The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest: a Hercule Poirot Short Story

Hercule Poirot #0.003

by Agatha Christie

A beautiful and bewitching woman, a Mrs. Clayton, wants Hercule Poirot's help to exonerate her lover, accused of murdering her husband. The husband's body was found in a chest leaking blood —now the question is: how did it get there? And who's responsible for the murder? It's strange, she is clearly one of the suspects, but the earlier request to meet Mrs. Clayton came from Poirot's friend Lady Chatterton. So he sallies forth!

Librarian's note #1: there is a later version of the story, The Mystery of the Spanish Chest.

Librarian's note #2: this entry is for the story, The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest. Collections and other individual short stories by the author are located elsewhere on Goodreads. Individual entries for all Poirot short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: a Hercule Poirot Short Story.

Genres: Agatha Christie, Mystery, Short Stories, Audiobook, Fiction, Classics, Cozy Mystery

19 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Agatha 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)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poirot helps a young widow prove that the man she loves didn't kill her husband.
The moring after a house party, the butler discovers the dead body of a man stabbed to death in a chest that was hidden behind a screen. That party apparently went on around him while he died.
He was last seen going into his friend's house to let him know that he wouldn't be able to make it that night, but his friend (and now prime suspect) claims he never saw him.



This is a twisty one! And yet, if the plot seems familiar, it is.
This story was later expanded into the Mystery of the Spanish Chest.

Originally published in 1932 in The Strand Magazine.
Read as part of the short story collection The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories.

[SHOMPA · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was my first time reading Agatha Christie's work, but sadly, I didn't find the book as enjoyable as I had hoped. :/

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because it’s a short story, it’s interesting to follow ms. Christie’s reasoning, but it does beg quite a few questions. So, read and enjoy for what it is.

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. More than once has Hercule Poirot been beguiled by a beautiful woman seeking help to extricate her lover from the grip of the law. It happens again in The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest. Mrs. Clayton's husband was murdered and her lover, Major Rich, arrested. Can the great detective clear his name? She is adamant; Rich did not murder her husband. Interesting premise for the 1930s. The story appeared in January 1932 in both Strand in the UK, and in the US, Ladies' Home Journal. An expanded version, The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, showed up in a collection of short stories, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrees in 1960. A small party was held at Jack Rich's home for the Claytons, a Major Curtiss, a couple named Spence, and Rich himself. For a little dancing to records, and some friendly poker. Even when Mr. Clayton was called to Scotland on personal business, the party proceeded. All was normal until the next morning when the large chest in the corner was found to be leaking blood. There was a body inside! From the beginning I thought Mrs. Clayton's story was suspect. You? (Mar2021/Fe2026)

[Thomas Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poirot. 18 pages in The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories

[Crime Addict Sifat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short story.

“One could write a play about such an idea." "It has been done," said Poirot. "But console yourself, Hastings," he added kindly. "Because a theme has been used once, there is no reason why it should not be used again. Compose your drama.”
― The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another nice short story.

[Sherri · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A perfect murder,” says Hercule Poirot.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect murder?

The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest is a short story by Agatha Christie which was first published in The Strand Magazine in January 1932 in the U.K.
The story was later expanded into novella form and was published as The Mystery of the Spanish Chest with some changes to the names of the characters (and the omission of Captain Hastings who appears in this story (https://agathachristie.fandom.com).

A case that has captured the imagined of the press and which looks like a simple ménage à trois.

The wife that the two men were allegedly falling out over asks Poirot to intervene. Saying her ‘lover’ was not guilty of the brutal crime and only the great detective can save him from the hangman.

I loved the early peacock posing of Poirot; his justification for basking in the praise and attention of others.

Can he find the truth?

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poirot and Hastings talk about a case in which the facts are not in dispute: man planned to go on a trip, he left a note for the host that he would not be coming to the party planned later that night, the next day he was found dead in the trunk and the host was blamed for his death.

The widow comes to Poirot and asks him to take on the case as she believes the host is innocent. He makes some inquiries and eliminates the host while placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of the man responsible for what Poirot says is the perfect crime.

Who done it? < spoiler > One of the guests. He was a friend of the deceased, but wanted the friend's wife and knew the host also wanted her. The suspicions about the host and his wife were stoked by the friend at drinks earlier that night. The husband hid in the trunk to try to catch the host and his wife, bored eye holes, and then the friend moved a screen to hide that he was knifing the drugged man in the trunk. The blood eventually seeped through the trunk and alerted the servants next day. spoiler >

[Abeer Albossany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have always been waiting to read this story since it is a famous one. However, I found that it has an ordinary plot with an average mystery. I still like it though! perhaps I was so focusing on getting something unusual that I didn't see its charm.

[Selah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent mystery, but Simon Vance's Poirot is lackluster compared to David Suchet and Hugh Fraser.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very simple little mystery quickly solved by Poirot.

[Meriyou · Rating 3 out of 5]

I swear there's no difference to the "Spanish chest" one.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

not sure why but this one was difficult to concentrate on—none of the characters appealed. cary grant has a comedy movie on the same topic though (by which i mean bodies found in chests), arsenic and old lace, a good halloween watch.

[Susy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Read the later edition, renamed as The Mystery of the Spanish Chest

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[catherine ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the longer version after reading this one and it was just very obviously better because of the time taken to develop the mystery and the character depth — but the premise for this is still very interesting.

[Habiba♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't find it that amusing! :(

[Delanie Dooms · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic mystery, although--I confess--I solved it before the ending. For suspicion on Curtiss, I did this by cluing into Curtiss's awkward dialogue, especially his insistence that Margeurita was going with Clayton. For the trap, I clued into the holes like Poirot, although, early on, I assumed them to be how the wound was inflicted--a silly thought, considering there were 3 of them, and one wound! It is a pretty simple mystery, too, and, with Christie's short stories, I love the simpler ones most; they are perfect for the lack of time she has to develop the characters and storyline.

Unfortunately, the theming of this work leaves something to be desired, for it is remarkably anti-woman. The basic conceit (and this conceit is followed through) is that of women's beauty being detrimental to men, or, in other words, enticing to them in an inordinate way; in a word, a beautiful woman is one to make a man's life miserable. Mrs. Clayton's beauty causes duels, suicide, and the eventual murder in this story, so that we see Poirot's assertion on this seemingly proven. Notwithstanding, this is clearly not the case, and the weakness of men should not be imputed to that of a woman. Poirot might be correct in asserting that things like this do happen, but in asserting that it is in some way unchanging is a bit too much for me; and, it seems clear that Christie's attempt was to elucidate the latter, not the former.

As a final note, I am almost certain that Poirot admits to disliking the concept of murder as art in one of the novels, so that his final speech herein is a bit off character.

[Dennis Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ummmm it was fine. It ends rather abruptly (like a lot of short stories)...

[Carole Jarvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this short mystery, logically and expertly solved by M. Hercule Poirot. The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest is the first of a ton of short stories I recently discovered on my library's digital lending program. If the others are similar to this one, then Agatha Christie is the queen of murder mysteries in the short story format. Poirot and Hastings discuss a murder in the headlines that seems pretty open and shut, until the widow asks Poirot to help clear the man accused of her husband's murder. I love the way previously unnoticed details blow the case wide open. Short, humorous at times, very entertaining.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I figured part of this one out. It was easy to see that Clayton hid himself in the trunk to spy on the group that night. What I didn’t figure out or understand is why Curtis killed him. Once again, another short story where a man is so sure that a woman will fall for him if he just cleared out the pesky obstacles of her husband and her lover. Sigh....

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick Poirot read!

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read 2020

[Joop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi, kort HP verhaal.

[ANGSHUMAN · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story. But sometimes before the ending the culprit was predictable.

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story with Poirot. It has also the title The mystery of the Spanish chest.

[Saumen · Rating 3 out of 5]

প্যাঁচ রে ভাই! রহস্যে যদি বলেন, সেরা। কিন্তু এত প্যাচঁ দিতে গিয়ে ক্রিস্টি অন্য ইলিমেন্ট এড করেননি। চাইলেই তিনি মার্গারেটের সাথে চরিত্রগুলির পরিচয়ের গল্প ফাঁদতে পারতেন, পরকীয়ার একটা বর্ণনা দিতে পারতেন, তাতে অবশ্য গল্পটা উপন্যাস হয়ে যেত। কিন্তু তাহলে অন্তত আমার কাছে বইটা পাঁচে পাঁচ পেত।

খুব সহজেই আন্দাজ করা যায়, ক্রিস্টি কেন কাজটা করেন নি, যে অভিযোগ আমার লাভক্রাফটের উপর ছিল, They are not elaborate enough. আগাথা রহস্যের রাণী এটা মেনে নিতে কোন আপত্তি নেই, বাট, We dont click perfectly. Its not a fault of Agatha, its me.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those bodies-stuffed-in-a-trunk stories, and there's always something horribly entertaining about those, especially when there's no way to see how it could possibly have happened. It's a little like a locked room mystery where there seems to be no opportunity for anyone to have done it. Naturally, there is an explanation and while it's very convoluted the villain clearly intends it to be convoluted, simply because no one in their right mind would suspect it. Enter Poirot, who is rather more twisty than most people in his thinking. I enjoyed it, anyway.