The Adventure Of The Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie

 

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie.

This edition published 11th November 2021 by Harper Collins.

From the cover of the book:

Agatha Christie’s seasonal Poirot and Marple short story collection in a new hardback special edition.

First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding… then the discovery of a corpse in a chest… next, an overheard quarrel that led to murder… the strange case of the dead man who altered his eating habits… and the puzzle of the victim who dreamt his own suicide.

What links these five baffling cases? The little grey cells of Monsieur Hercule Poirot!

Contains the stories:

• The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

• The Mystery of the Spanish Chest

• Four-And-Twenty Blackbirds

• The Under Dog

• The Dream

Plus, the Miss Marple adventure: Greenshaw's Folly

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This little collection begins with the main event, the festive short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding featuring my favourite little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

Poirot finds himself called upon to help out a foreign prince locate a precious ruby that has been stolen by a young woman he foolishly became entangled with, and thus head off a diplomatic incident. To retrieve the gem, Poirot wrangles an invitation to Kings Lacey, the family seat of Colonel Lacey and his family, where the thief in question may be staying with her accomplice.

During a stay which involves lots of festive goodies, and family amusements in the traditional English style, the ruby puts in an appearance in the Christmas pudding, and Poirot cleverly uses it to trap the guilty parties by way of a put-up murder arranged by the children of the house to fool him. In doing so, he also makes friends of the domestic staff, sorts out some tricky relationship issues, and ties up all the loose ends in a very satisfying bow. It is deliciously festive, lots of fun, and one of my favourite Poirot short stories.

The collection continues with four other Poirot short stories that involve a a mix of spontaneous, passion driven murders, and carefully calculated demises motivated by avarice. Poirot solves them all without too much trouble, and although they are devilishly tricky they are less endearing that the Christmas story - The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, The Under Dog, and The Dream.

Interestingly, this edition is completed by a Miss Marple short story, Greenshaw's Folly, which has the honour of being one Christie later reworked as inspiration for the full length mystery starring Poirot, Dead Man's Folly. This is an entertaining little story in which Miss Marple typically uses her extensive knowledge of human nature drawn from village life (in this case the foibles of a Mr Naysmith) and solves the crime from the comfort of her arm chair. It is fascinating to tease out the plot details and themes that gave rise to the later Poirot story too!

This collection is my December choice for the #ReadChristie2022 challenge, and is the final one of the year. I have had such fun discovering facets of Christie's writing that were completely new to me, as well as revisiting some favourites, as part of the challenge this year. I cannot wait to get started on a whole new theme for #ReadChristie2023!

About the author:

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.