REVIEW: The Hound of Death

 The Hound of Death
Author: Agatha Christie

An American journalist is travelling in Cornwall when he hears a fantastic legend from WWI. Supposedly a nun called down supernatural forces to destroy a troop of German soldiers who had taken over her convent in Belgium. Finding out that the nun was evacuated to Cornwall and is still living there, he goes to meet her, curious if the story has any truth to it. She is under the care of a local doctor, who may have ulterior motives in his studies of the woman's hallucinations and strange mental state. 

This short story first appeared in 1933 in the story collection by the same name. The Hound of Death collection was never published in the US, and was released in the UK as an advertising campaign for a publishing company. The stories in the collection were later published in the US in several collections. The Hound of Death was included in The Golden Ball and Other Stories in 1971. 

I never realized until now that Agatha Christie wrote a few supernatural stories. I just read this story for the first time -- love it! I'm surprised this story was never adapted for a supernatural horror television show -- Suspense, Night Gallery, Twilight Zone -- any of those could have done it perfectly! I could not find an audio book version of The Hound of Death, so turned to an audio book of The Golden Ball and Other Stories to be able to listen. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the stories from The Hound of Death included in the copy of Golden Ball and Other Stories were actually taken from a prior audio book of the Hound collection read by none other than Christopher Lee!! He was a perfect narrator for The Hound of Death! 

This story was adapted as a radio drama by BBC4 in the early 2000s. The story was "modernized.''  While I applaud the adaptation of Christie's work for radio or television, I don't like it when the stories are fundamentally changed or modernized, so I skipped this one. It's no longer her story if it's radically changed. The modernized versions of 12 of her stories broadcast by BBC4 in the early 2000's are available -- Agatha Christie: 12 Radio Mysteries. So far I have resisted buying this collection because I know the stories have all been altered. I might change my mind at some point....but not yet. 

A very entertaining listen! Not all of the stories from The Hound of Death are supernatural (it also includes The Witness for the Prosecution), but I hope there are more like this! 

I can understand why Christie wrote some stories with a supernatural tone.....seances, spiritualism, table turning and the like were very popular in the 1920s/1930s. 

On to the next!