Book
Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
Synopsis
A collection of short stories about Hercule Poirot’s various cases, all narrated by his friend Captain Hastings.
Pros
- The variety of stories shows that Christie was a master at finding variation in a shared formula.
- The stories don’t feel particularly rushed, and still manage to capture most of the characterization and personality of the full-length mysteries.
- Often feels as if Christie didn’t consider the mystery aspect much of a challenge, and she was far more interested in the personalities of Poirot and Hastings.
- No one would mistake this for a feminist work, but it does subtly reinforce the intelligence and capabilities of women while still staying mostly within its boundaries as classist, sexist, early 20th century England.
- I always like it when Christie introduces elements of Egyptology and ancient Egyptian history into her stories, because it’s clear she dearly loves the subject.
- There’s a delightful couple of afterwards written by Christie, talking about her love/hate relationship with Poirot.
Cons
- Jarringly racist, in particular against the Chinese.
- The gimmick doesn’t always work; a couple of the stories are entirely in the form of Poirot telling Hastings a story that had happened years previously, and the lack of immediacy makes it difficult to follow.
- Some of the stories end abruptly.
Verdict
Light and mostly fun, especially good for establishing Poirot as a long-running character, with more presence than the full novel-length mysteries.
Side Note
My modest goal was to read 12 books this year, and I’m clearly not going to make it. It’s not been a great year, and maybe reading challenges are dumb?