Poirot Investigates (#3)

By Agatha Christie

THE SHORT

Poirot returns, and in this collection of eleven stories, the mysteries he solves are...strangely uncompelling and unfulfilling? The stories Christie jam into this 265 page book seem rushed, and no more than sketches, skeletons of outlines that Christie planned to use later to develop into full length novels. As such, the short stories are thoroughly boring and drab, devoid of the usual sparkle that Christie injects into her full-length novels. Perhaps she had been trying to emulate the great Sherlock Holmes by transforming Poirot into another form, but it fails terribly. Motives are left unresolved, and we never actually get to see much of what makes Poirot such a good mystery solver. Christie seems to be searching for ways to surprise to the reader, rather than well-explained ways that can still dazzle the reader. However, there are gems in this collection, but they are few. Mediocre and lacking in the true mystery, Poirot Investigates falls far below my expectations.

THE REVIEW

As I have done with The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, I shall be reviewing each and every short story featured in this book, and the end I shall provide a general summary and a rating.

The Adventure of 'The Western Star'

Circling around the dual theft of a diamond, this story is bad. Really, really bad. There is no mystery at all for Poirot to solve and we spend most of this story plodding around in Hastings's dimwitted brain, unable to see Poirot's magic at work. Rather, Christie builds up a weak story with no premise at all, unsuccessfully trying to create suspense, and the solution comes rather rushed. To be truthful, I had to make myself sit through this one. One finds the overbearing Hastings's complaints annoying and unwelcome, and Christie failed in this area to compare Hastings to Watson, as Hastings remains boring, one-sided, and completely unreadable. Only one thing to say: <<sigh>>

Rating: 4.2/10

The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor

About a man who seems to have died from a internal hemorrhage, this story gives away far too much of its solution ahead of time, with Poirot telling Hastings about the case, when this spoils the mystery. However, in this story we witness two of Christie's most clever devices, Poirot using the word-association technique to gather clues, and his drama to expose Mrs. Maltravers. However, there is very little development from the first story to this, although this one is just slightly better than the previous one. Underdeveloped, the plot here fails to full enrapture the readers.

Rating: 5.4/10

The Adventure of the Cheap Flat

Here, the story suffers from an eternal problem of Christie's: the use of previously unknown stories used to solve mysteries. Evident in The Murder on the Links, here it smashes itself into the wall and drags the whole story down. The mystery hinges on this one fact, and it really is vexing to the reader that we don't actually get to start on a equal footing with Poirot. Poirot's "joke" of the cat at the end is, instead of being hilarious, is drab. Again, it all seems rushed, as Poirot has to resort to extremely short explanations.

Rating: 4.3/10

The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge

Actually, the solution here isn't half-bad, and its the first thing to truly just give the reader a glimpse of Christie's writing at its best. However, the predictable foil of the pistol placed at the tracks and the killing of Uncle Pace is way too obvious to the careful reader, and perhaps this is a result of Christie trying to give a chance. The concoction of Mrs. Havering playing the double role as the housekeeper is unsurpassed, as this twist is at least successfully pulled off. An average story.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Million Dollar Bond Robbery

This story, too, is unsurpassed. In how little sense it makes. For starters, the old man Shaw has absolutely no motive at all to sell the bonds, and this isn't even hinted at in the story. Greed for more money may be one of them, but one feels irked that he has to figure this out himself, instead of Christie actually telling us what Shaw wanted. For another, Christie suffers from trying to surprise the reader too much; while she tries to surprise us with Shaw being the criminal, she makes it far too unbelievable instead. Boring and bad, this story should be skipped altogether.

Rating: 2.1/10

The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb

Finally, Christie serves up a literary delicacy. Hard upon the heels of the horrible previous story, Christie successfully manages to show Poirot's inner understand of human psychology, working from a logical statement and solving the mystery from there. Brilliant, this story is made all the better with its superb suspense and expert plot, which lift it high above the other stories in this book. Simply amazing.

Rating: 8.6/10

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan

After the high of The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, Christie relapses into poor storytelling, making the solution of the mystery based on a single clue which any smart thief would know not to give to Poirot. Sure, the solution is smart and it leaves you kind of satisfied, but one feels that this story could have been made better without unnecessary embellishments on Christie's part.

Rating: 6.1/10

The Kidnapped Prime Minister

Trying to recapture some of the better Poirot stories, Christie fails in trying to raise the stakes in this story. By making Poirot save the Prime Minister, it seems like Christie was so desperate for material that she had to resort to Poirot solving a diplomatic mystery. She fell prey to the cliche, and this story is a joke and unbelievable. Really, one almost had to hold in one's laughter as he read this. Made all the worse by the stupid solution which doesn't satisfy you at all.

Rating: 3.7/10

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim

Another welcome delight, though not as good as The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb, this story displays Christie's imagination as she thinks up an excellent mystery and an even better solution to boot. However, she mars it by including too many unnecessary details, which may confound Poirot, but it confuses the readers even more. A clever story, this one is nearly very good.

Rating: 8.2/10

The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman

Mediocre, the only thing this story offers up is surprise. Surprise in the call, the death, the Italian, Poirot's solution and the criminal. So repetitive, it starts to get on your nerves. Though it may be a bit compelling and interesting, it is only up till the point where Poirot discovers the dead body that you are interested. From then on, it becomes a little obvious, as Christie yet again rushes to the end, Poirot also rushing to complete his explanation before it becomes far too long.

Rating: 5.5/10

The Case of the Missing Will

Unfortunately, Christie wasn't able to finish this poor novel on a swansong, rather, she collapses towards the finish line, panting as she crawls across the line, struggling to end this bland book. Obvious and predictable, this story suffers from every "Christie-ism" listed in this review. It is rushed, motiveless (and sexist as well), and rather confusing. Christie doesn't explain things much, leading to this story becoming a tangled whirl of Poirot shouting: "OF COURSE!" Bleh.

Rating: 3.1/10

OVERALL

All in all, this was a very poor collection of Poirot stories, and Christie severely disappoints us with this novel. Drab, we can only hope that Christie learns her lesson after this underperforming novel. Far from entertaining, the mysteries here are very boring and confusing.

Overall Rating: 5.2/10

Overall Advice: Remember when I said above that you should skip The Million Dollar Bond Robbery? Well, I changed my mind. You should skip the whole book, with the notable exception of The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb and The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim.

Well, this book was a sore disappointment, but I hope that Christie really improves on her writing, otherwise, Poirot will become unreadable. Terribly sorry that Poirot, one of the most charismatic detectives, has to suffer in this dull book.

Next week:I return to a galaxy far, far away with my review of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones! The film was mildly better than The Phantom Menace, but can R.A. Salvatore salvage the film and bring to a brilliant book form? Or will it flop like the movie did? Find out next week as I review Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones!