Midsummer Mysteries: Tales from the Queen of Mystery

by Agatha Christie

Overview

Agatha Christie’s most famous characters—including Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple—solve even the most devilish of conundrums as the sun beats down in this all-new summer themed collection from the Queen of Mystery.

Summertime—as the temperature rises, so does the potential for evil. From Cornwall to the French Riviera, whether against a background of Delphic temples or English country houses, Agatha Christie’s most famous characters solve complicated puzzles as the stakes heat up. Pull up a deckchair and enjoy plot twists and red herrings galore from the bestselling fiction writer of all time.

Includes the stories:

• The Blood-Stained Pavement
• The Double Clue
• A Death on the Nile
• Harlequin’s Lane
• The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
• Jane in Search of a Job
• The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
• The Idol House of Astarte
• The Rajah’s Emerald
• The Oracle at Delphi
• The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger
• The Incredible Theft

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063310964
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/09/2023
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	447
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.

Date of Birth:

September 15, 1890

Date of Death:

January 12, 1976

Place of Birth:

Torquay, Devon, England

Education:

Home schooling

Website:

http://www.agathachristie.com

Editorial Reviews

"Whether a moustachioed dandy or a seemingly harmless spinster, the villains never see Christie’s sleuths coming—and that's half the fun." — Leigh Bardugo, New York Times bestselling author of the Shadow and Bone Trilogy

"Captivating and addictive, Agatha Christie's work never fails to delight." — Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee

"The queen of jaw-dropping, heart-stopping twists." — Karen M. McManus, New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying

"Billions of readers can’t be wrong." — Dreda Say Mitchell

"Agatha Christie is the gateway drug to crime fiction both for readers and for writers" — Val McDermid

"Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction." — Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of the Dublin Murder Squad novels

"Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction." — Peter James

"Christie's ingenious plots and fiendish twists set the bar for all of us who follow in her footsteps." — Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10

"There’s no such thing as a disappointing Agatha Christie: there are only good ones and better ones." — Naomi Alderman, New York Times bestselling author of The Power

From the Publisher

2023-02-23
Another unnecessary but rewarding collection of 12 stories culled from the archives of the Queen of Crime.

The least familiar item is the brief introduction, an excerpt from Christie’s autobiography describing her shock and sorrow when a well-meaning guide in the Pyrenees pinned a live butterfly to her hat. The stories that follow, all reprinted in earlier collections, feature her leading sleuths and then some. Miss Jane Marple plays armchair detective in the clever “The Blood-Stained Pavement” and “The Idol House of Astarte,” which is clearly meant to be creepier than it really is. Mr. Parker Pyne solves a poisoning in “Death on the Nile,” a story that shares only its setting with Christie’s novel, and a kidnapping in “The Oracle at Delphi,” which closes with a decided snap. Tommy and Tuppence unexpectedly find themselves in a Bulldog Drummond parody in the silly “The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger.” Elderly Mr. Satterthwaite meets spectral Harley Quin in “Harlequin’s Lane,” which shows Christie’s impatience with the whodunit formula and the limitations of her attempts to break out of it. The ingenious “The Rajah’s Emerald” and the amusing, improbable “Jane in Search of a Job” get along without any franchise detectives. The star, of course, is Hercule Poirot, who ebulliently solves “The Double Clue,” “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” “The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim,” and the longest tale here, “The Incredible Theft,” all of which showcase Christie’s underappreciated talent for enlivening the second movements of her stories—the questioning of suspects—with teasing undercurrents of suspicion and misdirection. Fans will charitably overlook the appearance of too many fake detectives.

Creaky, tasty bonbons from the golden age.

Kirkus Reviews