The Adventure Of The Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie (Audio Book)

 

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie.

Narrated by Hugh Fraser.

From the cover:

Released 27th December 2006 by Harper Collins.

First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding...then the discovery of a corpse in a chest, but what can link these baffling cases? The little grey cells of Monsieur Hercule Poirot! 

Feast yourself on these intriguing crime mysteries from the distinctive hand of the queen of crime fiction. 

Stories include:

- The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

- The Mystery of the Spanish Chest

- Four-And-Twenty Blackbirds

- The Under Dog

- The Dream

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This little collection was a comforting reread for me - this time, enjoyed solely through the dulcet tones of one of my favourute narrators, the lovely Hugh Fraser, via audio book.

It begins with the main event, the charming short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, featuring my favourite little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. This is the one I was really here for this year, because of the festive vibes. 

Poirot is reluctantly persuaded away from his quiet Christmas pursuits to rescue a foolish foreign prince, who has allowed a precious ruby to be stolen by the young woman he was having an affair with. Should the prince's family and fiancée become aware of his indiscretions the scandal would provoke a diplomatic incident, so Poirot's quest is to retrieve the gem as quietly as possible. 

An undisclosed source points Poirot in the direction of Kings Lacey, the home of the unsuspecting Colonel Lacey, where the thief may be hiding out with her accomplice. Poirot artfully wrangles an invitation to spend Christmas with the family, much to the bemusement of the stuffy Colonel, and sets his little grey cells to the task.

During a stay which involves lots of festive goodies, and family amusements in the traditional English style, the ruby puts in an unexpected appearance in the Christmas pudding. Shenanigans have been afoot intended to hoodwink our little Belgian detective on more than one front, but Poirot is way ahead of the game, and he manages to use a put-up murder arranged by the children of the house for his entertainment to trap the jewel thieves. Magnifique!

In completing his quest, Poirot also makes friends among the domestic staff, and sorts out some tricky relationship issues in the insightful way he has, allowing Christie to tie up all the loose ends in a very satisfying bow. It is deliciously festive little tale, full of fun, and one of my favourite Poirot short stories.

The collection continues with four other Poirot short stories that involve a mix of spontaneous, passion driven murders, and carefully calculated demises motivated by avarice - The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, The Under Dog, and The Dream. Poirot solves them all without too much trouble with his usual method and order, and intriguingly, a little Sherlock Holmes flair. They are less endearing than the Christmas story, for me, but nevertheless they are devilishly tricky at times, and a nice showcase for Poirot's deductive powers. 

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is available to buy now in various formats. 

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.