5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent quality

C. · 27 September 2025

Excellent book, quality first class. Quick delivery and highly recommended

5.0 out of 5 stars Variety pack…

F. · 10 October 2025

The latest in HarperCollins’ series of themed collections of Agatha Christie’s short stories, this serves as a companion to their recent Capital Christie. Most of the twelve stories in this one are set in or near Christie’s beloved Devon, and as usual, they include all of her most famous ‘tecs – Poirot, Miss Marple and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. There’s also a Parker Pyne story, though surprisingly no Harley Quin this time. As an added bonus, there is the usual extract from Christie’s autobiography, acting as an introduction. In this one, she paints a brief but vivid picture of attending the annual Regatta fair in Torquay as a child. The book is gorgeously designed as always – colourful, with foil highlights and appropriate endpapers, this time with a pattern of ducks’ footprints as a delightful contrast to the pigeons’ footprints in the Capital collection. Clearly a lot of thought goes into the design of these, and it shows. I always think they would make great gifts (especially for yourself).It always surprises me that in every collection there are a few stories I’ve either never read or read so long ago they’ve been erased from my memory banks. This one had a particularly high number – eight out of the twelve – so that’s always extra fun. The stories I did know were all worth re-reading too – taken mostly from three of her better-known collections, Partners in Crime, The Thirteen Problems (aka The Tuesday Club Murders), and The Labours of Hercules. A couple of the stories have appeared in earlier books in this hardback series, but that would only be an issue for someone who’d collected them all, and really, it’s never a penance to read these stories again.Of the twelve stories, I gave seven of them four stars, four got five stars, and one lagged a little behind on three. So overall this is an excellent collection filled with good stories and no real duds. Here’s a flavour of some of the ones I enjoyed most:Double Sin – Poirot and Hastings are on holiday in Devon, and decide to travel by coach to visit a friend. On the coach is a rather garrulous young woman, who tells them all about how she works for her aunt who owns a successful antiques shop. The young woman is carrying a set of valuable miniatures to show to a prospective client. But by the end of the journey the miniatures are gone! Good fun – Hastings plus a pretty young woman always guarantees humour and much Poirot-twinkling – and a good plot too in this one.The Hound of Death – the title story from Christie’s excellent collection of horror/supernatural stories, a genre I always wish she’d done more of. Our narrator hears a story about an atrocity during the war, when Germans attacked a convent in Belgium. But as they entered, an explosion destroyed both the soldiers and the convent, and left a mark in the shape of a giant hound on the ruined walls. One of the nuns came to England as a refugee, in a state of shock that put her under the care of the local doctor. All she remembers is calling on a mysterious power of destruction. The doctor hypnotises her and then she remembers an ancient religion which could harness powers now long forgotten. The doctor becomes fascinated and obsessed… This is a very dark story, drawing on the horror of war, and also on mankind’s eternal search for destructive powers. Spookily scary—great stuff! One of my top favourite Christie stories (scared the bejabers out of teenage FF!), and if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend that you do!The Flock of Geryon – Miss Carnaby is troubled, so takes her problem to Poirot. He knows her as having been a petty criminal in the past, now reformed. Miss Carnaby is worried about a friend, a well-off but lonely middle-aged woman who has been sucked into a small religious sect, headed by a man known as the Great Shepherd. Miss Carnaby suspects it’s all a ‘ramp’—a scam. Poirot and she agree that she will go undercover, joining the sect and pretending that she has just come into money. There’s a lot of suspense and peril in this story, but it’s also full of humour. Miss Carnaby is a great character!The Edge – Clare Halliwell has known Sir Gerald Lee most of their lives and has always expected to marry him. But suddenly he returns from a trip, married to a woman called Vivien Harper, whom nobody knows. (Which, of course, is code for her not being of the right class.) Some time later, Clare learns that Vivien is having an affair. Pretending to herself that she’s taking the moral high ground, Clare decides not to tell Gerald. Instead she lets Vivien know she knows, and tortures her with subtle hints in front of Gerald and threats to reveal all. Another very dark story – not a mystery, more a psychological study of a cruel personality, warped even further by jealousy. Great characterisation in this one!It’s the range and variety in Christie’s short stories that I love. Don’t dare tell me that she writes to a formula! If you still think she does, read some of these collections, and then come back and humbly beg pardon… 😉