Parker Pyne Investigates
Author: Agatha Christie
Parker Pyne Investigates is a short story collection featuring a lesser known character created by Agatha Christie. Mr. Pyne is a middle-aged man who retired from a government job, and now uses his skills as an odd detective of sorts. He doesn't solve mysteries.....he solves unhappiness. The key? The clever use of statistics, and some pretty serious manipulation (lol).
There are 12 stories in this collection. All different. All clever. Definitely not your usual Christie mystery collection. The mystery in each case is actually the person who hires Mr. Pyne -- what makes them tick, what the problem is, and how to solve it. Very interesting concept, even if most of the outcomes are brought about by pure trickery, lies and subterfuge. The story collection was published first in the UK in 1934 as Parker Pyne Investigates, and in the US later that same year as Parker Pyne, Detective. Prior to the short story collection, some of the stories were published in magazines.
I listened to the audio book version of these stories (narrated by Hugh Fraser) while reading through my old paperback copy. I found some places where language had been changed for good reasons. I also found it amusing and more than a bit cringe worthy that I had this book in my collection of Agatha Christie books and never actually read it...literally for decades. I had my used copy of this book long enough that my maiden name is written on the inside of the front cover.....a habit I stopped after high school. So, this book has been in my collection of Christie books for at least 37 years....and I never actually read this story collection. Yikes! I had a real aversion to trying out Christie's less well known characters!! I bought the book...looks like I purchased a used copy...but never once gave it a chance. Glad I bought it -- as it really enhanced my listening enjoyment to read along while Hugh Fraser read each story to me. And, I'm learning a lot about my earlier reading habits. I wanted Poirot and Marple....and the books starring others just sat on my shelf as another Christie book in my quest to find copies of them all. Gathering dust. Glad my journey through all of Christie's books in publication order made me get over myself and finally read this book!!
Now....on to the stories!
The Case of the Middle Aged Wife: An aging wife hires Mr Pyne when she believes her husband is beginning to be romantically interested in a typist at his workplace. I enjoyed the story, but it did start my brain down the path of contemplating the amount of lying, manipulation and deceit Pyne puts into play to help his clients. What if they discover they were completely taken in? Would that undo the outcome in some cases? And, is lying to force a good outcome morally and ethically wrong? A character at the end of this story makes some observations, and I think I side with the lounge lizard on this one. This story was adapted for television in 1982 and is the first episode of The Agatha Christie Hour. You can see the episode on Youtube or AcornTV. The adaptation changes a few things here and there, but it's basically the same story. Definitely enjoyable to watch.
The Case of the Discontented Soldier: A retired military officer is finding it hard to return to civilian life. In fact, he finds his life completely boring and uninteresting. He turns to Parker Pyne to put some zing and interest back into his existence. And, Pyne delivers. But again -- more complete manipulation and trickery are used to force the happy ending. This is also a story where I noticed some language changes between my old paperback version and the newer audio book. For good reason. There were some racist terms used in the original version, which were removed and replaced by neutral terms instead. I do not ascribe to the "product of their time'' excuse. I rather say that prior generations used wrong terms to describe other races and we can learn from their mistakes and behave better. And.....we can correct literature from those times that used words that are no longer seen as acceptable when it does not change the plot or story line. In this case, the changes made no difference to the story at all. It just removed any racist tones from the tale. Excellent edit, in my opinion. This story was adapted for television in 1982 and is the fifth episode of The Agatha Christie Hour. You can see the episode on Youtube or AcornTV. The episode sticks pretty closely to the source. And, for once, I actually enjoyed the adaptation better than just reading the original story.
The Case of the Distressed Lady: A young lady comes to Parker Pyne regarding stolen jewelry. This story was first published in magazines in the UK and US in 1932. Parts of this story made no logical sense to me. It was still an enjoyable read, but it seems just a bit slapped together. Maybe this was just a quick filler story written for magazines, and then added to this story collection to round out Pyne's stories. Not my favorite in this collection.
The Case of the Discontented Husband: Parker Pyne has helped a woman in distress over her husband. And now, we see the flip side -- a man who is upset about his wife planning to leave him. This story was first published in 1932 in both the US and UK in magazine format. Interesting turn of events in this story. This time Pyne seems to learn that basing solutions on lies and tricks doesn't always have the expected outcome. It was an ok story....nothing special. My research turned up no adaptations for film or radio for this story.
The Case of the City Clerk: An unhappy middle aged man comes to see Mr. Parker Pyne, requesting some adventure while his family is away visiting relatives. Again, like other stories in this collection, this story was first published in 1932 in magazines in the US and UK. I found this story cute and enjoyed it better than some of the others because the man involved really had a good time. The Case of the City Clerk was adapted as a radio drama by BBC4 Radio in 2003. The adaptation was renamed "The 199 Pound Adventure." It's on Youtube to listen to here: https://youtu.be/kVHy9tACCRA This is the only adaptation I found for this story. The radio drama modernizes and changes quite a few things about the story, but the changes are mostly superficial. The basic bones of the plot are still intact. I think it kept the feeling and intent of the original story quite well while modernizing it. Very enjoyable! I loved the full cast, music and sound effects added in! :) Made me smile even more imagining Mr Roberts having his adventure! There is one scene where he tells a cab driver that he's in a hurry....OMG....hilarious. :) This is my favorite tale out of the entire collection.
The Case of the Rich Woman: A rich widow has a lot of money, but it isn't making her happy anymore. So, she contacts Parker Pyne, of course. I enjoyed this story, even though it involved drugging someone against their will and playing extreme psychological games with someone for an extended period of time. An odd, but enjoyable, tale. This story was first published in Cosmopolitan Magazine in the US in 1932. It was not published in the UK until it was included in Parker Pyne Investigates. My research did not turn up any adaptations of this story. Despite the issues with drugging someone, I'd say this story is a close second favorite right after The Case of the City Clerk. Neatly complex plot with some interesting revelations and changes for the main character.
Have you got everything you want?: A young woman who is worried about a situation with her husband just happens to meet Parker Pyne on a train. This story was first published in magazines in the UK and US in 1933. I found no adaptations for this story in my research. For me, this was just an ok story. More major lies from Parker Pyne. In fact, in one spot he says "It is a fundamental axiom of married life that you must lie to a woman.She likes it!" What?? Yuck.
The Gate of Baghdad: A group of tourists venture from Baghdad out into the desert on an excursion in a 6-wheeled Pullman car. When one of them is found dead in the morning, Parker Pyne is on the case to catch a killer. Pyne actually does some sleuthing in this story. Despite his constant commentary that he is not a detective, he really does a great job in the role of investigator! Interesting story! The only adaptation I found for this story is a BBC4 radio drama adaptation first aired in 2002. You can listen to the full cast adapation here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6tc2ca I enjoyed this story. Nice to have Pyne investigating a murder rather than employing trickery and lies in this story. I enjoyed the adapation. Again, the full cast, sound effects and music added a nice touch. The story was changed here and there, but the basic plot that Agatha Christie wrote was left intact. Very enjoyable.
The House at Shiraz:Again, this story appeared first in magazines in the US and UK in 1933 before being included in this short story collection. Mr. Parker Pyne continues his travels in the Middle East..While in Teheran, he hears the story of a mad Englishwoman.....and offers her his services. This is an interesting, but strange story. I enjoyed it, but just found it a bit odd and slightly contrived. I didn't find any adaptations of this story. In my opinion, this is one of the weaker stories in the collection.
The Pearl of Price: This story along with two others: Death on the Nile and the Oracle at Delphi were published in a UK magazine in 1933 under the heading "More Arabian Nights of Parker Pyne." These 3 stories are the final ones in this story collection. Parker Pyne continues his travels. This time he is encamped at Petra with a group of tourists. When a pearl earring disappears, Mr. Parker Pyne sleuths out the truth by examining the human nature of the group around him. Interesting story set in a very famous and romanticized place. Christie makes a point of showing that oftentimes outward appearances aren't the truth. An ok story. Not one of my favorites.
Death on the Nile: Mr. Parker Pyne is enjoying a cruise down the Nile when a case interrupts his leisure once again. This time - a case of poisoning. An enjoyable short piece of Murder ala Christie. A group of people on a boat. Most of them are terrible people with secrets....but only one is a murderer. I found no adaptations of this story. These stories make me wonder if Agatha pulled character ideas from people she actually met while on her world travels. I can't imagine enjoying a trip with any of the people in this story. I think I would be tempted to toss a couple of them overboard lol.
The Oracle at Delphi: Mr. Parker Pyne is tired of having his vacation rest interrupted by people wanting to hire him, so he sneaks off to Greece....only to land smack dab in a kidnapping drama. Definitely a Christie mystery. I enjoyed this one! I found no adaptations of this story.
Overall, I enjoyed these stories. They are definitely shorter, quick mysteries to showcase Christie's writing. Perfect for magazine publication. But after 90 years, I don't feel these short stories have aged all that well. Parker Pyne is an interesting character, but his tricking and manipulating clients, even if the outcome is good, is still unethical and even fraudulent. I love the concept though.
I watched/listened to all of the adaptations I found. The radio dramas for The Case of the City Clerk and The Gates of Baghdad are available online, but also collected into an audio book: Agatha Christie - Twelve Radio Mysteries.
Following these 12 stories published in the 1930s, Agatha Christie only wrote two more stories featuring Parker Pyne: The Problem at Pollensa Bay and The Regatta Mystery. Parker Pyne is only featured in short stories. He never got a full length novel. And, Christie never re-visited the character after the 14 short stories. I think maybe she used Parker Pyne to flesh out ideas she had that wouldn't really work for a straight up detective story, and then she moved on from the character after a few stories. That's just my personal guess. I find the concept interesting....Pyne isn't a detective. He solves life problems for people. I just don't like how he does it. He's a con man with good intentions.
So, while I enjoyed this book and found a couple of the stories highly entertaining, this is my least favorite book by Christie so far. Still upset with myself that this book languished in my Christie collection for almost 40 years or so before I actually read it. I may have felt differently if my younger self had read this. As a 54 year old woman, I can't seem to get past the fact that Pyne's skills rest on intricate lies and tricks.
Moving on in my journey through Christie's books.....up next? Three Act Tragedy (or Murder in Three Acts - US title).
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