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Poirot Investigates (Collector's Edition)
Published in 1924, "Poirot Investigates" is a collection of short stories featuring Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. This compilation is significant in Christie's oeuvre as it demonstrates her ability to craft compelling mysteries in a shorter format, while still maintaining the complex plots and misdirection for which she was becoming known.
The collection includes eleven stories in the UK edition (and fourteen in the US edition), each showcasing Poirot's deductive skills in a variety of settings and circumstances. These stories range from jewel thefts to kidnappings, and even include elements of the supernatural, though always with a rational explanation revealed by Poirot.
From a literary history perspective, "Poirot Investigates" is valuable for its role in establishing Poirot as a fixture in the detective fiction landscape. The short story format allowed Christie to experiment with different narrative techniques and to refine Poirot's character, including his famous "little grey cells" and his often-comical relationship with his friend and narrator, Captain Hastings.
Scholars have noted how these stories reflect the social anxieties of the 1920s, including fears about changing class structures, the role of technology in society, and the lingering effects of World War I on British society. The international settings of some stories also reflect the era's fascination with exotic locales and the remnants of British colonialism.
The collection includes eleven stories in the UK edition (and fourteen in the US edition), each showcasing Poirot's deductive skills in a variety of settings and circumstances. These stories range from jewel thefts to kidnappings, and even include elements of the supernatural, though always with a rational explanation revealed by Poirot.
From a literary history perspective, "Poirot Investigates" is valuable for its role in establishing Poirot as a fixture in the detective fiction landscape. The short story format allowed Christie to experiment with different narrative techniques and to refine Poirot's character, including his famous "little grey cells" and his often-comical relationship with his friend and narrator, Captain Hastings.
Scholars have noted how these stories reflect the social anxieties of the 1920s, including fears about changing class structures, the role of technology in society, and the lingering effects of World War I on British society. The international settings of some stories also reflect the era's fascination with exotic locales and the remnants of British colonialism.
144 pages, Hardcover
Published December 3, 2024
About the author
Agatha Christie
6,264 books78.7k 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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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 15, 2024
I recently finished an audiobook with Agatha Christie’s short stories featuring Hercules Poirot, so upon finding out that this had many of the same stories I considered skimming through. As I started the first story, that plan was quickly put aside as the more deliberate pace of reading the book allowed me to pick up on things I had missed in the audio version.
Hercules Poirot never fails to delight and this collection is a fabulous read, even for those who have read them before!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hercules Poirot never fails to delight and this collection is a fabulous read, even for those who have read them before!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
September 28, 2024
A few moments of awkwardness, but overall these stories have aged pretty well…
It feels a bit presumptuous for me to be reviewing anything Christie wrote. But at the same time, receiving a review copy of Dover’s new e-edition of Poirot Investigates did give me an excuse to re-read a bunch of Hercule Poirot short stories that I first read a few decades ago, and see how I felt about them now. And, simply put, most have weathered the test of time fairly well, although, since they were first written in the 1920s, they now feel like unintentional historical mysteries, rather than the contemporary stories they were originally intended to be. Still, all the familiar elements are there to be enjoyed: Poirot’s little grey cells do the work, Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp are the perfect foils, and the mysteries are (mostly) suitably puzzling, until Poirot reveals all.
There is, however, some awkwardness for today’s readers in some of the cases – mores have simply changed in the century (!!!) since they were written. Changed enough in fact, that Dover has an explicit warning in the introduction that some of the stories contain “racial and cultural references of the era in which [they] were written and may be deemed offensive by today’s standards”. So you may wish to factor this into your decision as to whether to read Poirot Investigates.
As with most short story collections, whether old or new, some of the stories are more enjoyable than others. And occasionally, the short format itself seemed to get in the way – or perhaps it’s that I tend to prefer full-length books, which offer more of an opportunity to develop both plot and characters. Overall, though, so long as I kept the time when they were written in mind, I enjoyed my re-read, and found it fun to have a fresh visit with Poirot, Hastings, Japp and others. I think others will too, especially those who are fond of Golden Age mysteries. And finally, my thanks to Dover Mystery Classics and NetGalley for the review copy!
It feels a bit presumptuous for me to be reviewing anything Christie wrote. But at the same time, receiving a review copy of Dover’s new e-edition of Poirot Investigates did give me an excuse to re-read a bunch of Hercule Poirot short stories that I first read a few decades ago, and see how I felt about them now. And, simply put, most have weathered the test of time fairly well, although, since they were first written in the 1920s, they now feel like unintentional historical mysteries, rather than the contemporary stories they were originally intended to be. Still, all the familiar elements are there to be enjoyed: Poirot’s little grey cells do the work, Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp are the perfect foils, and the mysteries are (mostly) suitably puzzling, until Poirot reveals all.
There is, however, some awkwardness for today’s readers in some of the cases – mores have simply changed in the century (!!!) since they were written. Changed enough in fact, that Dover has an explicit warning in the introduction that some of the stories contain “racial and cultural references of the era in which [they] were written and may be deemed offensive by today’s standards”. So you may wish to factor this into your decision as to whether to read Poirot Investigates.
As with most short story collections, whether old or new, some of the stories are more enjoyable than others. And occasionally, the short format itself seemed to get in the way – or perhaps it’s that I tend to prefer full-length books, which offer more of an opportunity to develop both plot and characters. Overall, though, so long as I kept the time when they were written in mind, I enjoyed my re-read, and found it fun to have a fresh visit with Poirot, Hastings, Japp and others. I think others will too, especially those who are fond of Golden Age mysteries. And finally, my thanks to Dover Mystery Classics and NetGalley for the review copy!
September 2, 2024
If you are an ardent fan of Agatha Christie then you will enjoy this Poirot collection of short stories.
I enjoyed traveling the globe with Poirot! Never a dull moment and you must keep your wits about you.
I enjoyed traveling the globe with Poirot! Never a dull moment and you must keep your wits about you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews