Poirot Investigates

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Poirot Investigates is a short story collection by Agatha Christie published in 1924. In each of the 11 stories, famed eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety murder mysteries with greed, jealousy and revenge as motives.

[edit] List of Stories

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
  • In The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan, an American actress askes Poirot to protect her after receiving cryptic death threats in connection with her ownership of an Asian jewel. When the gem is stolen, it up to Poirot to unmask the thief and the tangled history of the jewel itself.
  • In The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor, a man takes out a large life insurance policy on himself, and then dies, seemingly of natural causes, several days later. Poirot is hired by the insurance company to uncover the truth behind the man's death.
  • In The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, two archeologists who have uncovered an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh's tomb both die within a month, from different causes. Poirot and his trusty sidekick, Hastings, head to Cairo and discover a string of victims from the archeological dig. Was the tomb really cursed?
  • In The Adventure of the Western Star, two diamond necklaces are stolen within days of each other. Witnesses claim they were stolen by a Chinaman, but were they really?
  • In The Adventure of the Cheap Flat, a couple finds a flat in London for less than a fourth of a price than the rest of the flats in the building. Other people have inquired but have been turned, down but the couple is allowed to have the flat? Poirot wants to know why it is so cheap and why only that certain couple is allowed to have it.
  • In The Veiled Lady, a woman comes to Poirot to help her stop someone from blackmailing her.
  • In The Chocolate Box, Poirot recalls a time when he failed in a case while working on the Belgian police force. He was about to arrest the wrong murderer in an investigation when the real murderer confessed.
  • In The Lost Mine, a Chinaman containing plans to a lost mine was coming to England to make a deal with a business. He disappears and his body is later found in a river.

As these stories are so short, very few red herrings are offered to divert the reader from the path to the killer's identity.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] ISBN

Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Death on the Nile • Dumb Witness • Appointment with Death • And Then There Were None • Murder is Easy • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Sad Cypress • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Sparkling Cyanide • Death Comes as the End • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • A Pocket Full of Rye • After the Funeral • Hickory Dickory Dock • Destination Unknown • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Hound of Death • The Thirteen Problems • Parker Pyne Investigates • The Listerdale Mystery • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • Poirot's Early Cases • The Harlequin Tea Set
Plays: Akhnaton • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three
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