Author: Agatha Christie
These first few Poirot short stories were written in 1922 while Christie was on an around the world tour to publicize the British Empire Exposition. The stories in Poirot Investigates plus 11 more were published in a collection, The Early Cases of Hercule Poirot, published in 1974. The 25 stories were first published in The Sketch magazine in the UK in 1923 and in The Blue Book magazine in the US in 1924/25.
I love these short, entertaining Poirot cases. Because the tales are all so short, they don't feature the twists, complex reveal moments, and character development found in Christie novels....but they still showcase Poirot's amazing wit and Christie's stellar writing. Much like writers today who pen short stories or novellas to bring attention to their books and characters, Christie published these stories to bring attention to her detective fiction. It worked! Poirot books became quite popular. When she published The Man in the Brown Suit in 1924, some readers and reviewers complained because Poirot wasn't in the book!
The stories included in this collection (US edition) are:
The Adventure of the Western Star
The Tragedy at Marston Manor
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat
The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
The Kidnapped Prime Minister
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
The Case of the Missing Will
The Veiled Lady
The Lost Mine
The Chocolate Box
My favorite is The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb. The story is about a supposed curse on those who opened a tomb. Poirot investigates to see if the curse is real, or imagined. Since King Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered in 1922 about the time Christie was writing this story, I think she was thinking about the sensational journalism at the time reporting a curse causing deaths of those who had opened and entered the tomb. It made for a great Poirot story!
The long running (and wonderfully awesome) television series Agatha Christie's Poirot adapted each of these stories into episodes. The characters and plots are changed somewhat to lengthen them to fill an hour episode, but most stay very true to the original story.
All in all, a very entertaining short story collection! One must keep in mind the fact that these stories were short on purpose because they were originally printed in magazines. A bit of very smart marketing to get readers hooked on her writing and characters so more novels would sell! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment