and plot development is terribly entertaining, and you can't really call yourself a fan of the mystery genre without having read and enjoyed Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple.
June 7, 2016
This is a lovely collection of her stories featuring four of her famous detectives: Parker Pyne, Mr. Harley Quin, Poirot and Marple. There are, I gather, other volumes with Parker Pyne collections and Mr. Quin collections, but I'd never read stories of either of them. This was a great introduction to them. If you've ever watched the show Poirot, you've at least heard of most of the Hercule Poirot stories gathered here. The Miss Marple stories were classic Marple.
I enjoyed getting to know Parker Pyne, a man who does nothing more than understand human nature and the convoluted Mr. Quin and his friend Mr. Sattherwaite. The Harley Quin stories are not much more than flights of fancy, but as I love flights of fancy when they follow my own imaginings, I love these dramas.
I enjoyed getting to know Parker Pyne, a man who does nothing more than understand human nature and the convoluted Mr. Quin and his friend Mr. Sattherwaite. The Harley Quin stories are not much more than flights of fancy, but as I love flights of fancy when they follow my own imaginings, I love these dramas.
September 26, 2010
I bought this big fat book with a lovely giftcard from my lovely sister in law (thanks, Mares!). And it's a lovely book.
It's a collection of short stories about all of Agatha Christie's detectives. I did like a couple of the ones about Poirot, but have to admit he isn't my favorite. My favorite is Parker Pyne, a bald, comforting looking man who advertises to cure people's unhappiness, and then ends up doing it with the help of a cadre of character actors at his disposal.
Perfect book of short stories when your eyes hurt too much for any length of sustained reading (stupid cold!).
It's a collection of short stories about all of Agatha Christie's detectives. I did like a couple of the ones about Poirot, but have to admit he isn't my favorite. My favorite is Parker Pyne, a bald, comforting looking man who advertises to cure people's unhappiness, and then ends up doing it with the help of a cadre of character actors at his disposal.
Perfect book of short stories when your eyes hurt too much for any length of sustained reading (stupid cold!).
February 13, 2013
Anyone who has looked through my reviews knows I am a Christie fan through and through, and I have loved Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot since middle school. This fat short story collection introduced me to two other delightful characters, however. Mr. Parker Pyne not only solves mysteries, but socially engineers them for the benefit of his clients. Meanwhile, the mysterious Mr. Harley Quin appears out of nowhere at just the right moment to clear up whatever mystery threatens the happiness of worthy bystanders. A great find!
July 23, 2008
I think I've always loved Agatha Christie's works, but I particularly enjoyed reading the short stories that featured some of her lesser-known characters (Parker Pyne and Mr. Quin). Most of the collections I have feature one or two of those stories at most. Reading them together gave me a much clearer understanding of her vision for the characters.
July 23, 2008
I definitely enjoyed seeing a variety of Christie's characters and I liked that each of her detectives were quite distinct. I only have two qualms: Parker Payne is more of a "Mr. Fix It" for people than a detective, and I'm uncertain why Harley Quin is listed as the detective rather than Mr. Satterthwaite. Good read for mystery fans (though my copy has quite a few typos).
Currently reading
March 9, 2008So far so good. This was my first exposure to Harley Quin. What an enigmatic character! These stories would be ideal for discussion/interpretation. Wonderful stuff!!!!
But did anybody think that Poirot and Satterthwaite were two sides of the same coin?
But did anybody think that Poirot and Satterthwaite were two sides of the same coin?
Read
April 17, 2009This was a great book. I love Agatha Christie's work.
April 10, 2010
A fantastic collection.
Read
May 26, 2010Masterpieces In Miniature - The Detectives - Stories by Agatha Christie (2005)
October 15, 2010
This is an awesome collection of Agatha Christie short stories. Recommended to AGatha Christie fans like myself.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews