Product Description
Agatha Christie is more than the most popular mystery writer of all time. In a career that spans over half a century, her name is synonymous with brilliant deception, ingenious puzzles, and the surprise denouement. By virtually inventing the modern mystery novel she has earned her title as the Queen of Crime. Curious? Then you're invited to read...THE SITTAFORD MYSTERYM-U-R-D-E-R. It began as an innocent parlor game intended to while away the hours on a bitter winter night.But the message that appeared before the amateur occultists at the snowbound Sittaford House was spelled out as loud and clear as a scream. Of course, the notion that they had foretold doom was pure bunk. Wasn't it? And the discovery of a corpse was pure coincidence. Wasn't it? If they're to discover the answer to this baffling murder, perhaps they should play again. But a journey into the spirit world could prove terribly dangerous-especially when the killer is lurking in this one.AUTHORBIO: AGATHA CHRISTIE is the world's best known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in 44 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her writing career spanned more than half a century, during which she wrote 80 novels and short story collections, as well as 14 plays, one of which, The Mousetrap, is the longest-running play in history. Agatha Christie also wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. As well, she wrote four non-fiction books including an autobiography and an entertaining account of the many expeditions she shared with her archaeologist husband, Sir Max Mallowan. Agatha Christie died in 1976. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Mayhem in the snows of Dartmoor
Agatha Christie definitely owns the lion's share of the mystery market. Another classic style murder mystery set in the tundra of England's Dartmoor district.

The plot begins with a fun type "table turning" which begins with humor but ends with an ominous message that someone has been murdered. Discovery of a dead body belonging to one of the small town's most stalwart figures starts an investigation that brings many colorful characters into play. The snowy, blustery backdrop of Dartmoor adds a somewhat quaint yet foreboding aspect to a story that would transfer to theater with little adaptation.

Agatha Christie's books always abound with multi-layered characters who support the protagonists through who we learn about the settings, the local lore, the local mindset and it all serves as a rich reading experience that we can enjoy and escape into.

The plot thickens as the newspapers have now learned of the murder and its questionable circumstances. There is already a man in jail charged with the murder yet, the police and the detective who put him there question his guilt. The plot twists and turns and runs into dead ends as the girlfriend of the incarcerated man attempts, with the help of a journalist, to get to the bottom of the affair.

As all good murder mysteries, the end involves the throwing open of a door into a room full of potential suspects with the announcement, "Inspector arrest that man". It's all classically quaint in it's tidiness and you almost want to stand and applaud as the motive and execution of the murder are explained to a room full of shocked listeners.

Great stuff that only the mind of Ms. Christie could produce. It's a fast read but you can lose yourself in it while you sip tea and eat a scone.

A woefully neglected but quite worthy Christie novel
As others have noted, one must return to Agatha frome time to time.She of course is inarguably the most important influence in mystery fiction after Arthur Conan Doyle.She created a style that's been followed most notably by P.D. James and Ruth Rendell.This is a lesser known novel of hers with none of her well known characters, but nontheless is Christie at the top of her game playing form.

On a Snowy Evening
"The Sittaford Mystery", also known as "The Murder at Hazelmoor" for its U.S. publication, takes place in Christie's native Devon.The setting is a desolate, small village during winter when a heavy snowstorm has dumped ten inches of snow on the area - the perfect time for a perfect murder."The Sittaford Mystery" does not feature either of Christie's sleuths, Poirot or Miss Marple, but rather a team of amateur investigators intent on solving the crime.

Captain Trevelyan has rented out his house in Sittaford to the mysterious Mrs. Willett and her daughter Violet, who have supposedly been in South Africa.Everyone in the village is eager to learn more about them and what possible connection, if any, they had to Captain Trevelyan, a noted woman hater.At a house party one snowy Friday night, the party tries table turning, a purported psychic phenomenon.Yet the playing becomes serious when the "psychic" presence alerts them that Captain Trevelyan is dead, in fact that he has been murdered.His best friend, Major Burnaby walks the six miles into Exhampton to check on his friend, only to discover the truth behind the game.All signs immediately point to the captain's nephew, Jim Pearson, who just happened to be in town that night and left the next morning before anyone could see or question him.His fiancee, Emily Trefusis, knows that Jim is innocent and sets out to solve the murder of her own accord.Inspector Narracott of the local police is less and less convinced that young Pearson is guilty and allows Emily to search as she does.Along with those two, a young reporter, Charles Enderby, who happened to be in the right place at the right time, aids in the investigation.Since everyone at Sittaford House is in the clear, who killed Captain Trevelyan?Or is there a more logical explanation behind this so-called psychic phenomenon?

"The Sittaford Mystery" is a fast-paced, entertaining mystery that will leave readers guessing until the end, although there are a few strong, true clues sprinkled in with all the red herrings that Christie threw in.The three detectives are all likable characters and there is no disjointed feeling despite the fact that the story is narrated by different characters at different times.All of the clues and misdirection lead to an outcome that is given ample resolution at the end, with every strange occurence receiving explanation."The Sittaford Mystery" is a typical Christie whodunit with the small circle of suspects and wily, atypical detectives who leave no stone unturned.

A New Christie Favorite!
This was one of the first books I purchased for my new Kindle. And I'm so GLAD I did!I am a huge Agatha Christie fan and this one measured up fabulously.
I LOVED every minute of reading this and was sorry when it came to an end.
I highly recommend it!

That Classic Christie Atmosphere
A murder in a tiny Dartmoor village in the dead of winter sets the stage for this classic Christie whodunit. Several had a motive, few had an opportunity. The most likely suspect is quickly imprisoned, but his fiance remains unsatisfied with the law's conclusions. Determined to clear James Pearson's name, Emily Trefusis sets off with intrepid newspaper reporter Charles Enderby to seek out the circumstances of Major Treveylan's murder. As with all of Christie's books, we get plenty of atmosphere as the plot unfolds in the Dartmoor countryside. Here we see the deepest depths of winter. This novel has all of the elements of a juicy, quick read. The plot and suspense build as we follow Emily on her quest for answers. This is classic Christie- a bit of brain-fluff, for sure, but engaging and well-written. ... Read more

Product Description
The most beloved characters by the most popular crime writer of all timetogether in her largest compendium of stories everAgatha Christie is the worlds most popular writer in modern times and her books have only been outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. Best remembered for such classic crime novels as Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None, and Death on the Nile, her works have been cherished by generations of readers. Christie, however, was also a master of the shorter crime story and this volume collects some of her finest short pieces. Each of these thirty-nine stories features one of Christies famous detectivesMiss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Parker Pyne, and Harley Quinin some of their most baffling and intriguing cases, as these ingenious Christie tales show how satisfying and compelling the crime short story can be. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A Good Read
I gave this book to my wife as a gift. She never put it down. She loved the short stories. She would read a story or two before going to bed. I would recommend this book.

Alot of bang for the buck!
This was a great collection of my favorite authors writings; I enjoyed reading it immensely.I daresay, next year, I will enjoy the rereading of it as much.

Masterpieces in Miniature:Stories: Agatha Christie
How can you go wrong with anything written by Agatha Christie??I loved all of the short stories - I wish there had been more of Poirot and Miss Marple - but I enjoyed meeting Parker Pyne.Amazon customer service and delivery OUTSTANDING as usual.

Cozy Mysteries
The book was delivered quickly and in excellent condition. The stories are perfect for a cozy evening read.

simply the best
Agatha Christie's stories are fun, personable, & easy to read.I love all of her characters & have not read a "bad" one yet. ... Read more

Product Description
It was an open and shut case. All the evidence said Caroline Crale poisoned her philandering husband, a brilliant painter. She was quickly and easily convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Customer Reviews (3)

As usual this book from Agatha Christie is very engaging and nice to read. Highly recommended!!!!
As usual this book from Agatha Christie is very engaging and nice to read. Highly recommended for those love crime stories.

A Little Slow, But A Nice Deduction by Poirot
I have always been a bit torn over this book. The underlying plot and the solution and reasoning the Poirot comes up with is rather fascinating, but the retrospective format of the book makes it a tough read at times. I am a Christie fan, but this is certainly not one of her better books.

In this book Poirot is engaged by a young lady whose mother was convicted of murdering her father some years ago. The child grew up with relatives, and was too young to remember the incident at the time. When she comes of age, she finds out the "truth" and wants Poirot to clear her mothers name before she gets married. The reminder of the book is mostly composed of either written accounts of the murder, or interviews with the principal characters. The problem is that much of the information is almost given twice, in that Poirot interviews the subjects, and then has them provide a written account. The book moves slowly, and is really not very interesting even when Christie throws out some obvious clues. The one thing about this book is that the mystery is very solvable by the reader. I head guessed at least some of the major points before the classic Poirot wrap-up. I did, however, still find the final solution interesting and Poirot's reasoning interesting as well.

Overall, not a great Poirot book, but not a waste of time!

A lesser entry in the Poirot canon
Five Little Pigs follows Hercule Poirot as he tries to solve a murder from sixteen years in the past.A young woman comes to him and tells him the story of her parents.It seems that her mother was convicted of the murder of her father and died in prison a year later.The young lady was just a little girl at the time but she strongly believes that her mother was innocent and wants Poirot to prove it.Poirot then approaches the five key witnesses one at a time and interviews them about the events surrounding the murder to piece together what happened.

In some respects, this is a very typical Poirot novel.The murder occurs at an estate, there are a relative handful of people who could have done it, etc.But Christies attempted a major change in structure by setting the murder sixteen years in the past.I wish I could say that this was more effective but there were some very negative ramifications of this choice.First, readers must read descriptions of the same events, almost word for word, several times over as Poirot hears from each witness in turn.These conversations and events are not sufficiently fascinating to make this enjoyable.Second, in many of these interviews, there is a definite detachment to the narrative due to the amount of time that has passed.Despite the tempestuous nature of the husband/wife relationship this makes for a story that has no real emotional core.Third, a lot of the natural interplay between characters is lost and the worst casualty in this regard in Poirot himself.I always love his little observations and interjections during a case.These often come in moments of high tension and his humor is all the more effective at those times.But in these formal interviews, most of the opportunities for his little asides are lost and what is here lacks the usual bite.

Overall, I didn't find Five Little Pigs to be one of Agatha Christie's better efforts.The decision to place the murder sixteen years in the past was an interesting one but it robbed the story of a lot of its impact.This book also sports one of her weaker casts.The two most interesting characters (the victim and murderess) are present only in narrative provided by others and lose a great deal of their vitality in the process.Granted, this is not Christie's worst novel and it is still an adequate read.But I would recommend this book to true fans and not to first time readers.Hercule Poirot appeared in some truly great novels, but this is not one of them. ... Read more

Product Description
The unifying premise for this short story collection is the Tuesday Club: six people who meet socially one evening at Jane Marple's home and then decide to meet regularly each Tuesday night to solve a mystery which a group member must relate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

duplicate title
The book was good for what I bought if for--to read on the plane-- though not as good as Agatha Christies'regular mystery books.I do not usually like short stores, but since I am such an Agatha Chrisitie fan I thought I would make an exception.The book was okay but not as good as her regular books.This is for someone who does not want to invest a lot of time in reading a good mystery.The down side is that this is the same book as "the Thirteen Problems" also by Agatha Christie.I did not know that and bought both of them at the same time.If there are duplicate books with the same name I feel the customer should be told this by Amazon. I am not sure why one book should have two names.I should have returned one of these but thought it would be too much trouble since I had never had to return anything else I had purchased.I will keep it as a gift for someone later on.

Thirteen entertaining evenings with Miss Marple
Exactly what is a "Brigand Chief"?Make sure you know before reading this collection of short stories by the mistress of mayhem.The Tuesday Club is a casually executed frame story for a series of pithy little mysteries recounted by various persons at informal social gatherings.Among the guests is the highly respected Sir Henry Clithering (formerly of Scotland Yard) and the inconspicuous Miss Marple, whose long years living in the small town of St. Mary Mead have given her ample opportunity to study human nature in its most sordid details.Over the course of 13 evenings, various members of the cultural elite pose their problems for the group's analysis, and time and again, it is the quiet, unassuming old maid who cuts to the very heart of the problem.

This reviewer found this slim volume extremely entertaining, but modern American readers should not be surprised to find these mysteries too tough to crack.Differences in time, place and culture too often leave gaps in our understanding that swallow up the subtle details that the mystery too often hinges on.For example, how many of us know what kind of food the "hundreds and thousands" might be served on, even once we've figured out what "banting" is?Still, Christie's ingenuity, pat characterizations and easy prose make for fine entertainment for fans of the armchair detective genre.

Tuesday Club Murders - Christie
Book arrived in good shape and on time.Thank you or a fun read!

The Tuesday Club Murders

Agatha Christie Audio CD (BOOKS ON TAPE) are absolutely wonderful . I have purchased all of mine from Amazon.com and will be purchasing more in the future from Amazon. Her Mysteries of Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot and other characters are absolutely wonderful . When listning on CD with head-phones on and your eyes closed you start an unbelievable journey every time . If you love Great Mysteries you have to try these , you'll love every exciting minute of these("SITTING ON THE EDGE OF YOUR CHAIR") stories ! If you want the best price , look no furter than Amazon.com as they have the best prices I have ever seen on these wonderful CD series . You can buy with Confidence and Trust from Amazon , there the Best. Sincerely, Pat Simmons

short Marple-big enjoyment
The Tuesday Club Murders is a group of mysteries discussed once a week by Miss Marple and her friends. Each chapter has a new twist to unravel. A clever idea that proves that even every day people have experiences to share that may or may not have an explanation. Easy reading that keeps the reader interested.This book is a little different Marple, but nonetheless is worth it. I liked it very much. ... Read more

Product Description
Stricken with arthritis, Miss Jane Marple has packed herself off, at the insistence of her nephew, for some rest and relaxation at a resort in the Caribbean. The sea is sublime and the weather is fine in this quiet paradise so far away from bustling St. Mary Mead. But suddenly the calm is interrupted by the death of Major Palgrave, one of her fellow guests at the hotel.

Customer Reviews (3)

Marple Triumphs Again!
A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie
Black Dog & Leventhal, 1964
221 pages
Miss Marple Mystery
4/5 stars

Source: Bought

Summary: Major Palgrave is a typical retired army Britisher who know spends his time sharing the stories of his life.One day in the Caribbean, he is about to share a photo of a murderer with Miss Marple but he suddenly hides it.The next day he is dead.She realizes that something is going on and that she may be the perfect person to solve who did it.

Thoughts: I thought this was a pretty good Marple.Again she is underestimated by most of the people around her because she is an elderly woman who blathers.But they are wrong of course and she does figure it all out.It was very interesting to see the part that rumors played in this novel as they serve to confuse the characters and the reader.

The characters are very colorful: Major Palgrave, Mr Rafiel, the Kendalls, the Prescotts, the Dysons, and the Hillingdons, among others.Rafiel proves to be an important ally to Miss Marple as they are both on the ball in hunting down the killer before s/he can strike again.Molly Kendall seemed like such a sweet lady and she was probably one of my favorites.

I did not figure out the murderer but I did figure out part of the mystery (I also did not like that that person was the murderer because I liked him/her).SPOILER: I guessed that Molly was being gaslighted and she was! END SPOILER

Overall: Fun story although not her best.

Cover: I love the purple!

Agatha Christie fan
I am a Agatha Christie fan and I am starting to replace books lost years ago in a flood.

Ok late Miss Marple Mystery
This novel was written late in Agatha Christie's career when she was already well into her seventies.So, not too surprisingly, it's not as good as the novels written during her prime from the late 1920s through the mid-1940s.The book is a little short, at about 220 pages and somewhat sketchily written.Christie was never a great one for extensive descriptions of her settings, but here she dispenses with description almost completely.The novel is set at a Caribbean resort, but I never had a clear idea of what the resort was like because she doesn't bother to provide much description.The mystery is decent, but not exceptional, and the herrings are a little too red.There are too many suspects with more or less the same potential motive.Anyone who has not yet read all the Christie's from her classic period should read those books before this one.Anyone who is close to completing the Christie cannon will probably find this one at least mildly enjoyable.I will say I love these Black Dog editions, which at less than $10 on Amazon are a great bargain. ... Read more

Product Description
Bound for the Riviera, detective Hercule Poirot has boarded Le Train Bleu, an elegant, leisurely means of travel, free of intrigue. Then he meets Ruth Kettering. The American heiress—bailing out of a doomed marriage—is en route to reconcile with her former lover. But by morning, her private affairs are made public when she is found murdered in her luxury compartment. The rumour of a strange man loitering in the victim's shadow is all Poirot has to go on. Until Mrs. Kettering's secret life begins to unfold... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

As good as she gets
This is Agatha Christie at her best, in my opinion. Predictably unpredictable, but with truly engaging, albeit somewhat naive, characters.Suspense is built up slowly but steadily, and with clever surprises in story development and character resolution.Add to this John Moffatt, who is simply the best narrator of audio on her works. Can't give away the store, but of course a good mystery might include stunning rubies, a blue train, furs, hidden faces, random observers, an adoring father.Just had a lovely time with this one and think others will too.

The Mystery of the Blue Train is solved by Hecule Poirot the Belgian Detective Genius
The Mystery of the Blue Train was published in 1928. The brilliant Queen of Crime Agatha Christie(1890-1977) was in her sleuthing prime! The story is easy to read in a day and is a true Christie page turner.
The novel occurs on the speeding Blue Train which is the Calais-Paris-Nice Express whisking well heeled folks on their way to a fun-filled winter in the paradise of the French Riviera. The plot involves the theft of the pricless Heart of Fire necklace and the murder of the adultery minded Katherine Kettering. She is seeking divorce from her playboy money worshipping cad of a husband . Her father the millionaire Rufus Van Allen has given her the necklace as a gift. Ruth is murdered by stragulation on the Blue Train; Hercule Poirot is there to assist French police in the solving of the crime. Katherine Grey also assists in unmasking the murderer. Katherine is an attractive woman who has inherited a fortune from an old lady she had served as an aide while living in St Mary Mead.
The book reads quickly and is filled with fascinating characters such as:
Comte Armand De La Roche-the lover of Katherine Kettering.
Derek Kettering-the husband of Katherine and a man infatuated with lovely ladies. He seeks to end his affair with
Mirelle his exotic French mistress by falling in love with Katherine Grey.
Demetrius Papopolous and his daughter Zia who deal in diamonds and have known Poiret for seventeen years.
Ada Beatrice Mason: Lady's maid for Katherine Kettering who gets off the train in Paris.
Major Richard Knighton-Assistant to Rufus Van Aldin. He is a wounded World War I soldier and is love with Katherine Grey.
Rosalie Tamplin-A rich Englishwoman living in France who is related to Katherine Grey
The Marquis-The mysterious jewel thief and master of crime!
Who is the murderer? Follow the trail through the clues and watch Poirot solve the problem!

I Agree With Joseph Boone's Review...
However I'm giving Blue Train an extra star because it started out really well and I enjoyed the settings as well as the time period. Travel was so elegant in the 1920s, if you could afford it. Between the first half of the novel and the end, I felt the plot got uncharacterically muddled (for Christie), with a lot of rushing here and there by Poirot and convoluted red herrings. I thought this novel was less "fair play" than most of A.G.'s others, the reader being purposefully misled about one character in particular. I wasn't totally satisfied with the story's resolution, either on the mystery front or on the romantic front. Miss Grey was an interesting member of the cast, but didn't add much to the actual mystery. I did enjoy the little Belgian detective, but possibly some pruning of extraneous scenes would have improved the read.
I should add that 3 stars for Agatha = 4 stars for most other mysteries. She is pretty unbeatable.

An entertaining mystery!
Even though this isn't my favorite A.C. book, it definitely is worth reading. Her characters and plot twists are so engaging that any mystery fan will be hooked right up to the end.

not the best, certainly not the worst, but duly entertaining
I've been working my way through the Hercule Poirot books (in publication order), and one element that I appreciate is that Christie avoids a formulaic set-up.Sometimes Poirot is accompanied by his friend Hastings (Mysterious Affair at Styles), sometimes by a local person (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd), sometimes he solves the case from his armchair (one of the stories in Poirot Investigates), and sometimes he acts like 007 (the not-very-good The Big Four).

In this novel, Poirot doesn't appear until the second third of the book.The first third lays out a variety of distinctive storylines that only come together on the titular Blue Train.Something bad happens.Poirot brings his A game.Red herrings abound.A great travel read.(I read it on a trip to Brazil: it got me through five days.)

Note on potentially offensive content: Murder as entertainment and vanity. ... Read more

Product Description
You are cordially invited to a murder. A personal ad in the newspaper inviting strangers to participate in an evening of murder mystery fun and games at the home of Letitia Blacklock is an invitation that Miss Jane Marple cannot pass up. A good thing, too, because when the lights are dimmed real gunshots ring out, killing a young boy. Now it’s time for a new, much more serious game of “whodunit.” ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

"Friends, Please Accept this, the Only Intimation..."
This was the third book of Agatha Christie's that I read, and the one that cemented my opinion of her as an utterly ingenious storyteller. "A Murder is Announced" is a book that I can come back to again and again, noticing something different each time, and marveling at the amount of foreshadowing and carefully-placed clues that have been strewn throughout the narrative, so obvious in hindsight, yet so carefully woven into the story that it takes a keen eye to pick up on them.

The residents of Chipping Cleghorn are astonished at an advertisement placed in their local paper, claiming that a murder is to take place in the home of Miss Letitia Blacklock that night. Even more strangely, Miss Blacklock is as baffled at the appearance of the announcement as the rest of them. The other residents of the house (a childhood friend, two distant relatives, a refugee and a somewhat mysterious boarder) all claim innocence, and so it is a rather bemused gathered in the drawing room once her neighbours converge on Little Paddocks for what they assume is a murder-mystery party. As the clock chimes the half-hour, the lights go out, and gun-shots are fired. When the confusion passes, someone is dead.

Luckily the elderly Miss Marple is staying with a friend in the village, and offers her services to the police to help gather some more information about the people involved. What with the authorities having come to the shaky conclusion that the events of the night in question were some kind of botched burglary, the spinster-sleuth decides to do some of her specialized snooping. That is, she socializes with those involved, and draws parallels between the impression she has of them with the residents in her own village in an attempt to understand character, background and possible motivation.

The amount of detail used in building the mystery is wonderfully complex, particularly in the dialogue: the second time around, I could pick up on the fact that several characters are saying completely different things to what we assume they are the first time. In hindsight, there are several early details that practically scream the solution at you, and even what first appears to be a typo is a clue! If you're sharp enough, you can certainly deduce who the killer is; as Christie lays out all the information...but then proceeds to baffle you with it.

The general time-period of the story is informative without being obtrusive. Set in the years directly after WWII, we get the sense of a society still trying to find its footing after great turmoil, and coping with drastic changes in the world. Along with mention of ration books and identity cards, displaced refugees from Eastern Europe, the decrease in hired servants, illegal bartering system among neighbours, housing development and distrust of foreigners, there is a prevailing sense of uncertainty and hardship as communities try to rebuild their understanding of the world. One feature of the postwar world in particular has an important bearing on the mystery: the upheavals in population settlement, in which old families died out or moved on, resulting in previously close-knit village residents suddenly becoming strangers to one another.

There was one thing though that seemed to go unresolved; when the police are discussing the case, one of them opens a file and says: "Here's a little something we've dug up on Mrs Easterbrook." We never do find out what this something is, unless I missed something obvious. Can anyone enlighten me?

At the time of its publication, "A Murder is Announced" was heavily advertised as her fiftieth story; a somewhat dubious claim, but one that gives this particular mystery an added bit of renown. As one of Christie's best and rewarding mysteries (yeah, I know I probably say that about all of them) my advice is to read carefully, as everything means something.

Among the Very Best Miss Marple Novels
"A Murder Is Announced" ushers in a wonderful parade of English village characters, which gather together to a most unusual invitation -- on Friday at 7 pm there will be a murder in Little Paddocks. It seems like a bad hoax - until the murder really happens.
If there was one Miss Marple novel to be chosen as the most ingeniously put-together plot, it might well be this one. The aforementioned first murder, meanwhile, is not the last. Miss Marple is fortunately on hand to stop murdering and divulge the true nature of tragic events that shake one home in that little English village, with the repercussions from a few years ago, during the war.

WILL SOMEONE LET THE WOMAN SPEAK?
What "improvements" have been made for the Black Dog & Leventhal edition?There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket.There are further additions still in the Signet, Bantam, and Berkley editions.For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice.What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them.Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

WHO'SWHO ?
A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED was published for the first time in 1950. It was adapted for the stage in 1977 by Leslie Darbon :Agatha Christie's "A Murder is Announced" (Adapted for the Stage).

I can't but recommend this book that presents one of the most inventive mysteries ever concocted by Agatha Christie. For once, if you're very careful, it's possible to find the murderer before the last ten pages of the novel because all the clues are given by the smart Lady of the Crime. As always in Agatha Christie novels, light notes about the English social and political climate spreaded all along the chapters allow us to better imagine the everyday life in an English little town some five years after the end of WWII.

A book for your library. ... Read more

Product Description
Everything about the young girl strikes Poirot as odd--from her confession to a murder she didn't commit to her disappearance. What's her secret? Poirot suspects that it's going to be a killer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

An absolute must-have for Agatha Christie's many devotees
Third Girl: A Hercule Poirot Mystery is the unabridged audiobook adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's classic mystery novels. Three single girls are roommates in London; one is a secretary, one is an artist, and the third - who seeks help from Poirot - disappears, convinced that she is a murderer. Poirot finds and ocean of malign rumors, but uncovering hard evidence to determine whether the third girl is truthful, false, or deluded will take all his skill and determination. A gripping story of intrigue all the way through, skillfully narrated by Hugh Fraser (who played Captain Hastings, Poirot's assistant in the television adaptation of Poirot's mysteries broadcasted by A&E and PBS), Third Girl is an absolute must-have for Agatha Christie's many devotees. 6 CDs, 7 hours.

Agatha Christie at her best
It is one of the best mysteries she's written. Even HP won't reveal what he's done to us until the very end.

Third Girl--Three Stars
This novel, written in the 60s, is not, in my opinion, one of her best. The three stars, however, is a Christie rating. It is still better than a lot of modern mysteries out there. My main problem was the vagueness at the beginning of the book, which led to temporary confusion as to who the third girl actually was. The writer Ariadne Oliver is also a vague character (and annoying). Christie does a valiant job trying to reflect the Beatnik era and obviously did her homework on the drugs du jour. Still, the overall work lacks coherence. Like Poirot, I was well and truly stumped (much time is given to the detective's mental processes). When the ins and outs of the mystery were finally revealed, much of it seemed far-fetched. I much preferred Sleeping Murder, a Miss Marple mystery, and They Came to Baghdad.

Poirot ponders his puzzle and looks for patterns
Agatha Christie offers her readers a strange little mystery.A young woman shows up at Hercule Poirot's door and insists that she thinks that she has committed murder.True tomost Christie mystery books, the author brings in a half dozen or so of interesting suspects all with their own possible motives and quirks.In this particular plot, however, Christie spends some time showing Poirot's own particular way of laying out all the facts in front of him like an imaginary puzzle.He is vexed to no end in his pursuit of the missing pattern...missing papers, paintings, a Peacock, a travel-happy father, a alcoholic woman who throws herself (or is pushed?) from a balcony, etc.The ever-confident Ariadne Oliver shows up to help out our hero in uncovering the specifics.Georges, Poirots' manservant, and Miss Lemon, his secretary, also show up in this volume of the Poirot series.This mystery is a bit slower than some of the greater and more classic Christie mysteries, but having the opportunity to scrutinize the fastidiousness of the Belgian detective's mind will satisfy most serious Poirot fans.

Not as 'cozy' as her other books...
I have mixed feelings about this book.The plot was pretty complex and hard to figure out, and I was surprised by the ending, all of which I love.I enjoy most Christie novels because they are "cozy" mysteries.However, this one was not so cozy.Usually the people in her books act very differently from people today.They act like ladies and gentlemen, with old fashioned manners and style of dress, and are concerned about things like honor and reputation.This novel dealt with young people doing drugs, having affairs,and dressing in the grunge style, and there was a bit of espionage.So while it was entertaining, it was not much of an escape for me. ... Read more

Product Description
Collected here are Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Affair at Styles, the books that introduced the world to Tommy and Tuppence and to Hercule Poirot. These intricate novels revolutionized the mystery form and launched Agatha Christie's career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Christie at her best
Early works for Dame Agatha Christie are a delight for mystery readers.
Recommended.The Embroidered Corpse ... Read more

Product Description
When Richard Abernethie, the master of Enderby Hall, dies his heirs assemble at the vast Victorian mansion to hear the reading of the will. It is then that Cora, Abernethie's sister, comes out with an alarming proposal: "But he was murdered, wasn't he?" The next day Cora is found brutally bludgeoned to death in her home.

Poirot must conjure all of his deductive powers in order to unmask the killer and his final conclusion is a brilliant and unexpected as ever. After the Funeral is classic Christie at her best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

After the funeral Agatha Christie
Book is in perfect condition, and of course Agatha Christie is always a good read; gives the "little gray cells" a work out!!:-)

WILL SOMEONE LET THE WOMAN SPEAK?
What "improvements" have been made for the Black Dog & Leventhal edition?There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead (FUNERALS ARE FATAL) editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket.There are further additions still in the Signet, Bantam, and Berkley editions.For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice.What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them.Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

Better than average Poirot novel
After the Funeral is a Hercule Poirot novel that follows a somewhat different structure from most.First, as the title suggests, the story only begins after the funeral of a wealthy man.When the relatives gather at the house afterwards, his sister blurts out that he must have been murdered even though he was known to be terminally ill and no foul play was suspected.When that same sister is brutally murdered the very next day, however, there can be little doubt that something sinister is afoot and this is where Hercule Poirot is called upon.Still, we don't see as much of him as we usually do.The suspects are scattered about England and a number of the interrogations are conducted by other people and reported back to Poirot.In the end, of course, Poirot gathers all the interested parties together and reveals the solution.

Normally, I find that any Poirot novel suffers greatly when the Belgian is used sparingly.So I was pleasantly surprised in this instance that the other characters were sufficiently interesting to carry the load.The cast is pretty varied and I definitely found it interesting to see how they interacted with each other in the aftermath of these murders.The story generally moves along at a good pace though it slowed down a touch toward the end.The razor sharp humor that Poirot provides when portrayed at his best is largely absent here but the book doesn't suffer too badly.

This is nowhere near the best Hercule Poirot novel but it certainly is a solid effort.I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to first time readers, as they would do be better served to start with one of the very best such as the The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) or Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries).But established Christie fans could do far worse than to pick up After the Funeral.It's got a strong cast and an interesting story that make it well worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description
Nearly a quarter-century after her death, Agatha Christie remains the most popular mystery writer of all time. Now, in a celebrated publishing event, fans and newcomers alike are treated to another Christie novel. Created in 1930 as a stage play and faithfully adapted by Charles Osborne, Black Coffee brings back beloved detective Hercule Poirot to exercise his "little grey cells" one more deliciously deductive time...

An urgent call from physicist Sir Claud Amory sends famed detective Hercule Poirot rushing from London to a sprawling country estate. Sir Claud fears a member of his own household wants to steal a secret formula destined for the Ministry of Defense. But Poirot arrives too late. The formula is missing. Worse, Sir Claud has been poisoned by his after-dinner coffee. Poirot soon identifies a potent brew of despair, treachery, and deception amid the mansion's occupants. Now he must find the formula and the killer...while letting no poison slip 'twix his low lips.
Amazon.com Review
Subtitled A Hercule Poirot Novel, Black Coffee is actually anAgathaChristie play recrafted as a book meant to be read rather than seen onthe stage. The story was first produced in 1930, and Charles Osborne hasdone little to it except string the dialogue and stage directions togetherin paragraph form. Christie loyalists will welcome and applaud hisdedication to the original, but it does seem as though he could have givenit a bit more flair. Still, Poirot himself, bumbling Captain Hastings, andobsequious George are all in good form and it is amusing to find themengaged in another adventure, with an interesting assortment of possiblemurderers, blackmailers, and innocent (if suspicious) bystanders.

The novel opens as Poirot receives a summons at his breakfast table fromEngland's premier physicist, Sir Claud Amory. Busy working on a new formulanecessary for England's defense in the Second World War, Amory suspects amember of his household of espionage. Of course, by the time Poirot andsidekick Hastings arrive at the scientist's country house, he is suddenlyand mysteriously dead. Amory himself turns out to have been not quite nice,and his family, regardless of his scientific efforts, is pretty pleasedwith the new state of affairs. Still, Poirot manages both to save the moreamiable members of the household from themselves and to protect the secretsof the British Empire. The novel is warmly evocative of another time andplace and a welcome reminder of vintage Christie. --K.A. Crouch ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

About as successful as a movie tie in is...
BLACK COFFEE is a transformation of one of Christie's early plays into a kind of pseudo-novel Like a book "based on a film" this reads like a play synopsis, all dialogue and stage directions. The descriptive detail and character development, albeit not Christie's strong suit, are lacking and the writing itself is fairly simplistic. Perhaps as a play, with the movement and misdirection, this might have proved a bit more compelling. Christie's style and tone are not well duplicated here; the rewriting does not do an adequate job of echoing the original. Christie wrote a few clunkers, but this doesn't even do them justice.

Rubbish
I got through three pages and quit reading.This is nothing like the other Poirot books.The review on this page says that all the author did was string the play's dialogue together with a few paragraphs, but apparently the author never read a Poirot book before because those paragraphs are terrible.For example, the author gives Poirot's inner monologue (which I don't every recall Christie doing) and discusses the "terrible Hitler."While it is obvious Christie took a justly negative view of 1930's Germany, it was always, and only, alluded to (a "european power").It is clear this book was just a way for the publishers and estate to make some more money.

Captivating Who-Done-It
You can never go wrong with an Agatha Christie and with the little gray cells of Hercule Poirot the killer will be ensnared without the tiniest details missed.

First penned as a stage production, Black Coffee has been rewritten by her grandson Michal Pritchard.

Set in the early 1930's, Sir Claud Amory, an atomic scientist, has invited Poirot to his estate to personally transport a formula back to London.Sir Claud realizes that the formula is missing and offers his family and guests one minute in total darkness to return the formula with no questions asked.Well, one minute is all it takes to murder Sir Claud.Upon his arrival, Hercule Poirot is enlisted into finding both the formula and the killer.

Of course Agatha gives us a whole room full of likely suspects, each with their own secrets and story, butwith Captain Hastings at his side, Poirot makes quick work of this very captivating who-done-it.

Not for stuffy minded individuals...
Well, if you are hung up so completely that this is a Agatha Christie novel,you will hate this novel and will suddenly grow dust upon your body and your mind will cloud over and become stuffy and shallow. However, if you can allow your brain to comprehend that this is based on Christi's play and her characters, but written by Charles Osborne, (who obviously cannot write completely in Christie's tone)you may find yourself enjoying this mystery. Imagine that!!
Most of these negative reviews are written by stuffy minded individuals that could not get past the fact that Christi's name is on this book-they expected Osborne to be the reincarnated version of Christie, though he is not, he is still a very good mystery writer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it to be similar to Christie's writing style. It was fun to read her kind of mystery again and I chose to look at it that way. I did not choose to get so wrapped up in the fact that Osborne WAS NOT Christie, but that Osborne chose to attempt a fun version of Christie's work.
Read this, open your mind and shake off the dust....Christie is NOT back..but Osborne shines... regardless!

Black Coffee by Charles Osbourne
The story was directly translated from a play so it did not come across as a real novel - and the culprit was exposed too early; which is a contrast from the normal Agatha Christie style of writing.

The plot is good, as usual, and the characters interesting but Poirot seemed a little too foreign here; and less endearing.

All in all, a good book but I would still prefer books written by the Dame herself. ... Read more

Product Description
Agatha Christie's memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband Max MallowanAgatha Christie was already well known as a crime writer when she accompanied her husband, Max Mallowan, to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s. She took enormous interest in all his excavations, and when friends asked what her strange life was like, she decided to answer their questions in this delightful book.First published in 1946, Come, Tell Me How You Live is now reissued in B format. It gives a charming picture of Agatha Christie herself, and is, as Jacquetta Hawkes concludes in her Introduction, 'a pure pleasure to read'. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Agatha Christie in Real Life
In the early portion of the 20th Century, wealthy leisured men not infrequently financed and supervised archeological digs (to the dismay of modern scientists).Famed mystery writer Agatha Christie's husband was such a wealthy leisured man.In Come, Tell Me How You Live, Ms. Christie depicts a several-year-long archeological expedition to the Middle East.Though clearly not nearly so interested in archeology as her husband, Agatha traveled to the Middle East with him and recorded her impressions of the people and places she visited.Writing with keen observation and more keen humor, Ms. Christie both provides a history of the dig and points out the stark differences between the Middle East and Europe in the early 20th century.

Though this book is quite clearly somewhat dated and many modern readers may feel, at the very least, uncomfortable with the depictions of the local population, Ms. Christie succeeds in painting an attractive picture of a romantic bygone era.(That is not to say that Ms. Christie sugarcoats the events of the expedition - indeed, more than a few persons involved in the dig die.)She presents the British empire in its waning days, conjuring visions of proper but amused Brits struggling to maintain decorum among civilizations half a world physically and a universe culturally away from Britain.Thankfully, Ms. Christie avoids excessive romanticization and does not fail to recognize the humanity in the local populace.Though the "natives" are constant objects of confusion and humor, they are never treated as subhuman.

Perhaps most surprising for me is the persona of Ms. Christie that emerges from this book.Having read more than a few of Ms. Christie's works, I was aware of her humor and, at times, ability to take on a conversational tone.Even so, I was impressed and delighted to discover an Agatha Christie that was sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, self-deprecating and empathetic.Simply for this, the book is worth reading.Though I would not attempt to claim that this book is a masterpiece of contemporary history, it does provide a pleasant-feeling remembrance of an interesting point in time and insight into the unexpected life experience of one of history's great genre authors.

She cannot write a dull book!
This is the first Agatha Christie book I've read that was NOT a mystery.I was not sure if I would enjoy it but I did!One of the reviews said "it is impossible for Christie to write a dull book" and I now agree with that statement.
Reading this is like entering another world.I never gave a thought to what an archaeological dig would be like, but now I have a very good idea.I'm sure that this book is dated and things have changed by now, but I really felt like I was a part of the time and place Christie and her husband occupied.I'd just love the chance to meet them now!

Charming look into Dame Agatha's other life
Agatha Christie was a prolific writer who churned out one or more books each year for decades.She was invariably on the Best Seller lists in several countries at any given moment, usually had at least one or more plays running in London and saw several films made from her novels.One would imagine her life as divided between writing her novels in some comfortable English country house or attending various events publicizing her latest work or supporting some worthy cause.Instead of this life in the public spotlight for many years she spent every winter 'season' accompanying her husband, Max Mallowan, on archaeological digs in the Middle East, usually living in primative conditions and assisting him with his work.This book is her description of that part of her life, where she was not Agatha Christie, the world famous writer but Mrs Mallowan, the boss's wife.

This chronicle, written and published against her agent's and publisher's advice was written shortly before WWII broke out and describes life on archaelogical digs in the Middle East.Christie gives us descriptions of areas that figure prominently in today's news, Beruit, Basura, Afghanistan.Events that shape present day headlines are recent events at this time, the Armenian massacres for example.While Christie mentions these larger events her focus is on the day to day lives of those around her, the interactions of Europeans, Arabs, Kurds and others.She describes a time when a twenty five mile trip into the nearest town could take two or more days, and where communication was almost nonexistent.In this exotic location she relates homey little tales of village life such as Miss Marple would know (though without the murders).

As another reviewer has already mentioned these memoirs are reminiscent of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody novels both in setting and wry tone.For fans of Christie it is a treat to get a glimpse into this very private woman's private life.From time to time a situation or person that has appeared in her stories can be seen here 'in real life'.

Elizabeth Peters / Amelia Peabody Fans Take Note
This book has been my companion for a few nights now, just a little amusing reading while I prepare to drop off-- if only those dogs would move over and give me some room!

Christie writes of a Middle East that few now can remember, and she is writing to entertain, not inform.There's a certain careless racism that caused me a little niggle of discomfort but, fear not, the Europeans come in for their fair share of ridicule as she skewers the members of the dig and their staff.

Those who enjoy Elizabeth Peters' mysteries set in Egypt (at admittedly an earlier period) might also enjoy this glimpse into what a dig in the desert could be like.

Just to put things in perspective, Mallowan (Christie's archaeologist husband) had begun his career digging with Leonard Woolley and Christie is writing oh so casually about events that underpin some of what is going on in that part of the world now.The massacre of Armenians and the differences between the Kurds and the Arabs are now writ large in our news reports.

An easily digested hodgepodge of funny episodes
Several times Agatha Christie accompanied her husband Max Mallowan on his archaeological expeditions to the Middle East. When friends kept on asking how she lived there, Agatha decided to write her adventures down in this book.

The title, in fact, is a pun on "tell," the Arabic word for hill or mound, which is used in the Middle East to describe the hill-like shapes of buried archaeological sites.

This book is probably the most humorous book the detective writer has ever written. She not only puts her own fame in perspective, but also acts as a keen observer of those little things that make humans such funny creatures. Although you never lose the impression that most of the characters in this non-fiction book are caricatures of real people, it still gives you a plausible impression of how life strolled on in the Middle East at that time.

Do not expect a serious treatise on archaeological excavations, because you won't find any scientific information in this book. What you can expect is a rather messy hodgepodge of all-day situations that may bring a smile on your face. And that's fine with me, because that's all Agatha intended it to be: an easily digested chronicle written with love. ... Read more

Product Description
Murder at the Vicarage marks the debut of Agatha Christie’s unflappable and much beloved female detective, Miss Jane Marple. With her gift for sniffing out the malevolent side of human nature, Miss Marple is led on her first case to a crime scene at the local vicarage. Colonel Protheroe, the magistrate whom everyone in town hates, has been shot through the head. No one heard the shot. There are no leads. Yet, everyone surrounding the vicarage seems to have a reason to want the Colonel dead. It is a race against the clock as Miss Marple sets out on the twisted trail of the mysterious killer without so much as a bit of help from the local police. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

Meet Miss Marple
"Murder at the Vicarage" was the novel in which Agatha Christie introduced her old maid of a detective, Miss Jane Marple.While authorities are confounded by a baffling murder in the small town of St. Mary Mead, Miss Marple knows the real murderer from the start, except she has no proof to back up her theory.Narrated by the vicar, Len Clement, who serves as an amateur sleuth in league with Miss Marple, the mystery becomes even more convoluted before the facts are revealed at the end."Murder at the Vicarage" is a delightful read, but definitely an understated introduction to the inimitable Miss Marple.

Colonel Protheroe was not well liked, and when he is found shot dead in the study of the vicarage, there are a plethora of suspects who may have wanted him dead.It seems as if the case is immediately solved when two people confess in quick succession - the artist Lawrence Redding, who was having an affair with Mrs. Protheroe, and Mrs. Protheroe herself.Yet both are just as quickly cleared of any guilt and that means that the police must look for suspects and proof elsewhere.Admist an alarming amount of testimony, threatening letters and phone calls, and numerous red herrings, Christie throws suspicion upon almost everybody in the village, causing readers (as usual) to be led far off the track of who the actual murderer is.

"Murder at the Vicarage", like the best of Christie's mysteries, is a fast-paced whodunit that will leave readers guessing (incorrectly) until the end.The ending seems a little too hasty after such a great amount of buildup.Vicar Len Clement is a likable narrator and worthy confidant of Miss Marple.There are many characters to like (and several to dislike) in this tale, but Miss Marple outshines them all, cementing her future place in the pantheon of literary detectives.

What can I say? Another keep-you-on-your-toes mystery...
The characters mess with the head. The clues and `Peculiar Things' clarify and bewilder. And the story certainly shows the aggravations of finding oneself stuck in a small, cozy village that has just suddenly borne out its first murder in a long, long while.

Smack in the middle is the village's highly likeable, dryly humorous, and long-suffering vicar who has the inconvenience of finding the village's least favorite member slumped dead in his own study, of trying to prevent his incompetent housekeeper from quitting just to appease the missus, of hearing out in a day-to-day basis the suppositions, observations, and indignations of the more well-meaning, elderly women of his parish, and of agonizing if his younger, vivacious wife is actually having an affair...

All the while doing a not-inconsiderate amount of sleuthing on his own - with the valuable aid of the redoubtable Miss Marple, whose spot-on observations and insights on the village folk has made her a point of disgruntlement for the police constables.

With one or two more incidental plots thrown in into the mix, The Murder at the Vicarage is a story that subtly lures one to keep a wide-open eye on everything said or done - coz you have no idea which of these are really worth paying attention to.

I have to admit being near-driven bonkers with trying to keep up (especially when the `time' aspect is factored in), but that just really makes me more glued to the pages.

The ending and exposition of what all the fuss is about may come out as a bit anticlimactic...but still, the entire detective-experience of getting into that point was well worth it. Another enjoyable read.

A classic Miss Marple mystery, one of Christie's better efforts (details)
This title is not particularly often fêted when Agatha Christie's name crops up during literary discussions but it should be -- I would assert that it falls handily within the leading twenty percent of her lifelong account of over eighty mysteries, romance novels, and plays.

THE STORY: Old Miss Marple resides next door to the Vicarage in the sleepy English hamlet of St. Mary Mead where she loves to toil away in her garden. Her vigilant scrutiny of Vicar Len Clement's comings and goings, and those of his household and their numerous guests, validates her local status as a celebrated repository of village gossip. And what she doesn't actually view with her own eyes, she quickly deduces with an accuracy and preciseness which would astonish even Sherlock Holmes.

Following multiple complaints from the congregation, Vicar Clement is concerned that the church's books might not be in the best of order. One self-assured and particularly noxious parishioner, Colonel Protheroe, has made it his personal business to ferret out any financial inconsistencies and, if there be one, a culprit. Following a purported emergency telephone call received by the tireless Vicar, the Colonel awaits his return in the Vicar's office to commence an accounting of the church's finances. It's just during this period when the supercilious old autocrat's life is snuffed away by a well-placed revolver shot to the back of the head... a revolver which happens to belong to transient artist Lawrence Redding, who happens to have recently quarreled with the Colonel, who happens to be painting the Colonel's wife's portrait, who happens to be in love with said wretched wife, who stands to financially profit (by marrying the Colonel's wife) if the Colonel is put out of the way, who happens to have emerged from the Vicarage just before the Colonel's death is discovered by the Vicar. And if all that did not provide adequate motivation for the murder, Redding walks into the police station and confesses to the crime!

A bounty of additional and worthy suspects prevail though, such as a nefarious and hostile old poacher by the name of Archer upon whom the Colonel, in his capacity as local magistrate, had only just dropped the gavel just prior to the latter's untimely death. There is the strange Mrs. Lestrange for whom the local doctor seems to be fabricating an alibi for her whereabouts during the window of time in which the murder occurred. And then there is the pensive archeologist who, along with a young female assistant, spends his days toiling for artifacts in a barrow on the Colonel's estate - the anomalous behavior of the two following the murder begins to capture the attention of village gossips. Oh yes... and there's the house maid, the Vicar's wife, the Vicar's assistant, Colonel's Protheroe's wife, his impish daughter... and on and on.

Inspector Slack, an offensive but forceful investigator, immediately chastises just about every soul in St. Mary Mead as he initiates a cycle of badgering prospective witnesses and suspects. As a consequence, most of the local rumor-mongers seek to burden the Vicar with their salacious tidbits and he is subsequently forced share this vague hearsay with the venerable Colonel Melchett, a notably more urbane and thoughtful policeman. But as the clues begin to amass and as a solution becomes ever less discernible all three men discover that old Miss Marple's contributions toward solving the case cannot be so easily dismissed -- she artfully maneuvers Slack, Melchett, and the Vicar back on the correct path as this curious affair of murder draws closer to a surprising finale.

The story here is conveyed in the First Person writing style, (a difficult technique of which Christie was an acknowledged master), from the perspective of narrator/protagonist Vicar Len Clement. Christie has also included three maps/floor plans to aid armchair detectives in solving the case prior to the book's conclusion -- but I don't anticipate that most readers will succeed in this endeavor even though the clues are adequately provided. That signature Christie cozy murder atmosphere punctuated with the colorful ambiance of her characters is found in abundance here.

This 1930 whodunit stands as a classic example of the author's much-lauded early period and serves equally as a poster example of the "golden-age" British mystery. It doesn't get much better than this but subsequent Miss Marple equivalents were, in fact, penned by Christie such as: The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection), aka The Case of the Moving Finger (1942).

Highly recommended!

Where It All Began
This is the first of Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple" mysteries, and a fairly typical one--a murder in an English village, baffled authorities, and Miss marple, who doesn't know law, forensics or police procedure, but who thoroughly understands people. This one takes place in Miss Marple's home village of St Mary Mead, so there is an overlap of setting and some cast with several other Marples, including THE MIRROR CRACK'D and THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY. The edition is a good solid "no frills" hardcover at an exceptional price. Go for it!

Very Boring
I read the reviews so I got this book, as I had read almost all of the Christie book and this was Miss Marple first book. I found it very boring and disappointing compared to all the ones I read before.

... Read more

Product Description
Agatha Christie is more than the most popular mystery writer of all time. In a career that spans over half a century, her name is synonymous with brilliant deception, ingenious puzzles, and the surprise denouement. By virtually inventing the modern mystery novel she has earned her title as the Queen of Crime. Curious? Then you're invited to read...

THEY CAME TO BAGHDAD

Flighty but good-hearted Victoria Jones craves love, intrigue, and adventure. She strikes gold in Edward, a handsome and mysterious traveler whom she's vowed to follow to the ends of the earth. Yet no whirlwind affair can prepare Victoria for what unfolds once she lands in Baghdad. Not a day in Edward's shadow, and she hears whispered warnings of danger and witnesses the murder of a secret agent in her hotel room. And when she discovers that a romantic rival for Edward's affection has arranged for her kidnapping, Victoria fears that her impetuous nature could be the death of her. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Easily one of my favorite Agatha Christie books!
The more mystery books I read, the more I realize just how incredible Christie was at what she did.

This mystery centers around, not so much a murder, but the plot of a political overthrow (Is the overthrow a good thing?Or a bad thing? And even, does it exist?).Our protagonist, Victoria, finds herself suddenly placed in the middle of it all, and must decide just how involved she wants to be.

"They Came to Baghdad" has an intriguing blend of all sorts of mystery points: murder, mistaken identity, spies, lies, and even a bit of romance.

I think what really won me over was the detailed and diverse cast of characters, headed by the smart and clever Victoria, who has a fantastic imagination, and an ability to create elaborate lies and stories, but whom fails to tell convincing *true* stories.Victoria isn't really "book smart" and she's not entirely "street smart" but she's clever and has a wonderful ability to never give up, and an optimistic heart that makes her a pleasure to follow through the pages.

Not every chapter is devoted to Victoria's perspective, however, and in the beginning we have several chapters from several points of view.This could have been frustrating and annoying, but for some reason I did not find it so and was instantly drawn in and hooked to each of the mini-stories (if you do find it tiresome, I highly suggest you give the book at least 5 chapters or so, until you settle into the main plot).

This book isn't overly gruesome or graphic, and while there *may* have been a few points I'd have liked better clarification on, overall I thought the mystery was explained nicely and neatly.

Highly recommended!

boring
For more than half of the book I wanted to throw it out the window. Sure it was good at the end, but the only reason I kept reading was because I had to read it for summer reading.

Different Genre, Same Christie
"They Came to Baghdad" deviates from Christie's usual novels in that it fits into the spy and action genre although it still retains the best elements of her mysteries where a puzzling set of events remains unexplained until the end. It was written after her own trips to Baghdad with her second husband, Max Mallowan,an archaeologist. Two seemingly disparate stories get woven together. Anna Scheele, an American secretary for a bank, visits her sister in London and then mysteriously disappears. Vitoria Jones, a typist, accompanies a sick woman as a nurse to Baghdad and stays at the Hotel Tio. She gains knowledge of a murder and is kidnapped. The book is well worth reading to discover the end result and explanation. The Griffon Trilogy

Christie Writes a Thriller
"They Came to Baghdad" is not a Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple mystery. It is really more of a thriller. Victoria Jones, an indifferent London typist loses her job in a typing pool for impersonating her boss's wife and meets a charming young man in a park. Only, he is about to leave for Baghdad. Parting is such sweet sorrow! Not so, thinks Victoria. Undeterred by this obstacle to romance, the resourceful Londoner secures a job paying her passage out East. There she becomes embroiled in international espionage, is forced to flee people who are out to kill her, and finds herself working on an archeological dig. Christie writes in a mature and witty style. The descriptions of post WWII Baghdad and Basrah are fascinating, as are the fully-fleshed (for Christie) cast of characters. Does Victoria ultimately find love? Yes, but not where she expects it. A thoroughly absorbing read for any Christie fan. For another exotic A.C., check out Murder On the Orient Express (The Agatha Christie Mystery Collection)

Kindle Version is well done
Since I'm finding the reviews for Kindle to be somewhat haphazard I'm trying to segregate the Kindle reviews from the reviews of the books themselves:

From a non-Kindle perspective this is my favorite Agatha Christie story, and it loses nothing in translation.For more about that though, look for reviews on the paper copy.

From a Kindle perspective:
1) this has a table of contents.very useful.
2) the table of contents includes the first sentence or so of text, which makes it easier to navigate to your favorite section
3) appears to be a "true" Kindle edition, which is to say it doesn't suffer from some of the formatting issues in those books which have been adapted from the print version. ... Read more

Product Description
Movie star Marina Gregg stars in a real-life mystery when her biggest fan is poisoned. Scene stealer Miss Jane Marple suspects that the lethal cocktail was intended for someone else, and wonders who's next for a final fade-out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

The Mirror Crack'd . . . because Christie hit it with a red herring.
This is not Christie's best, and though it's a great Miss Marple story in terms of developing her character and giving us a glimpse into her life as she ages and England changes (though still stays fundamentally the same, allowing her sleuthing skills to be just as good as they ever were) it's really a sub-par mystery.

The entire thing revolves around a film star and a woman who dies at her party after accepting a glass that the star was supposed to be drinking from.Obviously the intended victim was the star, and there seem to be plenty of people who'd like to do her in.Inspector Craddock does the leg work as Miss Marple reads film magazines to help her solve the puzzle, and occasionally goes for a walk.The problem is that along the way to solving this mystery (which I regret to say I was able to figure out on my own, for the third time since I started reading her novels) there are a lot of false clues which never get followed up on.Normally in one of her books, all the false clues are resolved somehow and some explanation is given for why they seemed so mysterious and what was really going on even though they weren't the answer to the main mystery.But this time, it's as if Christie simply forgot to add the finishing touches.For example, in the beginning of the murder investigation a police officer mentions how suspiciously a character is behaving and vows to check up on that person to see what the reason might be.But the character never shows up again, and apparently has zero bearing on the crime.On the other hand, characters who DO have some role to play are highly under developed, abruptly killed off within a few pages of each other, or revealed to be someone else in a "twist" that feels like something Christie just threw in at the last minute since there was no hint of it at all.As a matter of fact, once you read the ending, you realize that just about everything between that and the crime at the beginning was just fluff and filler to help cover the fact that the explanation for the murder was so simplistic.SO simplistic that even I was able to figure it out, and was therefore pretty bored by all the red herrings drawn across the path, rather than intrigued.

Overall definitely not up there with her best efforts, which is why it's not famous like many of her other books.There are a lot of relatively obscure Christie books that deserve a lot more accolades than they've received, but this is not one of them.Recommended for Christie completists only.See if you can guess the ending too!

One of Christie's Best
My two favorite Christie mysteries are "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" and this "Mirror Crack'd." I like Ackroyd for its stunningly clever twist-ending. I like this book for the stunningly true-to-life motive it reveals for the murder.

When you get right down to it, most fictional murders are motivated by "McGuffins." Alfred Hitchcock popularized the term "McGuffin" to indicate the artifact that sets the fictional characters in motion. It's usually something like a jewel stolen from an ancient Hindu statue, or a cache of money stolen from drug dealers. In more sophisticated stories, the McGuffin is often not a thing, but an emotion like some obsessive thwarted passion. This last does motivate some actual people. Still, as presented on the page, these murderous obsessions usually have at least a whiff of room deodorizer about them. They're manufactured to smother all the messy stew of emotions that motivate real people in real life. They're trumped up to bring the fiction to dramatic closure - like one of those famous perpetrators in a Perry Mason mystery who breaks down on the stand yelling, "Yes! I did it! I did it! He was leaving me, after all I'd done for him..."

However "Mirror Crack'd" stands almost alone in presenting a truly authentic motive - a motive that derives from the kind of everyday, but oh so deadly, offense that might drive any of us to homicide.

This is a good book to launch you into an appreciation of Agatha Christie if you haven't read any of her work yet - and a must-have for any established fan interested in starting a core collection of her books.

Mixed
The first tape was broke,so I actually didn't get to listen to the tapes, but the seller has said he would refund the money.

The Mirror Crack'd: From Side to Side
Very difficult Audio CD to listen to. Reader has very strong accent and a lot of the words seem slurred/mumbled, voice dips low. Very hard to understand. I am quite disappointed.

Dame Agatha Doesn't Disappoint
The product itself arrived quickly in good condition and all cassettes played perfectly. I kind've guessed this one about halfway through but it was still very interesting, a classic Christie mystery with interesting characters.Her take on the motion picture industry and its stars makes me chuckle. The subplot of Miss Marple's getting so old and being unable to live alone gave me a bit of sadness; I wish Christie had chosen to keep Miss M as active as she was in the Caribbean Mystery! ... Read more

Product Description
Miss Jane Marple has checked into Bertram's Hotel in London for a much-needed vacation. The last thing she expects is that this elegant establishment, known for its service and old-world charm, could be embroiled in scandal. But after a series of strange events—including the disappearance of a fellow guest, the arrival of a notorious celebrity bad boy, and finally, a shocking murder—she finds herself drawn into a multifaceted mystery.

The hotel is full of suspects who have potential motives—and convenient alibis. While the local inspector is preoccupied with a series of recent robberies, only Miss Marple, with her shrewd observations and keen understanding of human nature, can sort out the puzzling sequence of events and zero in on the killer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (42)

Jane Marple, Moralist
Bertram's Hotel is located in London's fashionable West End; Mayfair to be precise. A stay at Bertram's is like a visit to the past; Late Victorian England to be precise. Miss Marple arrives for a two-week visit and indulges (to a surprising degree) in nostalgic trips around London to the places of her girlhood (many of which are no longer extant).

Bertram's is pricey, clearly beyond Marple's meager pocketbook, but her niece picks up the tab. When her niece initially suggests a stay at Bournemouth (an old resort town on the south coast), Marple characteristically rejects that sleepy destination and states her preference for a trip to the capital instead.

Anyway, something isn't quite right about Bertram's. It's too good to be true in its defiance of the march of time and progress. Of course, while Marple is thinking that something is fishy, the reader gets to indulge in Christie's descriptions of a bygone time and place. And Christie populates her tale with charming stock characters, such as the forgetful cleric and the out-of-touch uncle. Marple is right about Bertram's, of course, and in the end we find out what is really behind the place.

Christie acknowledges that time marches on, while simultaneously juxtaposing the old values with the new much to the detriment of the new. The yearning for the past is no surprise and certainly no impediment to enjoying the story. The biggest problem I have with this story is the insufficient amounts of Marple. She resides in the periphery of the story until about the last fifth of the book when she helps the old chief inspector (known as `Father') solve the crime. Jane and Father don't like all the changes in society, but are flinty-eyed realists. Not bad, but not first rate Christie.

Very enjoyable Marple
At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie
Black Dog & Leventhal, 1965
270 pages
Miss Marple Mystery
4/5 stars

Summary: Bertram's Hotel seems like a nice old-fashioned hotel, hearkening back to Edwardian England.But something is off with a canon going missing, wild celebrities hanging around, and finally a shocking murder and a near miss.Luckily Miss Marple is there to aid the police in their investigation.

Thoughts: At first I wasn't sure what was going on as no crimes seemed to be happening.It was just a leisurely trip to and around London.However Miss Marple is ever curious and it is through her that we get the first idea that something is going on.The problem is that everything seems too perfect.Hard to believe that's a problem but it is.And because of that, a major crime syndicate (I think they can be called that) is unmasked and will be brought to justice.

We meet two new policemen, one is affectionately called Father who is a very good policeman despite his appearance which causes many people to underestimate.Other characters are wild Bess Sedgwick and her estranged daughter Elvira, neither of whom I really liked although I was interested to find out what role they played.Canon Pennyfather is the man who goes missing partly due to his own absentmindedness-he was sweetly endearing.

I did not figure out the mystery or the murderer but I was pleased with the end.At first it seems like the murder will not be prosecuted (like Poirot does in Murder on the Orient Express) but then the policeman says he will go after that person and have him/her arrested.I was very pleased.

Overall: The best Christie I've read recently with an interesting cast of characters.

Solid Mystery With Subtle Wit
I can't claim to be a real Agatha Christie aficionado, not at the moment. My dad has always loved her books, and so I read a couple of the most famous ones back in high school and enjoyed them. Something clicked, though, this summer, and I wanted to read some more Christie novels. I guess I needed something a little like what Miss Marple is looking for at Bertram's Hotel in this novel--a nostalgic, comfortable, and light escape. I guess that Bertram's Hotel itself doesn't ultimately offer those things to Miss Marple in the story, but in my opinion, the novel itself possessed those qualities.

I can agree with some of the other reviews at At Bertram's Hotel has a plot that's slightly unruly, certainly too large for a novel of this size, and I'll admit, too, that I most enjoyed the moments when Miss Marple was in the action--and there were not necessarily that many of them.

But I liked a lot of things. I loved the descriptions of the hotel and of Christie's London and the nostalgic pleasure that Miss Marple feels for it. And even if the plot is not perfectly tight, it is romantic and funny, a quality and entertaining mystery at the least. And even if Miss Marple is not the lead investigator here, Inspector Davy is himself a pleasure to read about. He reminds me of one of Chesterton's mystery solvers (the one from The Club of Queer Trades) who solves cases by intuition and a sense of humor rather than by stolid logic. A series of novels starring Inspector Davy would have been quite enjoyable. The adventuresome and wild cast of side characters and villains, too, enhances the novel, giving it dashes of romance and parody. I was reminded, too, during the novel of Evelyn Waugh's satires.

So, I guess maybe this isn't quite like all of Christie's other novels. But there's more than enough of a mystery and plenty of humor and atmosphere to entertain just about any reader.

Miss Marple is on holiday at Bertram's Hotel but murder takes no vacation from her life!
Dame Agatha Christie the doyen of delicious English murder mysteries published "At Bertram's Hotel" in 1965. This is late Christie but it is well written with enough suspects, humor and comments on the passage of time to make for an afternoon of interesting reading pleasure.
Bertram's Hotel is a quaint, cosy Edwarian hotel in downtown London. Miss Marple visited the hotel in her childhood. The muffins, high tea and refreshments are outstanding; the staff service is excellent and the clientele of doddering old maids, retired clergypersons and American tourists make for an eclectic mix of clientele. The hotel is a fictional creation of Christie.
The story concerns the lives of:
Bess Hardwick and her daughter the Honorable Elvira Blake. Bess has run through several husbands, is carrying on an affair with international racing star Ladislaus Malinowski and has been a bad parent for Elvira. Elvira is the graduate of an exclusive Italian school; is smitten with her mother's lover Mainowski and has secrets she is not sharing. Elvira is due to inherit 600,000 pounds from her deceased father's estate.
Detective Inspector Fred Davy does more research on this case than does Miss Marple. Davy is rotund, brilliant and bulldogish in his determination to expose the murderer and see that justice is restored.
Mickey Gorman is an Irish taxi driver who plays an important part in the resolution of the murder mystery.
A collection of fascinating characters espcially that of the absent minded Rev. Moneypenny make this an exciting and easy to follow tale. An enjoyable yarn told with aplomb by Dame Agatha! Nothing profound in the Christie novels; just pure reading enjoyment!

"The Children of Lucifer are Often Beautiful..."
"Bertram's Hotel" was one of Miss Marple's later adventures, and (though I hate to say it) she's slowing down a little. Of course, she was an old woman when we first met her back in Murder at the Vicarage in the 1930s, and now over three decades later she's even more so! That being said, readers will find that Miss Marple is more of a witness to a crime and less an active participant in its solution this time around. She relies on eavesdropping and coincidences to get her information, and is not quite as infallible as she used to be. If this was to be your first dose of a Miss Marple mystery, then you might not be particularly impressed with the spinster sleuth.

Raymond West treats his great-aunt to a trip to London, and Miss Marple requests that she stay at Bertram's Hotel, remembering it fondly from her childhood. Bertram's Hotel is popular amongst certain people simply because it retains an old-world charm that makes one feel as though they're stepping back into the past. With comfy chairs, warm rooms, magnificent meals and attentive staff, the hotel may be expensive, but certainly has an atmosphere that can't be replicated elsewhere. Feeling both melancholy and comfort in her surroundings, Miss Marple is thoroughly enjoying herself, particularly when she notices several odd occurrences in the hotel.

A host of colorful characters are staying alongside Miss Marple: the infamous Bess Sedgewick, the vague Canon Pennyfather, the sullen Elvira Blake...but unbeknownst to all of them, Scotland Yard has their eye on the hotel in pursuit of a crime syndicate, having narrowed it down as potential headquarters. The point of view is rather erratic, moving from Canon Pennyfather, to Elvira Blake, to Miss Marple, to several detectives, and doesn't linger particularly long on any of them. Of course, it is the comfortable-yet-oddly-ominous Bertram's Hotel that is the centerpiece of the novel, making an interesting quasi-character that reflects its inhabitants in regards to not at all being what it seems.

"At Bertram's Hotel" was one of the last novels Christie wrote (by my estimate, only nine mysteries followed it) and you can tell she's beginning to slow down a bit. Some of the twists are broadcast a bit too loudly, and the inclusion of several plots make the story rather disjointed, ranging from an elaborate train robbery to a forbidden love affair, from the three-day disappearance of an old man, to a shop-lifting teenager. Even though Christie often delayed her murders in order to provide careful set-up, the murder featured here is not committed until three-quarters of the way through the book, and ultimately "At Bertram's Hotel" is more of a police investigation into organized crime than it is a look into human nature and what drives an individual to kill. This is what Christie excels at, but it is in short supply here.

As always, a quick and rewarding read; but hardly the best that Christie (or Miss Marple) has to offer.
... Read more

Product Description
A wheelchair-bound Poirot returns to Styles, the venue of his first investigation, where he knows another murder is going to take place!The house guests at Styles seemed perfectly pleasant to Captain Hastings; there was his own daughter Judith, an inoffensive ornithologist called Norton, dashing Mr Allerton, brittle Miss Cole, Doctor Franklin and his fragile wife Barbara , Nurse Craven, Colonel Luttrell and his charming wife, Daisy, and the charismatic Boyd-Carrington.So Hastings was shocked to learn from Hercule Poirot's declaration that one of them was a five-times murderer. True, the ageing detective was crippled with arthritis, but had his deductive instincts finally deserted him?! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Who likes mystery and doesn't like Peirot
I hadn't read or seen this book on the excellent Videos.It was good like all are but sad when Poirot died.One of the better assets to the book is the essay about Agatha's Poirot series.

For Lovers of Poirot
If you are hooked on Poirot, either from other books or from TV, you will enjoy this book about his last case, in which the "little grey cells" are as active as ever, although the detective himself has aged. Captain Hastings is as dense as ever and you learn about his marriage and his years away from Poirot.

Following the story there is a list of all books which have featured Poirot, with a short review. I found titles I had never heard of before and plan to see if they are available for Kindles through Amazon. ... Read more

Product Description
Elspeth McGillicuddy was not a woman usually given to hallucinations. But when she witnesses what appears to be a woman being strangled on a train and no-one else sees it, no-one reports it and no corpse is found she turns to her old friend Jane Marple to help solve the puzzle. Marple asks her highly efficient and intelligent young acquaintance, Lucy Eyelesbarrow to infiltrate the Crackenthorpe family, who seem to be at the heart of the mystery, and help unmask a murderer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Pleasantly Surprised
This book arrived earlier than projected and was in a condition better than expected. We are satisfied customers.

What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw
I enjoyed listening to Joan Hickson's reading of "4:50 from Paddington." She did an excellent job of portraying the different characters, but also somehow making it seem as if the entire story were being related by Miss Marple herself. The interesting thing about this book is that although it's billed as a "Miss Marple Mystery," Miss Marple is not really the main character. In fact, no one really is the main character--unless it's the murder itself. And despite my usual method of assuming the least likely suspect to be the murderer and working back from that, I never figured out whodunit until Miss Marple revealed all. Very entertaining story.

Return of a Classic
A good solid Christie in a sturdy and economical hardcover edition. No special features, but the text doesn't need any. 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON generally makes the short list of "best Christies." One of Miss Jane Marple's friends has seen a murder taking place on another passenger train, and, absent a body or a missing persons complaint, no one takes an old lady seriously--except Miss marple. I'd like to say that the solution to the murder hangs together nicely, adn I never saw it coming.

"I've Just Seen a Murder!"
Elspeth McGillicuddy has just finished her Christmas shopping and relaxing on the journey to her friend's house, when a secondary train pulls up and runs alongside her own. Imagine her horror when a blind on the second train snaps up, allowing her to witness to a man strangling a woman to death! Horrified, she notifies the police, but when no body is found the following day (either on the train or off it), Mrs McGillicuddy decides to get some specialized help.

Enter Miss Marple, an old maid who is often described as "fluffy and dithery", but who nevertheless has a razor-sharp mind, and believes every word of her friend's strange tale. Taking it upon herself to investigate the murder, she comes to the conclusion that the killer may very well have thrown the body from the train at a particular point along the track in which it would fall down an embankment and onto the grounds of the Rutherford House.

Yet Miss Marple is an elderly woman now; she can't very well go tramping around an estate in search of a dead body. And so, "like a general planning a campaign," she decides to set someone else on the case. The perfect person for the job is Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a young woman who works as a domestic labourer whose competency, organizational skills, and general air of efficiency have put her services in very high demand. She is intrigued by Miss Marple's request for her to seek employment with the Crackenthorpes at Rutherford House in order to find a body.

I trust it's not too much of a spoiler to say that this is precisely what she does, and the police are called in to investigate the family. The Crackenthorpes are a dysfunctional family of three sons and one daughter: the grown children of Luther Crankenthorpe, a cantankerous old miser who refuses to oblige the next generation by dying. Also on the scene is Crankenthorpe's son-in-law, his young grandson, and the long-suffering family doctor. Quite a neat little bundle of suspects; and so Lucy stays on at the house to investigate, with Miss Marple supporting her from a distance.

Lucy is a wonderful character; fiercely independent, financially secure, and in love with nothing except the way she lives her life. She takes the jobs that appeal to her, fixes the terms herself, and then spends the money she makes on short holidays in which she broadens her clientele. Amazingly enough, she is not paired off with any male character by the end of the novel (though she has two prospects, her choice is left ambiguous and I prefer to believe that she stayed single!)

Although it has a memorable beginning and end, what with the circumstances of McGillicuddy's witness to the murder and the hilariously far-fetched exposure of the murderer, the middle of "4:50 from Paddington" seemed to sag a little. The three Crackenthorpe brothers (Harold, Alfred and Cedric) don't have very sharp characterization, and the final denouncement from Miss Marple seemed to come more from guess-work than actual deduction.

Still, no Agatha Christie book can ever be considered a waste of time, and as always, there are several mentions/appearances of names and faces from the past: Inspector Craddock, Raymond West, Sir Henry Clithering, and Grisela Clement, who in Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection) was pregnant, in The Body in the Library: A Miss Marple Mystery was seen playing with her toddler on the vicarage floor, and here, speaks to her grown-up son about Miss Marple's latest exploits. How time flies!

You can skip the 4:50
Agatha Christie is a phenomenal crime fiction writer, however I was slightly disappointed with this novel. Miss Marple's aged, feeble detective efforts hardly impress, and the main character does not accomplish much outside of a fantastic pudding and roast.

I would refer readers to other mind-bender classics such as And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express. ... Read more

Product Description
From "The Mousetrap" (the longest-running play in history) to "Ten Little Indians" and "Witness for the Prosecution" (both made into classic film thrillers), here are eight brilliantly staged acts of murder featuring twice as many suspects and final-curtain twists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

The Mousetrap; and Other Plays by the Queen of Crime Dame Agatha Christie will keep you enthralled for hours
The Queen of Crime Agatha Christie (1890-1976) the Devon Dame of Crime was a master of the murder mystery novel but was also adept at turning her books into playable and accessible plays. Christie's works have always been popular with London audiences and playgoers and movie fans throughout the world. In this cheap Signet edition you can have the work of Dame Agatha at a very reasonable cost. The plays are fun to read and display all the cleverness and genius of their playwright! Though Poirot and Miss Marple are absent as characters they are so good you will hardly miss their formidable presence!
Among the plays in this collection (there are 8 plays) the standouts are:
The Moustetrap: The longest running play in drama history is still seen each week at a small London theatre. it concerns a snowstorm at a small hotel. Molly and Giles are the young married couple who invite guests into their establishment. One of them is a murderer. Who is it? An intriguing play that will keep you guessing who done it!

Witness for the Prosecution. I enjoyed this play more than any other in the Signet collection. Did Leonard Voles murder Elizabeth French the old lady he was visiting on a regular basis despite the fact he was married to a German immigrant? The excellent movie starred Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power. A classic courtroom drama focused on judicial proceedings at the Old Bailey!

Ten Little Indians-There are more dead bodies than you can count in a Shakespearean foray into mayhem! A grisly play.

While the other plays in the collection are not as well known they are all worth reading. Enjoy this festschrift of Christie drama!

FAST AND EASY
This item was shipped, and recieved very quickly. No problems with the product, I will use them in the future.

Agatha Christie The Mousetrap and Other Plays (Miss Marple Mysteries)
I received my order within a week (Excelent). I will enjoy reading all the plays as I truely enjoy Agatha Christie Mysteries. Better World Books is Awesome.

Spine Chilling Suspense
Agatha Christie rox!Every one of her stories are masterpieces!This book comes in perfect condition; not marred in any way.I give it two thumbs up.If you liked "And Then There Were None" you'll love "Mousetrap".

Classic Christie!
The Mousetrap is the first play I've read by Agatha Christie and it exceeded my expectations.It's every bit as good as one of her novels & I can see why it has set all records for English theatre. ... Read more

Product Description
When nurse Amy Leatheran agrees to look after American archaeologist Dr Leidner’s wife Louise at a dig near Hassanieh she finds herself taking on more than just nursing duties – she also has to help solve murders. Fortunately for Amy, Hercule Poirot is visiting the excavation site but will the great detective be in time to prevent a multiple murderer from striking again?

... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

My two cents: 1 out of 5, but for Poirot development glimmering
Anne Massey does an adequate job on the CD audio book, but my problems with it are numerous, and so I have to 'vote' - not one of Christie's better efforts: character under-development, the characters themselves (too many with too little engaging character development), and, as others have recently noted, the outcome plausibility factor.Mmmm, add: too little incentive to care about what happens: everyone's down in M'ia, everyone's hanging around being civil to each other, hop along comes an English nurse (who is not all that funny or clever, the narrator), and then we're supposed to figure out why someone is dead. Poirot is called into the scene late, for those interested.The saving glimmer in this book is a bit closer look into Poirot's own character when he responds to those around him. Christie takes more time with that than she does in some other works, making it a frustrating but nice tidbit.

Murder in Mesopotamia
Love this particular series of Agatha Christie mysteries - the size of the print, the cover, everything.

I'm Batting .300 Against The Odd, Little Belgian
If circumstances arise in which life seems to be throwing an especially large amount of manure my way, Ms. Christie never fails in adding a little ray of sunshine to a crappy state of affairs. Hercule Poirot's 13th adventure is only one of four in which I've guessed correctly on the solution. One aspect I've found engaging about reading the Poirot mysteries in the order in which the author wrote them is picking up little factoids about the Belgian's own history. The book is narrated through the eyes of a nurse, Amy Leatheran. Her disciplined personality lends well to the feel of the story. As usual, Ms. Christie shows her powers as a mystery writer by keeping the extraneous clues to a minimum and still leaving the reader in the dark. Her works are quite addictive despite Ms. Christie making me feel like an idiot. "Murder in Mesopotamia" is a wonderful, summer read for anyone looking to exercise their little grey cells.

Not one of her better efforts - very very implausible solution
AC's mysteries usually end with readers kicking themselves for not having seen the clues that point to the murderer. In this case, the solution is so far-fetched that it beggars belief. The only redeeming feature is that the murder was committed in a fairly ingenious manner. But all in all, the only kicking you'll be doing is on yourself for having wasted ten bucks and around 4-5 hours of your reading time.

"A Journey into the Strange Places of the Human Soul..."
During his travels in the Middle East in the 1930s, Poirot solves a murder that has taken place amongst an archeological expedition, with the help of a middle-aged nurse called Amy Leatheran. Although written after Murder on the Orient Express, this particular mystery occurs just prior to Poirot's most famous case (in fact Poirot is on his way to Baghdad when he's diverted by this particular mystery).

It is Amy that provides the first-person narrative, writing on the behest of the man who involved her in the case in the first place, a doctor-friend who set her up as a nurse for his friend's wife. Doctor Leidner is a Swedish-American archeologist whose wife is suffering from nervous fits and anxiety, but when Amy meets her she is instantly captivated by the woman's beauty and charm. Louise Leidner is an intriguing character: intoxicating and charismatic, she is unknowingly creating a lot of tension amidst both male and female members of the excavation.

Providing Mrs Leidner with companionship, Amy is soon told the reason for the woman's growing fear: over the course of her life she has received threatening letters from her first husband, a man who was supposed to have died in a railway accident long ago. His letters insist that she never love another man but him; now that she's remarried, she's been living in fear.

And, naturally, she has good reason to be afraid. When she is found dead in her bedroom, the police manage to rope Mr Poirot in to investigate matters. After ascertaining that the killer must have come from inside the house, Poirot recruits Amy as his eyes and ears within the household, and the commonsensical Amy helps him make his inquiries. Although she herself adored Louise (a character who was said to be based on a real woman that Christie met on one of her husband's digs), it becomes clear that not everyone felt the same way about the woman who always insisted on being the centre of attention, and the instigator of drama. Plotting through the web of love affairs, jealousies, secrets and lies that permeate the group, Poirot naturally comes up with the solution.

Amy is a good choice for the storyteller, for though it means that Poirot is not very prominent, she makes for an insightful and chatty narrator who is neither very old nor very young, unlike most of Christie's other protagonists. As such, Amy has a blend of both naivety and wisdom that allows her to form accurate and sensible opinions, but which means she remains completely in the dark as to what's really happening (and the fact that she dislikes the stuffy and rather arrogant Poirot is another point in her favour!) As the requisite victim, Louise Leidner is one of Christie's most intriguing characters - lovely and charming, but with a cruel streak, described as a "female Iago" and the unattainable "La Belle Dame sans Merci" of Keat's poem - and it's almost a shame when she's killed! Her interactions with the rest of the excavation group are fascinating, as are their reactions to her death.

Although not one of Christie's best mysteries, "Murder in Mesopotamia" is one of her most atmospheric. Drawing on her own experiences with an archeological husband and her travels in the Middle East, Christie creates an eerie and mysterious setting for her story - though at the same time she slyly points out that the Western perception of the East as an exotic and fairytale-like place is a myth, and that the beauty of Iraq lies in its stark, gritty landscape. Amusingly, Amy isn't impressed with either Iraq or archeology at first (looking upon the excavation site as a mud pit), but gradually comes to appreciate its splendor at about the same time she grasps understanding of the suspects around her: "like a piece of fusty old stuff you take into the light and suddenly see the rich colors of an old embroidery."

It is the resolution that prevents this from being one of Christie's best mysteries, simply because the central premise is so implausible. It's impossible for me to elaborate further without giving away the ending, and since reading the book I have read other readers' justification of the premise that helps me make more sense of it, if not entirely accept it. But at the time, it jolted me out of the story.

Still, no Christie mystery is a waste of time, and "Murder in Mesopotamia" contains some of her best characterization and descriptive passages. ... Read more