THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING
UK publication: 1960 (Collins)
US publication: (not published in the US)
Detective: Marple, Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A volume of 6 short stories, published in Britain only. 4 of the stories had already appeared in America, and the two new ones would do so in 1961 in Double Sin. Five of the stories star Poirot: The Under Dog (a long story in which Poirot correctly identifies the murderer of Sir Reuben Astwell, besting Inspector Miller; had previously appeared in the US in The Under Dog). The Dream (Poirot discoveres the murderer of millionaire Benedict Farley; a far-fetched story that had previously appeared in The Regatta Mystery). Four and Twenty Blackbirds (another Poirot story based on the nursery rhyme; had appeared in Three Blind Mice). The Mystery of the Spanish Chest (an expanded version of "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest", which appeared in The Regatta Mystery; in this version the story is told in the third person, with Hastings replaced by Miss Lemon). The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot reluctantly spends Christmas in an English country house, where he copes with an enormous Christmas dinner and a body in the snow; later published in the US as "Theft of the Royal Ruby" in Double Sin). The sixth story is a Miss Marple: Greenshaw's Folly (a bit unsatisfactory--there seems no rational method for Marple to arrive at her solution; this also published in Double Sin).
DOUBLE SIN
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1961 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Marple, Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 8 stories, four early ones and four from the 1950s. There are 4 Poirot stories and 2 with Miss Marple. Those not already published in the UK would later appear in Poirot's Early Cases or Miss Marple's Final Cases. The stories are: Double Sin (Poirot and Hastings travel across Devon to solve a problem for the agent Joseph Aarons, but find a theft from a passenger on the train equally interesting; an early story, in which Hastings is smitten by the young woman concerned). Wasps' Nest (an early story, without Hastings, in which Poirot solves a murder in the planning stage and prevents it from taking place) . The Theft of the Royal Ruby (a republication under a new title of "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", published in the volume of the same title in Britain). The Dressmaker's Doll (a supernatural tale with an effective non-conclusion). Greenshaw's Folly (Miss Marple; had also appeared in Adventure of the Christmas Pudding). The Double Clue (narrated by Hastings, in which Poirot first meets Countess Vera Rossakoff, who will impress him throughout his life). Sanctuary (set in Chipping Cleghorn, the locale of A Murder is Announced, with many of the same characters as well as Miss Marple). The Last Seance (a supernatural tale originally from The Hound of Death).
THE REGATTA MYSTERY
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1939 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Marple, Poirot, Pyne
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: 9 short stories, including 5 Poirot stories, one Miss Marple, and two featuring Parker Pyne. The volume was never published in the UK, but all of the stories have appeared there in other collections. Contents: The Regatta Mystery, in which Parker Pyne clears someone from suspicion of having stolen a diamond from a merchant, Isaac Pointz (the theft takes place during lunch at a restaurant overlooking the marina); this story also published in Thirteen for Luck. The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest, a Poirot mystery narrated by Hastings, later rewritten and expanded as "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. How Does Your Garden Grow, in which Poirot gains insight into a crime by remembering the nursery rhyme; also published in Poirot's Early Cases. Problem at Pollensa Bay, set on Majorca, where Parker Pyne solves a problem for a middle-aged English tourist; this story also published in Thirteen for Luck. Yellow Iris, a Poirot story which contains many plot elements repeated in the novel Sparkling Cyanide although Poirot himself does not appear there---and which contains his long-ago deportation from Argentina; also published in Problem at Pollensa Bay. Miss Marple Tells a Story, the only Marple mystery narrated by herself, also published in Miss Marple's Final Cases. The Dream, a far-fetched Poirot story, also published in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding; Poirot discovers the murderer of millionaire Benedict Farley. In a Glass Darkly, one of Christie's supernatural tales, which is quite out of place in this volume; it was also published (equally out of place) in Miss Marple's Final Cases. Problem at Sea, a Poirot story in which a passenger on an ocean liner is stabbed while the ship is docked at Alexandria; also published in Poirot's Early Cases. These two Parker Pyne stories are the only appearances by Mr. Pyne outside of the volume Parker Pyne Investigates. Note also that "The Regatta Mystery" and "Problem at Pollensa Bay" also exist as Poirot stories, in 1940s versions published as wartime pamphlets. These versions have not appeared in modern collections.
THIRTEEN FOR LUCK!
UK publication: 1966 (Collins)
US publication: 1961 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Marple, Poirot, Pyne, Quin, Tommy & Tuppence
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A republication "for younger readers" of 13 short stories, all of them previously published in the US, UK, or both. The stories are Accident (from The Listerdale Mystery); The Bird with the Broken Wing and The Face of Helen (from The Mysterious Mr. Quin); The Blue Geranium and The Four Suspects (from The Thirteen Problems); The Girdle of Hippolyta and The Nemean Lion (The Labours of Hercules); The Market Basing Mystery (The Under Dog); Problem at Pollensa Bay and The Regatta Mystery (The Regatta Mystery); The Tape-Measure Murder (Three Blind Mice); The Unbreakable Alibi (Partners in Crime); and The Veiled Lady (Poirot's Early Cases). They are taken variously from 9 different books and include 4 Poirot stories, 3 Miss Marple stories, 1 of Tommy & Tuppence, 2 of Parker Pyne, and 2 of Mr. Quin.
THREE BLIND MICE AND OTHER STORIES
Other titles: THE MOUSETRAP (in US reprint, Dodd, Mead, 1960)
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1950 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Marple, Poirot, Quin
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 9 stories published in America only, although 7 of the stories were later published in different collections in the UK. The longest story, Three Blind Mice, was later made into the hugely successful play "The Mousetrap" and was itself based on a 1947 radio play of the same name; it is a variation on the theme of the isolated party of which one is a killer. There are four Miss Marple stories, which later appeared in Miss Marple's Final Cases although she is not a particularly old woman here: Strange Jest (in which no crime is actually committed); Tape Measure Murder (Marple assists Colonel Melchett and Inspector Black); The Case of the Perfect Maid (the disliked Inspector Slack appears in one of Marple's best stories); and The Case of the Caretaker (a problem presented by Dr. Haydock). Poirot has three cases: The Third-Floor Flat; The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley (rather unbelievable); and Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Poirot takes an interest in others' eating habits). The last story is a reappearance of Harley Quin and his friend Mr. Satterthwaite, The Love Detectives.
MISS MARPLE'S FINAL CASES AND TWO
OTHER STORIES
UK publication: 1979 (Collins)
US publication: (not published in US)
Detective: Miss Marple
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A republication in the UK of 8 stories, all previously published in the US, including two that are not actually Miss Marple stories. They are not really her 'final' cases, since she is in mid-career in all of them. Titles: The Dressmaker's Doll and Sanctuary (from Double Sin); Strange Jest; Tape-Measure Murder; The Case of the Perfect Maid; The Case of the Caretaker (from Three Blind Mice); Miss Marple Tells a Story and In a Glass Darkly (from The Regatta Mystery).
THIRTEEN CLUES FOR MISS MARPLE
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1966 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Miss Marple
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A reshuffling of 13 short stories from previous Miss Marple collections. Titles: The Blue Geranium; The Thumbmark of St. Peter; The Bloodstained Pavement; The Companion; The Four Suspects; Motive v. Opportunity; The Herb of Death (all from The Thirteen Problems); Greenshaw's Folly; Sanctuary (both from Double Sin); The Case of the Caretaker; Strange Jest; Tape-Measure Murder; The Case of the Perfect Maid (all from Three Blind Mice).
THE GOLDEN BALL AND OTHER STORIES
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1971 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Other
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 15 short stories, published in the US only. All but 2 had previously appeared in the UK; those two were published there in 1991 (in Problem at Pollensa Bay). None of the stories star any recurring characters. Originally published in The Listerdale Mystery (1934): The Golden Ball; The Listerdale Mystery; The Girl in the Train; The Manhood of Edward Robinson; Jane in Search of a Job; A Fruitful Sunday; The Rajah's Emerald; Swan Song. Originally published in The Hound of Death (1933) and mainly stories of the supernatural: The Hound of Death; The Gypsy; The Lamp; The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael; The Call of Wings. The two new stories are neither crime stories nor mysteries. Magnolia Blossom is about a woman who has to choose between remaining loyal to her husband in his financial difficulties, or to her lover. Next to a Dog is a story about a young woman who contemplates desperate measures in order not to be parted from her wire-haired terrier.
THE HOUND OF DEATH
UK publication: 1933 (Odhams)
US publication: (not published in US)
Detective: Other
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: 12 short stories, some involving the supernatural world, and none starring any regular characters. Titles: The Hound of Death (reads like science fiction and involves a Belgian nun who apparently has extrasensory powers); The Red Signal (a crime story including genuine ESP, featuring the medium Mrs. Thompson); The Gypsy (also involving ESP); The Lamp (a ghost story); Wireless (appeared in the US as "Where There's a Will" in Witness for the Prosecution); The Call of Wings (a parable about the nature of art and power of music); The Fourth Man (dual personality); The Last Seance (a supernatural story); The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael; The Mystery of the Blue Jar; S.O.S.; and The Witness for the Prosecution (a crime story with a courtroom denouement, later to be expanded into a play with a different ending). This collection was not published in the US; the stories appeared spread throughout several different American collections.
THE LISTERDALE MYSTERY
UK publication: 1934 (Collins)
US publication: (not published in US)
Detective: Other
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: 12 short stories, of which only seven are crime stories, although there is deception in most of them. They are mostly light, even frivolous, and several times Christie allows romantic interests to develop, which she usually avoided in her novels. Titles: The Listerdale Mystery (a middle-aged couple are thrown together in the course of a charitable 'swindle' and fall in love); Sing a Song of Sixpence (the nursery rhyme is used to detect a crime); The Rajah's Emerald (the hero is named, coincidentally, James Bond); Accident (an ironic story about a murderer who is not caught); Philomel Cottage (a suspense story); Mr. Eastwood's Adventure (a young writer, Anthony Eastwood, is caught up in a crime while attempting to write a murder mystery); Swan Song (an opera tenor dies in earnest during his death scene in a performance of Tosca); A Fruitful Sunday; The Girl in the Train; The Golden Ball; Jane in Search of a Job; The Manhood of Edward Robinson. [In the US, "Accident" and "Philomel Cottage" were eventually published in Witness for the Prosecution, "Mr. Eastwood's Adventure" was published as "The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl" in Surprise! Surprise!, and 8 others are included in The Golden Ball. "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is unpublished in the US.]
PARKER PYNE INVESTIGATES
US title: MR. PARKER PYNE, DETECTIVE
UK publication: 1934 (Collins)
US publication: 1934 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Parker Pyne
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: 12 short stories, the only Christie work to feature Parker Pyne, who says he is not a detective but a "heart specialist", a consultant to those who are unhappy. In the first six cases, the unhappy come to his small London office, where he uses his experience in a Government statistics office to solve their problems, some of which lead to the uncovering of crimes. (His secretary is Felicity Lemon, later to work for Poirot; he has several other part-time helpers.) In the second set of six, he is on holiday and reluctant to accept problems, but finds himself acting as advisor or investigator when odd things happen or crimes are revealed. The settings are mainly in the Middle East, which Christie knew well by this time. Titles: The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife (Pyne's "lounge-lizard" employee Claude Luttrell is used to make a straying husband jealous of his wife); The Case of the Discontented Soldier (introduces Mrs. Ariadne Oliver, detective novelist, who will reappear in seven novels-- she presents Pyne with a plot); The Case of the Distressed Lady (about the theft of an emerald ring--two of his helpers pose as exhibition dancers); The Case of the Discontented Husband; The Case of the Rich Woman; The Case of the City Clerk; The Pearl of Price (set in Petra); The House at Shiraz (set in Shiraz); Death on the Nile (a crime story, not to be confused with the novel of the same name); The Gate of Baghdad (set there); Have You Got Everything You Want? (set on the Orient Express train); The Oracle at Delphi (set there).
THE LABOURS OF HERCULES
UK publication: 1947 (Collins)
US publication: 1947 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: Poirot is contemplating retirement and is persuaded, from an idea by his friend Dr. Burton, to take on only 12 more cases, chosen to correspond to the classical labors of Hercules, his namesake. His efficient secretary, Miss Lemon, researches the classics for him. The story titles are the same as the myths: The Nemean Lion (the kidnapping of a 'lion-hearted' Pekingese dog); The Lernean Hydra (Poirot solves a murder to suppress the many-headed tongues of rumor and gossip); The Arcadian Deer (Poirot acts as matchmaker to unite a 'Greek God' with his sweetheart); The Erymanthian Boar (the capture of a violent gang-leader in the Swiss Alps); The Augean Stables (Poirot averts a political scandal by creating a false scandal of his own); The Stymphalean Birds (the 'birds' are two beak-nosed women in Herzoslovakia); The Cretan Bull (the connection between myth and story is unclear); The Horses of Diomedes (Poirot equates the flesh-eating horses of the myth with beasts who symbolically feed on humanity); The Girdle of Hyppolita (a stolen Rubens painting, Inspector Japp appears, and a schoolgirl is missing); The Flock of Geryon (the 'monster' is Dr. Anderson, leader of a religious sect, and Poirot investigates him at the instigation of Miss Carnaby, also in the first story); The Apples of the Hesperides (a missing renaissance goblet, with jeweled apples in its design); The Capture of Cerberus (Poirot descends into 'Hell', actually a London nightclub guarded by a dog named Cerberus, to foil a drug ring and meet Countess Vera Rossakoff again).
MURDER IN THE MEWS
US title: DEAD MAN'S MIRROR
Other titles: THE INCREDIBLE THEFT (in a US 1940s reprint
with only 3 stories)
US publication: 1937 (Collins)
US publication: 1937 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: Only four stories appear in this volume, all of them much longer than the average Christie short story. The English title story, Murder in the Mews, is novella-length and finds Poirot and Inspector Japp collaborating (more closely than usual) to solve a murder disguised as a suicide in a mews house in Mayfair, which they stumble across after dining out together. Dead Man's Mirror, used as the title of the American edition, is also very long, and is an expanded version of "The Second Gong", written earlier but unpublished at the time. Here, Mr. Satterthwaite (of the Harley Quin stories and Three-Act Tragedy) is among the characters. The story is an example of the body-in-the-library genre, complete with plan of study and hall, and Poirot measuring footprints in the wet grass. The Incredible Theft does not appear in the American edition (and is still unpublished in the US); it is an expanded version of "The Submarine Plans", also written earlier and published much later. The stolen plans are now those of a bomber, and Poirot recovers them with ingenuity. The fourth story, Triangle at Rhodes, is shortest, and reaches beyond the murder-mystery genre; the title refers, in fact, to a love triangle among English tourists.
POIROT'S EARLY CASES
US title: HERCULE POIROT'S EARLY CASES
UK publication: 1974 (Collins)
US publication: 1974 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: Christie was now so frail that her publishers doubted whether she could complete another novel; in its place, they reissued 18 short stories about Poirot, 14 narrated by Hastings, which had been originally published between 1923 and 1936. Most had not been collected in the UK, but all had appeared in the US. Titles: The Lost Mine (narrated by Poirot to Hastings); The Chocolate Box (Poirot's only 'failure'); The Veiled Lady (these three from the US edition of Poirot Investigates); How Does Your Garden Grow and Problem at Sea (from The Regatta Mystery; neither with Hastings); The Third-Floor Flat and The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley (from Three Blind Mice); Double Sin; The Double Clue; Wasps' Nest (from Double Sin); The Market Basing Mystery; The Lemesurier Inheritance; The Cornish Mystery; The Adventure of the Clapham Cook; The King of Clubs; The Submarine Plans; The Plymouth Express; The Affair at the Victory Ball (all from The Under Dog). "The Market Basing Mystery" and "The Veiled Lady" had been published in Britain in 1966 in Thirteen for Luck.
SURPRISE! SURPRISE!
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1965 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Poirot, Marple, Pyne, Quin, others
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A reshuffling of 13 short stories that had already appeared in earlier volumes. 6 star Poirot, Miss Marple has 2, Harley Quin and Parker Pyne have one each, and three have no regular characters. The Poirot stories are: The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley; The Third Floor Flat (both from Three Blind Mice); The Cornish Mystery; The Plymouth Express (both from The Under Dog); Double Sin (from Double Sin); The Arcadian Deer (from The Labours of Hercules). The Miss Marple stories are The Case of the Perfect Maid (from Three Blind Mice) and Greenshaw's Folly (from Double Sin and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding). The Harley Quin story: At the Bells and Motley (from The Mysterious Mr. Quin); the Parker Pyne story: The Case of the Distressed Lady (from Parker Pyne Investigates). The last three are: The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl (a retitling of "Mr. Eastwood's Adventure" from The Listerdale Mystery); Where There's a Will; The Witness for the Prosecution (both from Witness for the Prosecution and The Hound of Death).
THE UNDER DOG AND OTHER STORIES
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1951 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 9 Poirot stories published only in the US; all of the stories were later reprinted in the UK in Poirot's Early Cases or The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. ("The Under Dog" was also published by itself in Britain, in pamphlet form, in 1929.) Three of the stories involve Inspector Japp, and a number are narrated by Hastings. Most of them had been written by Christie much earlier. The stories: The Under Dog (Poirot correctly identifies the murderer of Sir Reuben Astwell, besting Inspector Miller); The Plymouth Express (part of the plot was used in The Mystery of the Blue Train); The Affair at the Victory Ball (another use of the characters of Harlequin and Columbine); The King of Clubs (Poirot is of service to Prince Paul of Maurania); The Submarine Plans (later expanded into the story "The Incredible Theft", in Murder in the Mews); The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (Poirot ventures into a lower-class setting); The Lemesurier Inheritance (a very good story); The Market Basing Mystery; The Cornish Mystery.
THE WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
AND OTHER STORIES
UK publication: (not published in UK)
US publication: 1948 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Poirot, others
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A republication, in America only, of 9 stories, 8 of which had previously appeared in other collections in Britain. From The Hound of Death: The Witness for the Prosecution, The Red Signal, The Fourth Man, SOS, Where There's a Will (called "Wireless" in the UK), and The Mystery of the Blue Jar. From The Listerdale Mystery: Philomel Cottage and Accident. The remaining story is The Second Gong, a shorter version with a different ending of the novella "Dead Man's Mirror", which appeared in Murder in the Mews; in its short form, it has not been published in the UK.
THE THIRTEEN PROBLEMS
US title: THE TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS
Other titles: Reprinted as MISS MARPLE AND THE THIRTEEN
PROBLEMS (Penguin, 1953); also reprinted in part as THE BLUE GERANIUM
AND OTHER TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS (Bantam, 1940).
UK publication: 1932 (Collins)
US publication: 1933 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Miss Marple
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A series of 13 short stories featuring Miss Marple. In the first 6 stories, Miss Marple and her dinner guests (Raymond West, her nephew, and his fiancee; Joyce Lempriere, an artist; Dr. Pender, the vicar of St. Mary Mead; Mr. Petherick, a solicitor; and Miss Marple's friend, Sir Henry Clithering, retired from Scotland Yard) form the Tuesday Club, which meets every Tuesday night; at each meeting, a different member propounds a mystery of which they have personal knowledge, and the others do their best to solve it. In the second set of 6, the formula is repeated at the country house of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry (the guests being Sir Henry, Dr. Haydock, a famous actress, and Miss Marple). A separate story, in which Sir Henry Clithering visits St. Mary Mead to stay with the Bantrys and is drawn into a local crime investigation, was added for publication. Miss Marple, naturally, solves every problem, never rising from her chair until the last story (set, unusually, among the working-class). Titles: The Affair at the Bungalow; The Blood-stained Pavement; The Blue Geranium; A Christmas Tragedy; The Companion; Death by Drowning; The Four Suspects; The Herb of Death; The Idol House of Astarte; Ingots of Gold; Motive vs. Opportunity; The Thumb Mark of St. Peter; The Tuesday Night Club.
THE MYSTERIOUS MR. QUIN
UK publication: 1930 (Collins)
US publication: 1930 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Other
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: Twelve short stories featuring Mr. Harley Quin, a possibly supernatural personage who is the "friend of lovers" and appears when a crime which threatens lovers' happiness is committed. Usually, he works through his intermediary, the aged, bent and "dried-up" Mr. Satterthwaite. Satterthwaite meets Quin, seemingly by chance, at a handful of different (and appropriate) venues, and and travels at Quin's request to as far away as Banff to assist lovers in need. Quite different from most Christie stories, these were considered something special by Christie herself, who refused to write them unless she felt like it. Titles: The Coming of Mr. Quin; At the 'Bells and Motley'; The Bird with the Broken Wing; The Dead Harlequin; The Face of Helen; Harlequin's Lane; The Man from the Sea; The Shadow on the Glass; The Sign in the Sky; The Soul of the Croupier; The Voice in the Dark; The World's End.
POIROT INVESTIGATES
UK publication: 1924 (Bodley Head)
US publication: 1925 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Hercule Poirot
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: Short stories starring Poirot, originally serialized in the weekly paper The Sketch (London). The British edition contains 11 stories, while there are 14 in the American. The 11 are: The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman (includes Inspector Japp); The Case of the Missing Will (a young woman seeks out Poirot); The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb (deaths of a number of people involved in the opening of a Tutankhamun-like tomb); The Kidnapped Prime Minister (set partly in France); The Adventure of the Western Star; The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor; The Adventure of the Cheap Flat; The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge; The Million Dollar Bond Robbery; The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan; The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim. In the American edition, additionally: The Lost Mine; The Chocolate Box; The Veiled Lady . (The 3 American stories were eventually published in England in Poirot's Early Cases).
PARTNERS IN CRIME
Other titles: THE SUNNINGDALE MYSTERY (in UK reprint of 2nd
half only, Collins, 1933)
UK publication: 1929 (Collins)
US publication: 1929 (Dodd, Mead)
Detective: Tommy & Tuppence Beresford
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 17 short stories starring the now-married Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, who (finding life dull) jump at the chance to run a dubious detective agency for six months on assignment from the Secret Service, joined by Albert, the erstwhile lift operator of The Secret Adversary, who is now their officeboy. Tommy adopts the character and methods of a different fictional detective for each case, giving Christie the opportunity to parody such authors as Richard Freeman, Edgar Wallace, G. K. Chesterton, Conan Doyle, H. C. Bailey, and finally herself (in a satire of Poirot). Apart from the parodies, Tommy and Tuppence are rather unmemorable in this book. Story titles: The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger; The Affair of the Pink Pearl; The Ambassador's Boots; Blindman's Buff; The Case of the Missing Lady; The Clergyman's Daughter; The Crackler; A Fairy in the Flat; Finessing the King; The Gentleman Dressed in Newspaper; The House of Lurking Death; The Man in the Mist; The Man Who Was No. 16; A Pot of Tea; The Red House; The Sunningdale Mystery; The Unbreakable Alibi.
PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY AND OTHER STORIES
UK publication: 1991 (HarperCollins, limited edition), 2003 (paperback)
US publication: (not published in US)
Detective: Quin, Poirot, Pyne, others
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection for British publication, mainly of stories previously collected only in the US. The titles are: Problem at Pollensa Bay (Parker Pyne, from The Regatta Mystery); The Second Gong (Poirot, from Witness for the Prosecution; an earlier version of "Dead Man's Mirror" from Murder in the Mews); Yellow Iris (Poirot, from The Regatta Mystery); The Harlequin Tea Set (a magazine story from 1971 with Harley Quin--later appeared in US in The Harlequin Tea Set); The Regatta Mystery (Parker Pyne, from The Regatta Mystery); The Love Detectives (Harley Quin, from Three Blind Mice), Next to a Dog and Magnolia Blossom (no series character, both from The Golden Ball).
WHILE THE LIGHT LASTS AND OTHER STORIES
US Title: THE HARLEQUIN TEA SET AND OTHER STORIES
UK publication: 1997 (HarperCollins)
US publication: 1997 (E. P. Dutton)
Detective: Quin, Poirot, others
Genre: Short stories
Plot summary and comments: A collection of 9 recently unearthed short stories, published mostly in the 1920s in magazines but (with one exception) never collected in book form. Readers have found the quality uneven. Two stories are different in the US and UK editions. Titles in the US version: The Edge (from 1927-- the relationship between a man, his new wife, and his childhood sweetheart); The Actress (from 1923-- a blackmailer is outwitted); While the Light Lasts (1923; meditation on marrying for love vs. money, set in South Africa); The House of Dreams (1926; thriller/fantasy, on the old premise of a man falling in love with a vaguely ominous woman); The Lonely God (1926; about a small idol in the British Museum); Manx Gold (1930; involving a hidden legacy and written to support a real-life treasure hunt on the Isle of Man as a tourism gimmick); Within a Wall (1925; the wife of a genius painter has unscrupulous plans); The Mystery of the Spanish Chest (Poirot; a rewritten and expanded version of "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest", in The Regatta Mystery, with Hastings replaced by Miss Lemon; in expanded form it previously appeared in UK only in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding); The Harlequin Tea Set (1971; Harley Quin and Mr. Satterthwaite are reunited 40 years after their last meeting). In the UK edition, "Harlequin Tea Set" and "Mystery of the Spanish Chest" are removed and replaced with The Christmas Adventure, apparently a retitling of "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" (originally published in UK in the Poirot collection of the same name, 1960), and The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest, an alternate version as discussed above and previonsly published only in the US (in The Regatta Mystery, 1939). "Harlequin Tea Set" was published in UK in Problem at Pollensa Bay (1991).