Title: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées
Author: Agatha Christie
Published by: Harper
Published in: September 2002 (Originally in October 1960)
Pages: 363
'Do people then always like the same things? Do not they like a change sometimes?' 'Not gentlemen, sir. Ladies like variety -- gentlemen always like the same thing.'
--Four and Twenty Blackbirds
It's December, and you know what that means.
Well, sort of...
Our first book in 'tis season to be jolly is Agatha Christie's The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. Make no mistake, though there is only one title on the book cover, it actually consists of 6 short stories. Almost 85% of the stories belong to Poirot, with only one Miss Marple's. As always, Agatha Christie's writing is the perfect remedy for those of youhs who just want something light to bite, but not that light.
The first story is the namesake of this book. Hercule Poirot was requested to solve the mystery of a missing jewel. Precisely, a ruby. Basically, an Eastern prince made a foolish mistake to have a one night stand (my headcanon tbh) with a very attractive young woman, who turned out to be a swindler. If the scandal were to be found out by the public, it would cause an uproar. Hence, the police could not be involved. Enter, Poirot. And it could only be solved by attending a Christmas celebration at an English countryside mansion, supposedly by experiencing a typical English Christmas.
It is followed by The Mystery of the Spanish Chest. Poirot was intrigued by a headline in the newspaper about a murder case dubbed the Spanish Chest Mystery. A Major Charles Rich was accused of murdering his best friend, one Mr Clayton. See, Major Rich held a party at his flat which was attended by a few his closest friends, including Mr and Mrs Clayton. Mr Clayton decided to ditch at the last minute due to an urgent telegram asking him to come to Scotland. It was all fun and games, until the next morning Rich's manservant found Mr Clayton dead inside the Spanish chest on Rich's sitting room.
The Under Dog recounts the murder of a Sir Reuben Astwell at his country house. Cause of death was blunt trauma on the back of his head with a club. Suspicion fell on his nephew, yet his wife was sure that it was his secretary who'd done the deed although she basically had no proof. Four and Twenty Blackbirds is about people's habits, and how one anomaly could be the key to the reason of one's death. My personal favourite, The Dream, plays with the concept of déjà vu. When an eccentric millionaire invited Poirot to tell him of a dream he recently had -- an eerily specific dream of how and when he died -- Poirot, and in turn us readers, couldn't shake off the feeling that something is terribly off. And finally, in Greenshaw's Folly, we meet Miss Marple! Lady solved a murder mystery on a historical mansion literally from her sofa.
EGGLYSIS
You know what I always say about anthologies: they're either hit or miss. In The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées though, the quality of each story is more or less consistent. There is basically no downbeat. Well, what can you expect from the Queen of Crime herself? She wrote basically more than 100 stories, 66 of which are fiction novels.
At first, I feared that The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding would be bloody murder, literally. While the prospect seemed exciting, but the story would've been longer and wouldn't be the kind of 'Christmas mystery' light bite I was looking for. But Madame Christie knew best and she wrote just the right kind of mystery to whet our appetite for the holidays. The rest of the entrées take more risks, but didn't contrast the spirit of the season as they're technically not Christmas stories.
As mentioned above, my personal favourite is The Dream, though Four and Twenty Blackbirds and The Under Dog come in close second. The character analysis is delicious and I just love how sharp Poirot's analysis on human nature is.
Overall, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées...
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