Poirot Investigates

I find Hercule Poirot shorts relaxing to read without necessarily enjoying them as such.

Poirot Series #3

This is a short story collection of Poirot's cases. There are 11 mysteries and all are goooood.

"The Adventure of the Western Star"

A mystery surrounded by a diamond jewel, which is considered as "Western star", which has an spiritual importance to chinese. And it goes missing after getting threatening letters. Where is the jewel?

"The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor"

Poirot investigates a death of middle-aged man who died of an internal haemorrhage just a few weeks after insuring his life for a large sum on request from the Insurance company. He has a young wife, and is rumored to be in a bad financial condition. He is found dead with a small rook rifle by his side. Is the death suicide or murder?

"The Adventure of the Cheap Flat"

This started out funny, as Hastings finds out from his new friends that they got a luxury flat for a very cheap lease amount. When Hastings tells this to Poirot, Poirot is interested. And this leads to something big and most wanted criminals are caught.

"The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge"

There is a murder committed at Hunter's Lodge. The dead man is an uncle to Mr Roger Havering, the second son of a Baronet.He is married to an actress. Dead man is a wealthy old man, and resides with Roger. And whole world knows that Roger is in a bad financial state. Did Roger Murder his uncle? But he was not in town!

"The Million Dollar Bond Robbery"

A million dollar liberty bonds goes missing when they were transported to New York on a ship. Whole ship is searched and no one has it. And in an half an hour stolen bonds were getting sold in New York. How did they reach New York without being found on the ship?

"The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb"

A series of deaths on the excavation of the tomb of the Pharaoh Men-her-Ra leads to a rumour that the tomb is cursed. Is it really so or someone is planning murders? Poirot Investigates.

"The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan"

Poirot meets a rich stockbroker and his jewel loving wife at Grand Metropolitan hotel. But a mystery follows when her pearls goes missing when only her maid and hotel chambermaid are the ones who had access to the room. Both the girls were together except for few seconds twice when the maid had to go to her own room, where its impossible to steal the jewel. Then jewel is found under maids' mattress and mystery is solved. Or is it? Is the found jewel the real one?

"The Kidnapped Prime Minister"

The Prime Minister goes missing after an attempted assassination. He was on his way to a secret peace conference to be held the next day at Versailles and is vanished into the thin air. The cars that were taking him are found in different places and his secretary is found chloroformed and gagged. Where is the Prime Minister?

"The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim"

Poirot makes a five-pound bet with Japp when a banker, goes missing and solve the case within a week by only sitting on his chair.

"The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman"

Poirot and Hastings are with their neighbour Dr Hawker, when the Doctor gets a phone call from his client , a Count, telling that his life's in danger. But when all rush to the client's room, he is already dead and was alone and locked from inside. How is that possible?

"The Case of the Missing Will"

A will is sought when an old uncle,Uncle Andrew wants to test his niece, Violet Marsh's intelligence. She pursued her dream of getting educated which was opposed from her uncle. So he makes a strange will which leads to the original will and Miss Marsh gets Poirot to help her to find it.

Totally, all the stories were good. Small and fast. The mystery was built and soon would be solved and maybe so , my adrenaline was fluctuating :P

Happy Poirot Series!

Poirot was an extraordinary-looking little man. He was hardly more than five feet four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound. Yet this quaint dandified little man who, I was sorry to see, now limped badly, had been in his time one of the most celebrated members of the Belgian police. As a detective, his flair had been extraordinary, and he had achieved triumphs by unravelling some of the most baffling cases of the day.

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot 3-Book Collection 1: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates (Kindle Locations 308-313). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

I love Hercule Poirot. Such a great detective. Such a character. There's always a great mystery with lots of twists and turns and red herrings, all of which keep me riveted. The characters are interesting and have complex motives for their actions. That said, not a huge fan of Hastings. He's too busy being on his high horse to be likable. I've read many Agatha Christie books before but not all and not in order so I'm in the process of commencing a reread. Highly recommend to crime lovers.

Poirot Investigates is a short story collection. Most of the stories are good, but I'm just not a short story fan. I prefer more to sink my teeth into.

The Adventure of The Western Star: Poirot and Hastings look into the disappearance of a massive diamond. Hastings is his usual annoying self. Neatly wrapped up.

The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor: A woman's husband dies unexpectedly and the insurance company hires Poirot to check it wasn't suicide.

This one was brutal. I like.

The Adventure of The Cheap Flat: A young couple manage to secure a cheap flat in a great area. God Hastings is arrogant.

I think I may have missed something in this one. He had the first woman followed - but why was she in the flat? Wasn't the second woman supposed to be a diversion and actually living there?

The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge: A man's favourite uncle is shot and he hires Poirot to solve the murder - except Poirot is sick in bed and Hastings takes the case. This one was kind of funny.

Only Hastings and Japp could be tricked so. I love that Poirot mocks them for it.

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery: Bank bonds are stolen from aboard a ship. Neatly wrapped up.

The Adventure of The Egyptian Tomb: Poirot and Hastings travel to Egypt to investigate a curse. Not my favourite.

The Jewel Robbery at The Grand Metropolitan: Poirot and Hastings have a weekend away and meet a couple that later have their necklace stolen.

Lol, Poirot calling Hastings dumb.

‘Thank you, I accept most gratefully. You have the good heart to think of an old man. And the good heart, it is in the end worth all the little grey cells. Yes, yes, I who speak to you am in danger of forgetting that sometimes.’ I did not relish the implication. I fancy that Poirot is sometimes a little inclined to underestimate my mental capacities.

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot 3-Book Collection 1: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates (Kindle Locations 7158-7161). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition. And sometimes he doesn't underestimate Hastings' mental capacities.

I really liked this one. Particularly that the jewel thieves were let down by their method.

The Kidnapped Prime Minister: The British Prime Minister is kidnapped and Scotland Yard turn to Poirot to help find him in time for the Allied Conference.

I enjoyed the twists in this one.

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim: A gentleman disappears with no trace. Japp has tea with Hastings and Poirot and relates the case. Japp and Poirot make a bet that Poirot can solve the case without leaving the room.

‘I should have thought,’ I remarked, ‘that it would be almost impossible for anyone to “disappear” nowadays.’

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot 3-Book Collection 1: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates (Kindle Locations 7712-7713). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

And yet people disappear now with internet and mobile phones and gps positioning and cctv. They had no idea how much worse it'd get. Insane.

Okay this story was really good. I loved it. The bet, the how of the crime, the alibi - epic. To go to so much effort to create a backstory for your alibi is truly epic. I hadn't quite seen it coming - I picked that he'd willingly disappeared but not that he was the other guy!

The Adventure of The Italian Nobleman: Dr Hawker visits Poirot and Hastings and receives a call from a patient that he is being murdered.

Okay this one was pretty good too. I love all the detail that goes into these crimes.

The Case of The Missing Will: An uncle dies and gives his niece one year –

“during which time my clever niece may prove her wits”

Christie, Agatha. Hercule Poirot 3-Book Collection 1: The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Murder on the Links, Poirot Investigates (Kindle Locations 8138-8139). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

This was my favourite. I always love when women get the better of men. Particularly men who think they're clever.