The Complete Early Poirot Omnibus: The Mysterious Affair at Styles; The Murder on the Links; The Man Who Was Number Four; and 25 Other Short Stories

by Agatha Christie, Finn John

The original saga of the Little Hercule Poirot made his first public appearance in 1920 at the age, one guesses, of about 60. He finally breathed his metaphorical last in 1975 at the age of maybe 75 or 80. And in that short span of time — either 55 years or about 20, depending on how you count it — Poirot became one of England’s most profitable and ubiquitous export commodities.

But it’s very clear that his creator, Agatha Christie, did not at first intend for it to go that way. She made a very definite attempt to end the Hercule Poirot saga in the mid-1920s, when his story consisted simply of three novels and 25 short stories.

It is that first Hercule Poirot bibliography, the one Christie clearly intended to leave for posterity when she typed up the last few words of “The Crag in the Dolomites” sometime in 1924, that is presented in this collection.

Here is what you will find in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (the first Hercule Poirot novel);The Murder on the Links (the second Hercule Poirot novel);“Tales with a Sting” (the first series of 12 Hercule Poirot short stories):The Affair at the Victory BallThe Curious Disappearance of the Opalsen PearlsThe Adventure of the King of ClubsThe Disappearance of Mr. DavenheimThe Mystery of the Plymouth ExpressThe Adventure of “The Western Star”The Tragedy at Marsdon ManorThe Kidnapped Prime MinisterThe Million-Dollar Bond RobberyThe Adventure of the Cheap FlatThe Mystery of Hunter’s LodgeThe Clue of the Chocolate Box“The Grey Cells of Monsieur Poirot” (the second series of Hercule Poirot short stories):The Adventure of the Egyptian TombThe Case of the Veiled LadyThe Kidnapping of Johnnie WaverlyThe Market Basing MysteryThe Adventure of the Italian NoblemanThe Case of the Missing WillThe Submarine PlansThe Adventure of the Clapham CookThe Lost MineThe Cornish MysteryThe Double ClueThe Adventure of the Christmas PuddingThe Lemesurier Inheritance“The Man Who Was Number Four” (the third series of short stories, a serial novel):1. The Unexpected Guest2. The Adventure of the Dartmoor Bungalow3. The Lady on the Stairs4. The Radium Thieves5. In the House of the Enemy6. The Yellow Jasmine Mystery7. The Chess Problem8. The Baited Trap9. The Peroxide Blonde10. The Terrible Catastrophe11. The Dying Chinaman12. The Crag in the DolomitesThe short stories in particular have been updated and changed over the years as they were published in various collections and anthologies. For this volume, we have gone back to the original 1923 source, the original stories, exactly as they were published in The Sketch magazine.

Kindle Edition

Published June 16, 2020

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

[Boyschool · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best audio book! The narrator is superb! He really brings Poirot and Hastings to life. It will be something I listen to many times. I highly recommend the audio version. The stories are told chronologically, so you really get a feel for the characters of Poirot and Hastings as well as their relationship with each other, and their little quirks, I just love it.