Sept 9 - 15, 2018

All by Agatha Christie

Poirot Investigates  - the first collection of Hercules Poirot short stories. Always his little grey cells solve the mystery and Hastings is hopelessly out of the loop. I'm always amused at Hastings, he's so clueless he even puts in writing how clueless he is.

3.5 stars
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The Secret of Chimneys - Anthony Cade does a favor for a friend (and gets paid for it) that plunges him into political intrigue and murder. The manuscript he's delivering seems to be wanted by a lot of people. And the blackmail letters he tries to return send him to Chimneys, an estate where a secret political meeting is being held. I found this humorous as well as intriguing although the end was a trifle unbelievable.

3.5 stars
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd  - a woman commits suicide and the doctor attending her can think of no reason. He soon learns from his friend Roger Ackroyd that she was being blackmailed and was calling off their engagement. He leaves Ackroyd reading a letter that may contain the name of the blackmailer. The next morning Ackroyd is found murdered in his locked study. Fortunately, the doctor's new neighbor is none other than Hercules Poirot come to the country for his retirement. The way Christie writes about gossip in a small village is amusing. And of course everyone is a suspect before the story is done.

4 stars
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The Big Four - Hastings has just arrived in England with the intention of surprising Poirot but finds Poirot about to leave for South America. He has been offered a large sum of money to investigate a case there. Their meeting is interrupted by a dying man clutching a piece of paper with the number 4 on it. Poirot has suspected that there is an evil group planning disruptions around the globe and he becomes vigorous in his pursuit. This one drags on a bit and at times seems like some of the chapters were short stories put into the book.

3 stars
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The Seven Dials Mystery - another book about a secret group. This time we're back at the country house of Chimneys, with the daughter of the house taking the lead. A young man is found murdered in his bed and he may have stumbled on the identity of of someone trying to steal some scientific papers. Young people behaving foolhardy with some romance thrown in.

3 stars
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The Mysterious Mr Quin - a collections of short stories featuring Harley Quin and his friend Mr Satterthwaite. Quin shows up at odd times, usually a few years after a mysterious death. He seems to have the ability to make people rethink what they thought at the time of the death and realize what really happened. Mr Satterthwaite begins to look forward to his appearances because they mean something interesting is about to happen. Mr Quin also seems to appear and disappear without anyone seeing him. These are almost as much fantasies as mysteries and I'm a little freaked about Mr Quin, especially the last story.

3 stars
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The Sittaford Mystery - a group of people in a snowbound house play a game of table turning ( rather like using a ouija board) and the answers indicate an acquaintance has died. His best friend feels uneasy and takes off in the snowstorm to walk the six miles into town. There he finds the man murdered. Suspicion immediately falls on the man's nephew. The heroine in this book is the nephew's fiancee, she is determined to find the truth. Suspicion falls on everyone in turn and the answer was a surprise to me.

3.5 stars
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The Thirteen Problems - six people at a dinner party, including Miss Marple, take turns telling mysteries they personally know about and were unsolved at the time. They are always astonished when Miss Marple gives the right answer every time, usually because of a seemingly mundane but similar incident in her village. I like these more cerebral mysteries, they're rather restful after all the toing and froing of most detective stories.

3.5 stars
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The Hound of Death - twelve short stories, most of them dealing with paranormal mysteries. The best of the bunch is Witness for the Prosecution, which became a movie. Some of them I just didn't get.

2 stars
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Lord Edgeware Dies - Lord Edgeware is killed soon after his estranged wife announces she will kill him for not granting her a divorce. She is seen at his house just hours before his body is discovered. There's just one problem, she was at a dinner party with twelve other people and could not have committed the crime. Hercule Poirot must exercise his little grey cells a great deal to solve this one. I thought this one quite clever.

4 stars