Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot, #3) by Agatha Christie – narfna Book Review

Have been reading this in bits and pieces since November, but got a hankering to finish it this morning. I also realized it fits in with my only reading books by or about badass ladies in January, because Agatha Christie was certainly a badass lady. I don’t do short stories very often, for a lot of reason, but mainly because the idea of them exhausts me. You get invested for so little payoff, over and over again. But I think I might have to rethink mystery short stories. When done well, they’re really fun!

Most of these stories were actually below Christie’s talent level, I think (she’s better in long form), but even the least of them were entertaining, and so short that in no time you had a new story up on deck that you might like better if one didn’t work out well. Hastings is the narrator for all of them, so that obviously has its positives and negatives. For all his obliviousness, he is sort of a fun point of view to have because Poirot frustrates him so much with his “vanity,” which is entirely earned. If Hastings thinks something is likely, it’s wrong.

“The Adventure of the Western Star,” 3.5 stars, elevated by Hastings having a legit strop at the end because he thought he had finally been clever like Poirot but really he was playing into Poirot’s hand. It was hilarious.

“The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor” Already almost forgot about this one even though I just finished it the night before writing this blurb, so 3 stars. Cheeky ending line from Poirot, though.

“The Adventure of the Cheap Flat,” 3.5 stars. Was intrigued by the set-up on this one (“Why is this expensive flat so cheap?”), but the denouement left something to be desired.

“The Mystery of Hunters’s Lodge”, 2.5 stars — This one was odd. Poirot was sidelined and the mystery seemed a little lifeless.

“The Million Dollar Bond Robbery”, 3 stars — Bonds disappear mysteriously from a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, and seem to arrive in NY before the man they were stolen from. Pretty good, not great.

“The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb”, 3.5 stars — Aside from the icky colonialist overtones, this one was pretty fun. I found myself a little underwhelmed by the ending, though.

“The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan,” 4 stars — A good old fashioned jewel theft.

“The Kidnapped Prime Minister”, 3 stars — A little long for my taste, and I don’t really like when Poirot gets involved in international affairs, but it turned out to be a good mystery in the end.

“The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim,” 3.5 stars — Poirot tracks down a tricky missing man. I liked the overall story, but it did seem a bit predictable, in that I was able to predict the main twist. Less room for red herrings to really do their work on you in short stories.

“The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” 4 stars — I liked this one quite a bit. What seems like a simple murder is much more complicated.

“The Case of the Missing Will,” 4 stars — A missing will isn’t all that original, but the twist here of why it’s missing makes it really interesting.

“The Veiled Lady,” 4 stars — A nice twist on the classic blackmail letter scheme.

“The Lost Mine,” 2 stars — This one has not aged well. She uses the word “Chinaman” about fifty times, and the plot hinges on white people not being able to tell Chinese people apart. Yikes.

“The Chocolate Box,” 4 stars — Poirot tells Hastings about one of the few (perhaps only) times he considered his investigation a failure.

[3.5 stars]