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Surprise! Surprise!
Hercule Poirot boards a bus and goes to the aid of a beauty in a beastly predicament. Miss Jane Marple cycles into a viper's nest of danger and intrigue. Mr. Parker Pyne takes a train to a mansion where a dance of diabolical deceit awaits him. Harley Quin motors to an isolated country inn for a rendezvous with eerie evil. — And the one and only Agatha Christie offers thirteen unforgettable journeys from bewildering bafflement to startling solution for all who love a mystery.
223 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
14 people are currently reading
1065 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,796 books75k 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 46 reviews
December 20, 2016
As good as one of Christie's 'long' stories. Very enjoyable and easy to read.
November 21, 2016
I am not a fan of short stories in general but I do love Agatha Christie novels so I decided to read this collection of short stories. This collection is a mix of good and average stories many of which I have previously read in other books and others I have seen on television. The result for me was a rather disappointing read by possibly me favourite all time author.
If you fancy reading a Agatha Christie book I suggest you read one of the full length novels that usually hit the mark rather than a collection like this.
If you fancy reading a Agatha Christie book I suggest you read one of the full length novels that usually hit the mark rather than a collection like this.
July 8, 2016
This is a really good collection. The editors did a good job of selecting stories that each have an impact. All the stories in this collection are entertaining and suspenseful. The endings did really surprise me. I discovered also that I enjoy reading short mystery stories because then, the suspense doesn't kill me, and I'm not tempted to look ahead. I know the resolution will come shortly, and I don't have to wait.
I highly recommend this collection of short stories with strong endings. A good, quick read.
I highly recommend this collection of short stories with strong endings. A good, quick read.
August 27, 2021
Not my favorite Christie stories, but still fun to read and solve.
February 26, 2020
Surprise! Surprise! I have read all these short stories in there original books. This is a compilation of stories plucked from previous collections. I wasted $12.00 buying this - shame on me!
August 16, 2020
This book is something of an oddity, and in fact I hadn’t even heard of it until I spotted it going as part of an Agatha Christie job lot on eBay. Essentially, because different publishers released different books in different regions, there are some unique USA titles that never came out in the UK, and vice versa.
That mostly applies to short story collections, of which this is the perfect example. In fact, to say that I read this is almost cheating because I only bothered to read the stories that I hadn’t read before, and so there were only four of the twelve or thirteen in here that I actually read. I remember the ones that I skipped, though.
In fact, this is actually a pretty decent little read, if only because it features a bunch of Christie’s most well-known characters, from Parker Pyne to Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. It also includes the title story of The Witness for the Prosecution, which I’ve seen performed as a play before. I think the play was a little better than the short story, but both of them are very much worth consuming. All in all then, I’d have to say that this one is worth reading.
That mostly applies to short story collections, of which this is the perfect example. In fact, to say that I read this is almost cheating because I only bothered to read the stories that I hadn’t read before, and so there were only four of the twelve or thirteen in here that I actually read. I remember the ones that I skipped, though.
In fact, this is actually a pretty decent little read, if only because it features a bunch of Christie’s most well-known characters, from Parker Pyne to Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. It also includes the title story of The Witness for the Prosecution, which I’ve seen performed as a play before. I think the play was a little better than the short story, but both of them are very much worth consuming. All in all then, I’d have to say that this one is worth reading.
December 16, 2018
Five stars certainly seems like overrating however I think that each of these short stories is a gem of a mystery. I had read them several years ago; as I recall many were originally included in other volumes; however; I was as entertained the second time as I was the first. Even if you prefer Agatha Christie novels to short stories, I would recommend giving these a read.
August 14, 2013
Lots of good short stories with interesting endings.
March 16, 2018
Some of the twists were redundant making it easy to predict, but overall it was a good quick read.
November 2, 2020
Read for the purposes of hopefully being slightly spooked but as it turns out, I was already familiar with many of these stories and the two that I was unfamiliar with, were easily discernible enough.
Truthfully, it's a little galling that I knew so many of these stories, indicating to me how many Poirot's and Miss Marple's I've watched over the years (all of them, apparently). That said, even though I knew the twists, what I especially enjoyed was reading what was actually only a few pages worth and remembered the 90 mins films they turned into. This remembrance, which hurt my enjoyment of the mystery however gave me new appreciation for how fleshed out the ITV renditions were and how deft Christie can be in her story to provide such depth in so few pages.
And, despite remembering how things ended, it didn't take away the enjoyment of seeing how Christie devised and structured her story. My penchant for reading for meaning gets turned on its head when I read genre fiction like Christie because the meaning is placed elsewhere -- the slight of hand, the (is it misplaced? well placed?) clues, and character ticks.
Overall, it was a very nice reprieve: easy, breezy, fun that had me smiling and nodding emphatically at my own (pretended) cleverness.
Truthfully, it's a little galling that I knew so many of these stories, indicating to me how many Poirot's and Miss Marple's I've watched over the years (all of them, apparently). That said, even though I knew the twists, what I especially enjoyed was reading what was actually only a few pages worth and remembered the 90 mins films they turned into. This remembrance, which hurt my enjoyment of the mystery however gave me new appreciation for how fleshed out the ITV renditions were and how deft Christie can be in her story to provide such depth in so few pages.
And, despite remembering how things ended, it didn't take away the enjoyment of seeing how Christie devised and structured her story. My penchant for reading for meaning gets turned on its head when I read genre fiction like Christie because the meaning is placed elsewhere -- the slight of hand, the (is it misplaced? well placed?) clues, and character ticks.
Overall, it was a very nice reprieve: easy, breezy, fun that had me smiling and nodding emphatically at my own (pretended) cleverness.
November 2, 2021
There's nothing inherently wrong with short stories. Some of the greatest pieces of detective fiction are short stories.
That being said, I've never been impressed by Christie's forays into this sub-genre. Her writing style is not well suited to the short tale. She thrives best when allowed an entire novel to weave her plots. When she takes her pen to short stories, it always feels like I'm reading something where the answer is blatantly obvious or the answer is something no one could guess.
I prefer my mysteries written in a style where I'm fully engrossed in trying to figure out the murder. Stories where every page or every chapter brings a new clue to further confound the puzzle. That's not what we have here. Surprise! Surprise! is the sort of book you throw into your purse so that you have something on hand to entertain you in doctors offices or on trains. The kind of story that you enjoy well enough that you want to read it, but that you can easily put down.
If you like Christie or mysteries in general and are looking for a book like that, then go ahead and pick this up. For the most part, they're not badly written tales. I've enjoyed reading them one at a time over the past month or so, but now that I've finished the collection, I don't think I'll ever read it again. There are far better mysteries out there and, if I'm picking up a Christie novel that I've already read, I'm not going to settle for her lesser works when she has so many amazing ones.
That being said, I've never been impressed by Christie's forays into this sub-genre. Her writing style is not well suited to the short tale. She thrives best when allowed an entire novel to weave her plots. When she takes her pen to short stories, it always feels like I'm reading something where the answer is blatantly obvious or the answer is something no one could guess.
I prefer my mysteries written in a style where I'm fully engrossed in trying to figure out the murder. Stories where every page or every chapter brings a new clue to further confound the puzzle. That's not what we have here. Surprise! Surprise! is the sort of book you throw into your purse so that you have something on hand to entertain you in doctors offices or on trains. The kind of story that you enjoy well enough that you want to read it, but that you can easily put down.
If you like Christie or mysteries in general and are looking for a book like that, then go ahead and pick this up. For the most part, they're not badly written tales. I've enjoyed reading them one at a time over the past month or so, but now that I've finished the collection, I don't think I'll ever read it again. There are far better mysteries out there and, if I'm picking up a Christie novel that I've already read, I'm not going to settle for her lesser works when she has so many amazing ones.
August 3, 2018
Like a lot of short story collections, there are some good stories and some...improbable stories. In this collection the good outweighs the bad but the bad ones are still there.
June 9, 2019
Agatha Christie mysteries....they're always going to be good.
July 1, 2022
A collection with some very good stories, including "Witness for the Prosecution."
May 29, 2024
ก่อนหน้านี้เคยอ่านงานเรื่องยาวเล่มอื่น ๆ ของคุณป้าเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ แล้วก็งงว่า มันสนุกตรงไหนฟะ ทำไมคนชอบเยอะแยะนัก ลองวัดใจซื้อแบบภาษาไทยมาอ่าน โอ้โห!!! ฉ่ำมากกกกกกก สนุกแบบ สนุก! ด้วยความที่เป็นเรื่องสั้นก็เลยถูกจริตอยู่แล้ว ต้องขอบคุณนักแปลด้วยที่แปลได้มันส์หยด สนุก ภาษาสละสลวย (สรุปว่าที่เคยอ่านแล้วไม่สนุกเป็นเพราะภาษาอังกฤษของเราอ่อนด๋อยไปนี่เอง) คือต้องเข้าใจว่าปัวโรต์เดบิวต์หลังโฮมส์ 33 ปี พอเทียบกล้วแล้ว อะไร ๆ ในโฮมส์มันเลยสุดแสนนนจะโบราณ การเล่าเรื่องของคุณป้าก็จะฉวัดเฉวียน มีลึกลับซับซ้อน มีสเน่ห์กว่า โดยเฉพาะตัวละครผู้หญิงจะได้รับบทบาทสำคัญเกือบแทบทุกเรื่อง แถมยังเขียนได้มีมิติเสียด้วย (แหม่ จะให้เสียชื่อ gone girl คนแรกของโลกได้ยังไง) นี่เป็นจุดที่ทำให้เราเลิ้ปมาก ๆ เลย เพราะในโฮมส์ นอกจากจะแทบไม่มีตัวละครผู้หญิงโผล่มาแล้ว ส่วนใหญ่ก็มาแบบตัวประกอบสุด ๆ ถ้าเป็นตัวเด่นหน่อยก็จะโผล่มาทำวีรกรรมอะไรสักอย่างแล้วหายไป ไม่รู้สึกว่าเป็นตัวละครที่มีมิติอะไรเลย (ก็เล่าจากมุมมองชายแทร่สมัย 140 ปีก่อนอะเนอะ จะเอาอะไรมาก) ตอนนี้เหลืออ่านโฮมส์อีก 1 เล่ม หลังจากนี้จะไปตามงานของคุณป้ารัว ๆ แล้วล่ะ คุณป้าขาาา อย่าโกรธหนูเลยนะคะที่หนูเคยวีนว่าหนังสือป้ามันสนุกยังไงฮึ
January 29, 2024
I liked this book of short stories. I have read enough Agatha Christie that several of these stories were old friends. The tales of mystery here were taken from at least four different short story novels so Surprise! Surprise! actually had few surprises for me.
Because of this book I would like to read some more Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective tales. His The Case of the Distressed Lady was interesting. There was several Hercule Poirot. Can you go wrong with Hercule Poirot? The answer is no.
I think I have read enough Agatha Christie because of the ones I haven't read, I guess what the outcome was going to be. The only one that threw me for a loop was a The Witness for the Prosecution.
Overall a good book.
Because of this book I would like to read some more Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective tales. His The Case of the Distressed Lady was interesting. There was several Hercule Poirot. Can you go wrong with Hercule Poirot? The answer is no.
I think I have read enough Agatha Christie because of the ones I haven't read, I guess what the outcome was going to be. The only one that threw me for a loop was a The Witness for the Prosecution.
Overall a good book.
January 22, 2022
Short stories can give me such satisfaction. As much as I love a plot that lasts 6 or 7 books, I also love how fulfilling it is to read a story and know its end in a handful of pages. To be able to do that with a mystery, and good ones at that, is truly impressive. I am not at all surprised that Christie is able to pull that off. One of my favorite things was that it gave me a bit better insight into some of her more prominent characters like Poirot and Mrs. Marple. I thoroughly enjoyed this little novel, despite how long it took me to finish!
December 15, 2022
Kısa hikaye okumayı pek sevmem ama konu kısa suç hikayeleri olduğunda fikir değiştirmeye meyilliyim. Surprise! Surprise!, Christie’nin neden en iyi suç yazarı olduğunu kanıtlayan harika bir derleme. İçinde tüm karakterlerinden hikayeler var. Daha önce bir derlemede yayınlanmamış, bağışlanması için yazılmış hikayeler de var.
Favori öyküm The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl oldu. Hiçbir Agatha Christie kurgusuna benzemeyen, komik, sarkastik, harika bir hikaye. Yazardan bu tarzda daha fazla metin okumak isterdim.
Favori öyküm The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl oldu. Hiçbir Agatha Christie kurgusuna benzemeyen, komik, sarkastik, harika bir hikaye. Yazardan bu tarzda daha fazla metin okumak isterdim.
August 9, 2019
This is an interesting collection reprinting stories from earlier Christie short story volumes with seemingly the express purpose of marketing her works to a young adult audience. 13 For Luck, advertised on the flap for the first edition I read, seems to be a similar repackaging.
February 19, 2023
Fun little short stories (Miss Marple is always my favorite). I was reading it at the hospital in a scary situation, so I peaked at the end a lot because I had zero tolerance for suspense. But since Christie uses the same trope a lot I got so I could solve things quite often even before that, so I enjoyed the read. It was good to have short chunks available since there was a lot of interruptions.
December 30, 2024
I had read several of these stories in other collections, but most were new to me. As I’ve said before, Agatha Christie is the master of the twist at the end, and these don’t disappoint in that respect. However, once the solution was revealed, some of the endings were disconcertingly abrupt. Overall, it was a great vacation read.
April 12, 2022
Not all of the stories were good...at one point I stopped reading due to lack of interest...but I'm glad I continued...because the stories toward the back were better, the last one being the best one.
February 21, 2018
I like her short stories.
March 7, 2020
I enjoyed the book mostly for nostalgic reasons.
January 1, 2021
It's a collection of stories from multiple works of Agatha Christie. I liked the Poirot stories best, but they are all good!
December 30, 2021
As always, Christie is brilliant. I loved the short mysteries and all of the twists. It had most of her usual characters and some oneshots. It was a good collection of stories.
April 20, 2022
LOl, so fucking cool shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2022
Awesome as always!
June 20, 2022
I loved these short stories! It was great fun trying to figure out the ending! (Fun fact: I got 10/13 correct. The last one was a doozy.)
March 13, 2023
A delightful collection of short stories featuring Christie's famous detectives.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews