Detectives and Young Adventurers: The Complete Short Stories

by Agatha Christie

Includes all the Tommy & Tuppence, Harley Quinn and Parker Pyne stories!

While Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are Agatha Christie's best known creations, it was her other detectives which she admitted were her personal favourites:

Partners in crime TOMMY & TUPPENCE are the husband-and-wife team who advertise as Young Adventurers Ltd. The mysterious MR QUIN has the knack of turning up unexpectedly to give awkward situations a helping hand. And retired civil servant PARKER PYNE solves unusual and exotic crimes for people with nowhere else to turn.

For the first time, this book brings all their short stories together in one complete volume.

Also inculdes four early Poirot cases, plus all six Star over Bethlehem stories!

Genres: Agatha Christie, Mystery, Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Murder Mystery, Anthologies

676 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

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

[Tanya (aka ListObsessedReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will be chipping away at this in small doses as I come to Agatha's short story collections whilst reading through her works chronologically.

Short Story Collections Read:

- Partners In Crime (Tommy & Tuppence). 14 Stories. Read 16/11/12-21/11/12
- The Mysterious Mr. Quinn (Mr. Sattherwaite & Mr. Harley Quinn). 12 Stories. Read 11/12/12-31/12/12
- Parker Pyne Investigates (Parker Pyne). 12 Stories. Read 07/11/13-14/11/13
- Poirot's Early Cases (Mixed). 1 Story (18 further story also contained within Hercule Poirot). Read 27/04/18-03/05/18
- Problem at Pollensa Bay (Mixed). 5 Stories (3 further stories also contained within Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and Mystery). Read 26/08/18-28/09/18
- While the Light Lasts (Mixed). 2 Stories (7 further stories also contained within Miss Marple and Mystery). Read 28/09/18-29/09/18

Plus 'The Christmas Stories'. 6 Stories. Read 30/09/18

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. I had seen and liked the BBC adaptation, likely from the '80s, so I picked it up as a quick light read, after seeing the recent Orient Express film. It's dialog heavy, likely typical Christie fare. It's hard to tell whether I found it predictable or just remembered the TV adaptation better than I remembered ( I couldn't have told you the plot from memory). The American character's depiction is funny, he's blustery and impulsive and gun-toting but otherwise not particularly American. The main characters are likable. One thing I appreciated was how the non-killing of the main characters by the bad guys is justified explicitly in the narration. Not much of a review here, but I liked it.

[Ann Garniss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of over 50 of Christie’s short stories, featuring Tommy and Tuppence, Harley Quin, Parker Pyne, and the original versions of 4 Poirot stories. It also includes the Christmas stories for children, inspirational tales of Christianity and good works, published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan to distinguish from her mysteries.

[Lynnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been dipping into this short story collection since September 2022. Tommy and Tuppence, Satterthwaite and Harley Quin, Parker Pyne all feature plus there are four Poirot stories that later got expanded and also six Christmas stories written for children.

[Eamon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I don’t trust Parker Pyne; he seems psychotic.

[Tono Oberhauser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although overall, the detective quality of these short stories is lower than those with Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, the readers find here (1) the early Christie with adventure combined with romance (Tommy and Tuppence), (2) a matter-of-fact demeanour of Mr Parker Pyne, an expert on statistics, rendered into the help for the afflicted people, and (3) Harley Quin stories, bordering on the supernatural, but still some very good detection cases.
The volume also includes some early Poirot stories, later expanded and included in the regular Poirot collection. All 4 are already very good.
And you can find some Christmas rarities, loosely based on the Nativity scenes from the Bible, graced with Dame Agatha’s very own, peculiar understanding of the events.

The three top stories of the three main collections included here are as follows:

Tommy and Tuppence: The Man in the Mist, The Sunningdale Mystery, The House of the Lurking Death (a very dark one)

Parker Pyne: The Gate of Baghdad, Have You Got Everything You Want, Death on the Nile

Harley Quin: The Shadow on the Glass, The Sign in the Sky, The Dead Harlequin

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely collection of short stories by Agatha Christie. I really have to rate the stories according to main character, since they differ a lot.

*Tommy & Tuppence: these are very humorous and therefore fun to read. Not the best whodunits though, the reader is often left in the dark while the detective comes up with the solution. It's not really possible to try and be the detective yourself.

*Harley Quinn: great stories! These were my favourites. In these, it is actually possible to arrive at the solution, even before the 'detective' gets there. Wonderfully written and very engaging.

*Parker Pyne: love the idea of a happiness consultant. The stories are fun, however, the ones that take place on Parker Pyne's trip around the mediterranean are of a lesser quality.

*Hercule Poirot: great, obviously.

*Christmas stories: very different and therefore interesting to read. A little hard to follow since the Bible is not very well-known to me, but they're nice little stories.

Overall: definitely 4*, while some of the stories are 5*!

[Krisz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I love AC, so I knew what'd be in this book!
However I do give it 5 stars because the volume is, although of course big and heavy, really readable in every kind of way. Can be held in one hand, paper not too thin, lettering not too small.
And I love the extra info on all the short stories' publication details!

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great little collection of short stories. I particularly liked the inclusion of all the Tommy and Tuppence ones, and found the notes at the beginning of each story which detailed the name of the detective parodied and when/where the story was originally published, particularly helpful.

[mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some charming short tales, some recognisable from future extended stories, but a whole lot of newies. A lovely selection of Christmas Tales, which are intriguing in the fact that, how could she possibly understand the enigma without having known it herself. Hmmmmm.

[John Moulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was fascinating to read a 'Who-Done-It written 'the old-fashioned way. The writing style amused me just a little as I continued to be pulled in by the plot!

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of Agatha Christie's short stories!