Reading the Detectives discussion

The second of this month's two Poirot buddy reads is short stories with a festive theme.

Sorry, but for some reason I can't set up a spoiler thread for this book - I keep getting messages saying it is "prohibited". I will try again later!

Hey, Judy, is this one short story, or a collection? The one I found and read and reviewed on Scribd had this cover and was just a single story, of about 60 pages.

Hi Susan, in the list of Poirot reads, Jessica put " The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (short stories) 1960 not published in the USA", so I think it is the collection - but perhaps Jessica can say more? I'm not sure if the other stories in the collection are available separately.

Thanks, I looked at the table of contents and found the stories published in individual ebook and audiobook form on Scribd, or as part of other collections. I’ll be happy to read those - never mind more Poirot!

Spoiler thread is now set up.

That's good that you can find the stories, Susan.

Could I join in? I found the short stories separately on Scribd.

You are very welcome to join in, Chris. :)

I thought we were just reading the one short story along with Elephants Can Remember-I have another collection of Poirot stories and think we've read them all in previous months

I started reading the book on Kindle, but my subscription to Kindle Unlimited expired and they took it back! So I got the audio book from Audible. I enjoyed it - after all it's read by Hugh Fraser - but was disappointed that the Miss Marple story Greenshaws Folly.

Frances wrote: "I thought we were just reading the one short story along with Elephants Can Remember-I have another collection of Poirot stories and think we've read them all in previous months"

I wasn’t sure if we were reading just the short story, or the whole collection- Jessica, could you weigh in and let us know?

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Does say something about USA

Jill wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Does say something about USA"

Yes, that it wasn’t published in the USA (I don’t recall having read it before, or seeing this cover and collection of short stories). Thanks, Jill- I was able to find a PDF of this story collection on Scribd, and several of the stories available as separate ebooks, so I figured I’d read them anyway. I know I’ve seen some on tv with David Suchet, but some are unfamiliar to me. I’m always willing to read more Christie!

Not sure if Jessica is around at the mo, so I've just had a look re the other stories in this collection, apart from The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.

We have read The Mystery of the Spanish Chest earlier in the Poirot buddy read challenge and it has a separate thread, and we also read the Miss Marple story Greenshaw's Folly when we did our Miss Marple challenge a few years ago, although many current members weren't in the group back then.

I don't think The Under Dog, Four and Twenty Blackbirds or The Dream have been discussed here as far as I can see - correct me if I'm wrong! They have all been published in the US in different collections though.

Anyway, I would suggest that we discuss The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding first, and then anyone who wants to discuss any of the other stories is welcome to do so, but equally fine for anyone who prefers to leave it at the first story. :)

It might help to say at the start of the post which story you are discussing. Also for each story, if you are discussing later plot twists, please do so in the spoiler thread.

Hope this is all OK - Jessica, please correct me if I'm wrong. The publication history of Poirot stories does get a bit confusing! :)

Thanks, Judy!

This may help
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/aga...

Thanks, Jill, that’s very handy, just as a Christie fan, to see what I’ve missed.

I have finished this now and thought it was a good collection of stories. I admit I did skim through the Spanish Chest as we had read that before and I could remember it clearly.

I plan to listen to the single story today while doing a jigsaw puzzle. I've read it before, as well as the others in the collection.

Sandy wrote: "I plan to listen to the single story today while doing a jigsaw puzzle. I've read it before, as well as the others in the collection."

Good plan, it’ll zazz up your “little grey cells” and you’ll probably finish your puzzle in 20 minutes...

Jill wrote: "I have finished this now and thought it was a good collection of stories. I admit I did skim through the Spanish Chest as we had read that before and I could remember it clearly."

I listened to the audiobook of each story on Scribd while knitting- as you say, some better than others, some I’d seen on TV with Suchet, etc., but the Christmas Pudding story and the blackbirds one I could not recall at all, so I think I enjoyed those best of all.

I liked the Pudding story because it was set in a country house, and I love those - being a “closed community” always brings in possibilities, the people who live there, servants, rural neighbors, tradesmen, etc., but not so many possibilities (like a city street), where so many people could have done it, it’s almost impossible, without modern technology, like CCTV camera footage, to figure out what happened!

Also, it was entertaining with the younger kids wanting to get involved, but not stealing the scenes (as if Poirot would allow that!)

It turns out my audio version was a radio adaption. I usually avoid those but this was quite good. I will not be so reluctant next time.

I always find it interesting which stories are or aren’t published in America. Seems like this story was published in Europe, translated as well, at the same time. For those with a Scribd subscription there are many different versions to choose from.

Pulled my copy of this one of the shelf to read tonight. I remember reading it years ago. But I’m in the mood to relax with a reread tonight, so this will be perfect