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humatariq's review against another edition
4.0
This book was very good. First there was Endless night and then I read this book, I realize that Christie was a great writer irrespective of the genre. I loved all the stories!
lemon_y's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
lesserjoke's review against another edition
3.0
Unless I'm mistaken, I have now reached the end of my long journey through author Agatha Christie's considerable body of novels and short story collections. In fact, this particular anthology was actually published in 1997, substantially after her 1976 death, but as it includes many earlier tales that hadn't been previously collected, I wanted to make sure that I checked it out.
(Weirdly, due to the vagaries of this sort of project, it also features two titles that I've read multiple times before: "Christmas Adventure" -- also known as "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" and "The Theft of the Royal Ruby" -- from 1939’s The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories and 1960's The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées, and "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest" -- also known as "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" -- from the same Regatta Mystery book and 1961's Double Sin and Other Stories. Their inclusion here is pretty baffling, given that the main selling point of the remaining entries was presumably that they hadn't been already republished anywhere after their initial magazine printings. Although maybe the repeated couple were added to shoehorn in Hercule Poirot, who would otherwise be absent from these proceedings.)
Still, the new material is fun. "Manx Gold" is notable for being the serialized prose component accompanying an actual 1930 treasure hunt arranged by the tourism board of the Isle of Man, such that the characters are shown solving the clues without giving away their solutions for any real-life participants. And both the espionage thriller "The Actress" and the tender romance "The Lonely God" constitute great examples of how effective this writer could be even when operating outside of her more famous whodunit / detective genre.
On balance across all its contents, I think I have to rate this collection as an average 3-out-of-5 stars, but I'm glad to have read it and that someone thought to gather those stories that might otherwise have fallen through the cracks of publishing history. Overall, it's a fine belated sendoff to Dame Agatha.
[Content warning for gun violence, suicide, and incest.]
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cxppatee's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
dancingbibliophile's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
misslaura89's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
kamilla112's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
gaiathreads's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
anjalisudarsan's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve only read Agatha Christie’s mysteries with poirot- this style of writing was quite entertaining and ended with something thought-provoking. Themes like jealousy, infidelity and loss were common in each - there was Poirot in one story, called mystery of the Baghdad chest. That was pretty entertaining