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The Listerdale Mystery
After Mr. St. Vincent's death, his family is plunged into poverty. Living in reduced circumstances, they are surprised to find an elegant townhouse available for let —with staff—for a suspiciously cheap rent. It belongs to the infamous Lord Listerdale but why would he lend, almost anyway, them his home for such a low price, and why are the servants so accommodating?
Librarian's note: previously published in the print anthologies, The Golden Ball and Other Stories, and The Listerdale Mystery and Other Stories.
Librarian's note: previously published in the print anthologies, The Golden Ball and Other Stories, and The Listerdale Mystery and Other Stories.
36 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1925
165 people are currently reading
692 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,805 books75.4k 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)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
February 5, 2023
The widowed Mrs. St. Vincent lives with her grown son and daughter in a boarding house. They used to have a grand manor but now they live in genteel poverty after her husband's poor speculation left them with nothing. At her wit's end and with nothing left to lose, she contacts a house agent that is advertising a rental that is too good to be true, and she actually gets it.
It even comes with a near-perfect butler, Quentin, to take care of the daily hassles.
Her son, Rupert, is working but not making enough yet to support his mother and sister. And her daughter, Barbara, is hoping to marry the young man she met while on a trip to Egypt with her cousins, but she's afraid if he sees her in such diminished circumstances it might make him look at her differently. So, this house is an answer to her mother's prayers.
But Rupert is convinced that something is wrong with the whole situation because while Lord Listerdale is supposedly in Africa, he hasn't been seen by anyone who knows him in over a year.
Rupert decides to snoop around and finds out the real Quentin has been pensioned off and is living a few towns away.
So who is the butler and what happened to Listerdale?
One of my favorite shorts from Christie.
Originally published in 1925 in Grand Magazine .
Read as part of the short story collection The Golden Ball and Other Stories
It even comes with a near-perfect butler, Quentin, to take care of the daily hassles.
Her son, Rupert, is working but not making enough yet to support his mother and sister. And her daughter, Barbara, is hoping to marry the young man she met while on a trip to Egypt with her cousins, but she's afraid if he sees her in such diminished circumstances it might make him look at her differently. So, this house is an answer to her mother's prayers.
But Rupert is convinced that something is wrong with the whole situation because while Lord Listerdale is supposedly in Africa, he hasn't been seen by anyone who knows him in over a year.
Rupert decides to snoop around and finds out the real Quentin has been pensioned off and is living a few towns away.
So who is the butler and what happened to Listerdale?
One of my favorite shorts from Christie.
Originally published in 1925 in Grand Magazine .
Read as part of the short story collection The Golden Ball and Other Stories
September 20, 2025
“You thought this house would make such a beautiful setting for me, and all the time it’s really a setting for you. Rupert and I don’t quite belong here. You do.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, darling.”
“It’s not nonsense. There’s a flavour of enchanted castle about it, with you as an enchanted princess and Quentin as—as—oh! a benevolent magician.”
When a widow comes across a beautiful house for a suspiciously cheap lease, she jumps on the offer to give her children the start she thinks they deserve - but soon the cheap housekeeping prices and the generosity of the landlord raises different doubts in all of them.
The Listerdale Mystery is not much of a mystery, and definitely not a murder mystery as I expected, but is rather one of Agatha Christie's experiments in lighter mysteries, with plots that are almost fairy-tale like and characters that are all ultimately good. Nonetheless, it was fun. But not recommended for 'die-hard' fans of Christie, as, well, there isn't really a death mystery in it.
🌟3/4🌟
[1/4 star for the premise; Half a star for the characters; 1/4 star for the plot; 1/4 star for the world-building; Half a star for the writing - 1 3/4 stars in total.]
“Don’t talk nonsense, darling.”
“It’s not nonsense. There’s a flavour of enchanted castle about it, with you as an enchanted princess and Quentin as—as—oh! a benevolent magician.”
When a widow comes across a beautiful house for a suspiciously cheap lease, she jumps on the offer to give her children the start she thinks they deserve - but soon the cheap housekeeping prices and the generosity of the landlord raises different doubts in all of them.
The Listerdale Mystery is not much of a mystery, and definitely not a murder mystery as I expected, but is rather one of Agatha Christie's experiments in lighter mysteries, with plots that are almost fairy-tale like and characters that are all ultimately good. Nonetheless, it was fun. But not recommended for 'die-hard' fans of Christie, as, well, there isn't really a death mystery in it.
🌟3/4🌟
[1/4 star for the premise; Half a star for the characters; 1/4 star for the plot; 1/4 star for the world-building; Half a star for the writing - 1 3/4 stars in total.]
February 13, 2021
First a bit of intro and then...the story!
I'm going to be doing a bit of skipping around in my quest to read Agatha Christie in publication order. Backtracking ..... again. Many of Christie's short stories were first published in detective and fiction magazines, and I found that most of the stories in the next two upcoming story collections were actually first published in the 1920s. So....stepping back....and looking at the stories from The Hound of Death and The Listerdale Mystery.
The Hound of Death is a collection of 12 short stories published in 1933 in the UK. This book was never published in the US. But, the stories were published in later collections in the US (namely, The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948), Double Sin and Other Stories (1961) and The Golden Ball and Other Stories (1961). Eight of the 12 stories in the collection were published in various magazines in the 1920s. No prior publications of 4 of the stories prior to the 1933 collection have been documented.
The Listerdale Mystery is another collection of 12 stories published in book format in 1934. All 12 of these stories were published previously by Christie in magazines from 1924-1926. I couldn't find a copy of this particular collection, but all of the stories from it were also published in The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories and The Golden Ball and Other Stories.
So, I have checked out the 3 later story collections from my local library's digital site in audio format and I'm re-creating these two story collections by jumping from book to book. I'm going to review each story separately as they were first published at different times before being collected into a book. That way later I can check back and make sure I read/reviewed every short story.
Why audio and not the print or ebook version? I just like Christie short stories in audio....that way I get the lovely British accent, correct pronunciation of any place names or foreign words, I think it's just more fun. :)
That being said.....
The Listerdale Mystery!
The St Vincent family has fallen on hard times and lost their ancestral home. Mrs. St. Vincent hopes for better for her children than the boarding house where they now reside and lower marriages than they might once have had. When a town house comes up for rent at a ridiculously low cost, Mrs. St. Vincent hops at the chance, but her son Rupert thinks something untoward may have happened there. Who would let a fully furnished town house with servants included for so little....unless there was something shady about it?
The Listerdale Mystery was first published in The Grand Magazine in December 1925, and re-published in the short story collection of the same name in 1934. The story was not published in the US until 1971 when it was included in The Golden Ball and Other Stories.
I loved this story and was surprised to learn that it has never been adapted for television or radio. Maybe it's because the story doesn't involve any of Christie's well known fictional detectives like Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple. But those shows did not shy away from adapting other Christie stories to add the detective character of their choice....just surprised they passed this one up.
Very entertaining story! I enjoyed it!
I listened to an audio book version of this story from The Golden Ball and Other Stories (HarperAudio). Hugh Fraser (played Hastings in the Poirot television series) does a fabulous job of narrating as usual! Very enjoyable listen! I'm having to jump around a bit to listen to each story in this collection since I don't have a copy of The Listerdale Mystery....but that just makes the process a bit more fun! :) I will just sort of wind my way through all the stories from The Hound of Death and The Listerdale Mystery in the best way I can. :)
On to the next!
I'm going to be doing a bit of skipping around in my quest to read Agatha Christie in publication order. Backtracking ..... again. Many of Christie's short stories were first published in detective and fiction magazines, and I found that most of the stories in the next two upcoming story collections were actually first published in the 1920s. So....stepping back....and looking at the stories from The Hound of Death and The Listerdale Mystery.
The Hound of Death is a collection of 12 short stories published in 1933 in the UK. This book was never published in the US. But, the stories were published in later collections in the US (namely, The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948), Double Sin and Other Stories (1961) and The Golden Ball and Other Stories (1961). Eight of the 12 stories in the collection were published in various magazines in the 1920s. No prior publications of 4 of the stories prior to the 1933 collection have been documented.
The Listerdale Mystery is another collection of 12 stories published in book format in 1934. All 12 of these stories were published previously by Christie in magazines from 1924-1926. I couldn't find a copy of this particular collection, but all of the stories from it were also published in The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories and The Golden Ball and Other Stories.
So, I have checked out the 3 later story collections from my local library's digital site in audio format and I'm re-creating these two story collections by jumping from book to book. I'm going to review each story separately as they were first published at different times before being collected into a book. That way later I can check back and make sure I read/reviewed every short story.
Why audio and not the print or ebook version? I just like Christie short stories in audio....that way I get the lovely British accent, correct pronunciation of any place names or foreign words, I think it's just more fun. :)
That being said.....
The Listerdale Mystery!
The St Vincent family has fallen on hard times and lost their ancestral home. Mrs. St. Vincent hopes for better for her children than the boarding house where they now reside and lower marriages than they might once have had. When a town house comes up for rent at a ridiculously low cost, Mrs. St. Vincent hops at the chance, but her son Rupert thinks something untoward may have happened there. Who would let a fully furnished town house with servants included for so little....unless there was something shady about it?
The Listerdale Mystery was first published in The Grand Magazine in December 1925, and re-published in the short story collection of the same name in 1934. The story was not published in the US until 1971 when it was included in The Golden Ball and Other Stories.
I loved this story and was surprised to learn that it has never been adapted for television or radio. Maybe it's because the story doesn't involve any of Christie's well known fictional detectives like Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple. But those shows did not shy away from adapting other Christie stories to add the detective character of their choice....just surprised they passed this one up.
Very entertaining story! I enjoyed it!
I listened to an audio book version of this story from The Golden Ball and Other Stories (HarperAudio). Hugh Fraser (played Hastings in the Poirot television series) does a fabulous job of narrating as usual! Very enjoyable listen! I'm having to jump around a bit to listen to each story in this collection since I don't have a copy of The Listerdale Mystery....but that just makes the process a bit more fun! :) I will just sort of wind my way through all the stories from The Hound of Death and The Listerdale Mystery in the best way I can. :)
On to the next!
February 19, 2019
Short and sweet without much mystery, but still a cute story.
April 17, 2024
I figured out where this was going and I totally ate it up 😆😍
December 30, 2025
Not super mysterious but actually quite sweet. Ending is a bit abrupt but it is a short story, after all.
August 15, 2021
A charming short story, perfect for listening to whilst strolling on a wet and soggy fall day.
Audiobook
Narrated by Hugh Fraser
39 minutes
Audiobook
Narrated by Hugh Fraser
39 minutes
April 18, 2018
A short and sweet mystery with no murder. It was written in such a simple setting that I could guess what was going to happen right at the beginning.
Nonetheless, a warm book by Agatha Christie - perfect to be reading when it is very cold outside and you are all curled up with a cup of hot chocolate.
Nonetheless, a warm book by Agatha Christie - perfect to be reading when it is very cold outside and you are all curled up with a cup of hot chocolate.
January 22, 2022
Leuk, aardig verhaal.
January 10, 2026
5 Stars. A bit of romance, a bit of mystery, and a surprise ending. Two actually. What's not to like? It's the title story from The Listerdale Mystery and Other Stories and first came out in 1925 in Grand Magazine. 24 pages. Mrs. St. Vincent has financial troubles; her husband had made investments which impoverished the family and then he died forcing his wife and their two early-20-something children to find cheap, furnished lodgings. She worries, oh does she worry, that they will be forced to move even from that. Her daughter, Barbara, worries more about what the handsome and well-off young man who she met recently will think when he finds out where she lives! But then mother reads an ad in The Morning Post about a small house in swanky Westminster with a nominal rent. Surprisingly, she gets it! But it isn't long before her son Rupert, who surely has a detective job with Scotland Yard in his future, becomes suspicious about the previous owner, Lord Listerdale, who disappeared from that very house a while back. "Decidedly fishy," says Rupert as he begins checking for bodies. Shades of the very real Lord Lucan and his disappearance in 1974. Enjoyable. (Ja2026)
October 15, 2023
Loved it!
April 28, 2021
This was a great short and sweet story, easy listening and with a little mystery thrown in. I adore Agatha Christie’s writings and one day I will make my way through everything she has ever written - challenge accepted!
This one, although not very long, is still a lovely little piece of writing and I definitely could have read for longer but I suppose that isn’t the point of a short story!
Once you get into it, it’s almost over before it’s started and I do think there could have been a bit more into the mystery of the plot and we could have seen more behind the solving of the mystery but it was still a nice little read (or listen in my case, I had the audiobook)
This one, although not very long, is still a lovely little piece of writing and I definitely could have read for longer but I suppose that isn’t the point of a short story!
Once you get into it, it’s almost over before it’s started and I do think there could have been a bit more into the mystery of the plot and we could have seen more behind the solving of the mystery but it was still a nice little read (or listen in my case, I had the audiobook)
December 11, 2024
eponymous-ey sentence:
p12: In his leisure moments he was inclined to tap the panelling and make elaborate measurements for the possible location of a secret room, but little by little his interest in the mystery of Lord Listerdale abated.
A sly one, this Lord Listerdale.
Read as part of the collection The Listerdale Mystery and Eleven Other Stories.
p12: In his leisure moments he was inclined to tap the panelling and make elaborate measurements for the possible location of a secret room, but little by little his interest in the mystery of Lord Listerdale abated.
A sly one, this Lord Listerdale.
Read as part of the collection The Listerdale Mystery and Eleven Other Stories.
March 25, 2019
The house of a rich man who disappeared under mysterious circumstances goes up for rent at a ridiculously low price for the right tenant. Even the servants come along with the house. What's the catch? The family wonders. The plot twist is pretty sweet though.
April 7, 2019
I thorouly enjoyed this short story.
March 30, 2020
Read 2020
October 21, 2025
I had an idea how this would end and I was right. Nice story nevertheless. Read it as part of the short story collection with the same name.
July 24, 2024
The Listerdale Mystery: A Short Story by Agatha Christie
Originally published in 1925 in Grand Magazine
GR blurb -
After Mr. St. Vincent's death, his family is plunged into poverty. Living in reduced circumstances, they are surprised to find an elegant townhouse—with staff—for a suspiciously cheap rent. Why would Lord Listerdale lend them his home for such a low price, and why are the servants so accommodating?
My thoughts -
An engaging mystery that involves no crime. A happy ending as well. Highly recommended.
Originally published in 1925 in Grand Magazine
GR blurb -
After Mr. St. Vincent's death, his family is plunged into poverty. Living in reduced circumstances, they are surprised to find an elegant townhouse—with staff—for a suspiciously cheap rent. Why would Lord Listerdale lend them his home for such a low price, and why are the servants so accommodating?
My thoughts -
An engaging mystery that involves no crime. A happy ending as well. Highly recommended.
December 19, 2025
Es una colección de relatos variados, algunos de misterio y otros más emocionales. No todos son policiales, pero mantienen el suspenso y el interés.
December 17, 2025
Are this author's stories endings become more cryptic or am I getting tired again?
December 12, 2025
this was more like a fairy-tale romance than a mystery (and I'm honestly here for it)
February 11, 2025
Mrs St. Vincent and her two children, Rupert and Barbara, used to be wealthy but lost everything when her husband died. She's afraid her daughter will never find a husband when they find out her poverty.
One day, Mrs St. Vincent finds an advertisement for an amazingly cheap house in Westminster. She visits it and loves it. The rental agents offer it for six months, for dirt cheap. While Barbara is excited, Rupert is suspicious because the house belongs to Lord Listerdale, who mysteriously disappeared 18 months ago. And then they meet the butler...
It was not bad, but with a different plot than expected from this author, plus an extra final twist in the last line. A type of charming story the author didn't accustom me to!
I wanted to listen to it, but for some reason couldn't find it at my library. I found a recording made with AI or something like that. Definitely not the best, so I had to ignore the un-quality of the audio to focus on the writing itself.
Oh, I just realised: all the stories contained in the collection called The Listerdale Mystery appeared separately in other US collections. For instance, this first one of the UK collection was published in the US collection The Golden Ball (and my library had it, with Hugh Fraser!!). So I'll be careful to fish around for the next one.
One day, Mrs St. Vincent finds an advertisement for an amazingly cheap house in Westminster. She visits it and loves it. The rental agents offer it for six months, for dirt cheap. While Barbara is excited, Rupert is suspicious because the house belongs to Lord Listerdale, who mysteriously disappeared 18 months ago. And then they meet the butler...
It was not bad, but with a different plot than expected from this author, plus an extra final twist in the last line. A type of charming story the author didn't accustom me to!
I wanted to listen to it, but for some reason couldn't find it at my library. I found a recording made with AI or something like that. Definitely not the best, so I had to ignore the un-quality of the audio to focus on the writing itself.
Oh, I just realised: all the stories contained in the collection called The Listerdale Mystery appeared separately in other US collections. For instance, this first one of the UK collection was published in the US collection The Golden Ball (and my library had it, with Hugh Fraser!!). So I'll be careful to fish around for the next one.
March 10, 2021
An enjoyable story about a down on their luck genteel lady and her son and daughter. Mrs. Vincent answers an advertisement looking for someone to occupy and care for a fully furnished house, complete with servants, for a nominal rent. She thinks that it is too good to be true since they lost their family estate after her husband’s death. But there is a mystery because the master left suddenly and has not been seen in years, saying he is in Africa, and he has left his cousin in charge of his affairs. Some say that he was really killed and his body is hidden in the house. She decides to take the rental so that it will improve her daughter’s chances of marring a man from the higher class that they are accustomed to and she could not entertain them in their shabby county cottage. And she is successful because after 3 months in the rental house, she is engaged. But the mystery about the missing master of the house continues and her son is convinced that the butler is an imposter when he sees a man bearing his resemblance at another of the master’s properties. When confronted with this information, the “fake” butler admits to being the missing master himself and says that he has fallen in love with Mrs. Vincent and so the ruse was worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2025
A short story collection, all incorporating mysteries of one kind or another. Some are very good - I enjoyed the Manhood of Edward Robinson, Philomel Cottage, Mr Eastwood's Adventure, and the title story. A large proportion end in unlikely and precipitate proposals, and two have almost identical plot devices (did the editor not notice?). Christie is a good short fiction writer, and perhaps they are not best served by being read back to back.
And, alas, Anti-Semitism Warning Alert for the final story, Swan Song.
And, alas, Anti-Semitism Warning Alert for the final story, Swan Song.
June 7, 2021
I'm new to Agatha Christie's short stories but I loved this one. A widow and her children chance upon a lovely home in Westminster and the only mystery about it is the disappearance of the owner Mr. Listerdale.
What ensues is a wonderful story and dare I say short romantic sweet end. Will read more of her shorts.
What ensues is a wonderful story and dare I say short romantic sweet end. Will read more of her shorts.
December 10, 2023
A brilliant selection of short stories by the Queen of the murder mystery and a great way to start your Agatha Christie journey. Interesting to note that the sultans emerald sees the introduction of her character James Bond nearly thirty years before Ian Flemings version.
September 15, 2025
Una buena trama de misterio
Agatha Christie y sus historias policíacas y misterios son un clásico universal que no aburrirá nunca al lector que le gusta deleitarse con este tipo de tramas.
Agatha Christie y sus historias policíacas y misterios son un clásico universal que no aburrirá nunca al lector que le gusta deleitarse con este tipo de tramas.
October 23, 2025
A Sweet Little Mystery
I enjoyed this tale of a genteel but poor widow and her two children finally finding a home they could love and a mystery around why they got the house so cheaply.
I enjoyed this tale of a genteel but poor widow and her two children finally finding a home they could love and a mystery around why they got the house so cheaply.
May 1, 2014
Quick simple and too the point, a nice little diversion.
January 28, 2015
Quick read short story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews