Fiona's Reviews > Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories

I won a school prize once in my life: aged eleven, the primary school English prize. I was given my £10 book token, and instead of buying the dictionary I was supposed to get, I chose the complete Hercule Poirot short stories. I was aided and abetted by my mother, who approves of buying 800-page tomes as a treat, and I'm pretty sure my form tutor was likewise pleased--we're talking about the man who had spent the last year introducing me to the concept of Sherlock Holmes.

I read it over the summer, and this is still one of my favourite possessions. Agatha Christie has her flaws (and most of them involve foreigners), but she can write a story, and a situation, and a punchline, and she does it really well, again, and again, and again. Eleven-year-old me loved playing with the permutations. I love especially that she reuses character names, and tropes, and none of them are safe. Anyone could be the victim, and anyone (with two exceptions) could be the murderer.

The exceptions, of course, are (view spoiler)[the lovers. The optimistic young lady and whichever gentleman blushes the most when he's talking to her. This need not be the person she's intending to marry at the beginning, but he will be by the end. There's a flaw in your armour, Agatha. (hide spoiler)] But even then, (view spoiler)[there's Orient Express. (hide spoiler)] Nobody's safe.

This book is everything I like about Agatha Christie, all put in one place so you can take a microscope to it, compare things directly. I loved it then, I love it now. The older I get, the more respect I have for it.