Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
1924 was a very good year for rising young author Agatha Christie. Following the success of her first three novels (“The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, “The Secret Adversary” and “The Murder on the Links”), she produced during the year in question her first stand-alone thriller novel “The Man in the Brown Suit”, as well as a collection of short stories featuring the exploits of her most famous detective – Hercule Poirot.
“Poirot Investigates” gathers together eleven stories which were originally published in The Sketch magazine, and their history is fascinating. It was the magazine’s editor, Bruce Ingram, who suggested that Christie wrote them, as he’d been so impressed with “Styles”, and they appeared as follows:
The Adventure of “The Western Star” – 11 April 1923, Issue 1576
The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor – 18 April 1923, Issue 1577
The Adventure of the Cheap Flat – 9 May 1923, Issue 1580
The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge – 16 May 1923, Issue 1581
The Million Dollar Bond Robbery – 2 May 1923, Issue 1579
The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb – 26 September 1923, Issue 1600
The Jewel Robbery at the “Grand Metropolitan” – 14 March 1923, Issue 1572 (under the title The Curious Disappearance of the Opalsen Pearls)
The Kidnapped Prime Minister – 25 April 1923, Issue 1578
The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim – 28 March 1923, Issue 1574
The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman – 24 October 1923, Issue 1604
The Case of the Missing Will – 31 October 1923, Issue 1605
When published by Bodley Head in 1924 Christie was astute enough to insist that Bodley’s accept this as one of the books she was contracted to do with them. The stories feature Poirot and Captain Hastings, with Inspector Japp making appearances, and so you might be forgiven for thinking that you’re in traditional Poirot territory – well, not quite…
All of these tales are excellent of course; full of Christie’s misdirection, wonderful puzzles, sparkling repartee between Poirot and Hastings, plenty of twists and turns and satisfying solutions – one even has a little map! However, what’s particularly fascinating is that we’re seeing an *early* version of Poirot, before all the characteristics we think we know him for have developed (although much of the Poirot we know is already there). His lodgings are anonymous, on a street described as “not aristocratic”; and when he and Hastings arrive at Marsdon Leigh in “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor”, Poirot decides they will *walk* the mile from the station to the manor house. We even see, in “The Adventure of the Cheap Flat”, Poirot and Hastings lowering themselves down a chute in a coal lift! Miss Lemon and the more palatial Whitehaven Mansions are absent, and in these early tales, Christie’s debt to Conan Doyle is much clearer, and the relationship between Poirot and Hastings is noticeably Holmesian
However, it seems that as Christie was writing the stories, she was developing and refining her character. By “The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb”, one of the later 1923 works, Poirot is suffering in the Egyptian heat and sand, and exclaims at one point, in recognisable Poirot fashion:
“And my boots”, he wailed. “Regard them, Hastings. My boots, of the neat patent leather, usually so smart and shining. See, the sand is inside them, which is painful, and outside them, which outrages the eyesight. Also the heat, it causes my moustaches to become limp – but limp!”
By the time we reach the end of the stories, Poirot has settled into the detective we know and love, with his vanity intact, his amused tolerance of Hastings’ blunders and his ability to predict events and prevent disasters. He may not quite have the majesty of the Hercule of, say, “Murder on the Orient Express” , but he is still Poirot. But even in one of the early stories, “The Kidnapped Prime Minister”, Poirot states his credo as a detective strongly:
“It is not so that the good detective should act, eh? I perceive your thought. He must be full of energy. He must rush to and fro. He should prostrate himself on the dusty road the seek the marks of tyres through a little glass. He must gather up the cigarette-end, the fallen match? That is your idea, is it not? … But I – Hercule Poirot – tell you that it is not so! The true clues are within – here! … All that matters is the little grey cells within.”
And needless to say, in several stories Poirot solves the mystery by just sitting still and exercising them. As Hastings says, in exasperated fashion at the end of one of the tales, “Poirot was right. He always is, confound him!”
There is an old saying that familiarity breeds contempt; and although I could never feel contempt for Poirot there’s the risk that he’s become so familiar to us nowadays that we see him as a bit of a caricature and don’t look past the surface image. However, rereading “Poirot Investigates” has been something of a revelation; I’ve reconnected with Christie and her creation in a big way and I’ve rediscovered how much I love her books. So thank goodness for Simon’s wonderful idea for the 1924 club…!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 07:25:31
I’ve just finished this myself and agree with all you say here. I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would and will be reviewing it soon. Hooray for the 1924 Club!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 10:53:32
Yay! Thanks Harriet – glad you enjoyed this one too and look forward to reading your thoughts. Yes, as you say, hooray for 1924 – I really think we could have spent a month there!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 07:39:08
It wouldn’t be the 1924 Club without some Agatha Christie! I went through an AC phase in my younger days but it’s been ages since I read any of her books. This sounds like a very enjoyable collection.
Oct 25, 2015 @ 10:52:36
It was! I’ve read all of her books at some point in my life, and if I had long enough and plenty of spare reading hours I’d love to re-read them all from start to finish!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 09:14:06
It’s many years since I read these early Poirot stories but this is a collection which served to get me hooked on Agatha when I borrowed it from the library when I was around 11 or 12. I always enjoyed Poirot when in the company of Hastings and Japp. Classic Christie 😊
Oct 25, 2015 @ 10:51:59
I hate to admit how long it is since I read these stories, but I *so* enjoyed re-reading – I spent a good part of my teens reading Agatha and as you say, with Hastings and Japp alongside you can’t go wrong!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 09:36:48
I have ambivalent feelings about Poirot, he is brilliant but often irritating! This collection sounds like a good way for me to get back on side 🙂
Oct 25, 2015 @ 10:50:21
I *love* Poirot, personally – I know he has his irritating mannerisms, but he always wins me over. I really enjoyed revisiting this collection – it reminded me how much Christie was formative reading for me!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 13:10:57
That’s an interesting point about the early character of Poirot, not one I’d picked up on, although it does remind me of when he sometimes talks about his youth spent in the Belgian police force. I love that Christie is able to create a charismatic detective without even thinking about the tired old idea of the “fatal flaw.”
Oct 25, 2015 @ 14:08:37
I don’t think I would have picked up on that element of Poirot’s character first time round – but having read so many of them and steeped myself in all things Poirot over the years, it really jumped out at me this time!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 15:04:53
Thank you for this post. Made me feel so nostalgic!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 15:15:35
🙂 I could happily just wallow in Christie books!
Oct 25, 2015 @ 15:34:26
I love following a character’s development through a series, as not only the reader becomes more familiar with them but also, and more crucially, the writer. What’s more, once Christie has rounded out Poirot she is consistent. There is nothing more annoying than a writer who false steps a character later on in the series.
Oct 25, 2015 @ 15:52:01
You’re right – she was a master of genre and had Poirot nailed. I *really* wish I had time to read her from start to finish!
The 1924 Club is here! | Stuck in a Book
Oct 25, 2015 @ 18:36:45
Oct 26, 2015 @ 10:23:22
Very interesting! I’ve done my 1924 Club book now, hooray! Review to come later today. It’s good to have this impetus to read slightly off our planned track, isn’t it!
Oct 26, 2015 @ 13:13:14
Yay! Look forward to your review. This is a fun challenge and I could have read 1924 for a lot longer!
Oct 26, 2015 @ 11:21:44
How wonderful, Agatha Christie is another of my favorite writers!! My American book club was to my horror not familiar with her. They needed educating right away…so December 2nd the book club at my house is an English tea party…with ‘Murder for Christmas’ on the menu (and that is only the start!) I love her most for the way she writes the conversations, you cannot help but feel you are actually in the room and watch all the characters and are almost amazed to find you cannot join in! xo Johanna
Oct 26, 2015 @ 13:12:46
Gosh! Imagine not having read any Agatha! I hope your book club enjoys Murder for Christmas – what fun! 🙂
Oct 26, 2015 @ 21:02:15
I’ve read all of Christie, I think, but have rarely re-read her books with a couple of exceptions (well, POSTERN is one, but that was all your fault). Never all that keen on her shorter work and n fact I always preferred the TV adaptions of the short stories actually (conversely, with the novels, I dislike most of the the Suchet adaptations, with a few major exceptions).
Oct 26, 2015 @ 21:44:17
Sorry about Postern…. I’m inordinately fond of Christie – I’ve read many of hers many times over my life, so I guess I’m really rather biased!
Oct 28, 2015 @ 18:12:17
I’ve watch some of the Poirot stories on WTTW — they do a great job with the Agatha Christie mysteries.
Oct 28, 2015 @ 18:26:53
They do! I think David Suchet and co deserve medals for bringing him to life!
Oct 29, 2015 @ 08:23:51
I. Currently working my way through the Poirot novels and I skipped this one for some reason; maybe I’ll go back and read it now I’ve read your review. Thanks
Oct 29, 2015 @ 08:45:36
It’s definitely worth reading – there’s some classic Poirot in there!
Oct 29, 2015 @ 14:11:51
I read a lot of Ag Bags, as my family so kindly called them, when I was a teenager and never since. I’ve seen many of the television adaptations and I think that spoiled my appreciation of the books, I thought of her as being only interesting in terms of plot. However, recently reading some of her short stories, even though they weren’t great, really made me see her again in a new light and I plan on re-reading some of the others. Your thoughts about Poirot being too familiar are spot-on as far as I’m concerned!
Oct 29, 2015 @ 14:48:49
Yes, there’s such a danger when a character becomes so well known as to become a cliche. Luckily, as it was so long since I’d read these stories they seemed wonderfully fresh.
Nov 01, 2015 @ 01:32:52
I love Agatha Christie, but have never read her short stories. I love Poirot! I especially like the sound of the one about the Egyptian tomb!
Nov 01, 2015 @ 10:42:52
These were great fun, and Poirot works well in short story guise. Maybe I should reread The Labours of Hercules….
Dec 31, 2015 @ 07:25:37