Book Preview ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE I Mr. Morley was not in the best of tempers at breakfast. He complained of the bacon, wondered why the coffee had to have the appearance of liquid mud, and remarked that breakfast cereals were each one worse than the last. Mr. Morley was a small man with … Read more
Book Preview One OVERTURE In the afternoons it was the custom of Miss Jane Marple to unfold her second newspaper. Two newspapers were delivered at her house every morning. The first one Miss Marple read while sipping her early morning tea, that is, if it was delivered in time. The boy who delivered the papers … Read more
Book Preview Tommy Beresford removed his overcoat in the hall of the flat. He hung it up with some care, taking time over it. His hat went carefully on the next peg. He squared his shoulders, affixed a resolute smile to his face and walked into the sitting room, where his wife sat knitting a … Read more
Book Preview One AN IMPORTANT PASSENGER ON THE TAURUS EXPRESS It was five o’clock on a winter’s morning in Syria. Alongside the platform at Aleppo stood the train grandly designated in railway guides as the Taurus Express. It consisted of a kitchen and dining car, a sleeping car and two local coaches. By the step … Read more
Book Preview One A FELLOW TRAVELLER England! England after many years! How was he going to like it? Luke Fitzwilliam asked himself that question as he walked down the gangplank to the dock. It was present at the back of his mind all through the wait in the Customs’ shed. It came suddenly to the … Read more
Book Preview “Penny for the guy, sir?” A small boy with a grimy face grinned ingratiatingly. “Certainly not!” said Chief Inspector Japp. “And, look here, my lad—” A short homily followed. The dismayed urchin beat a precipitate retreat, remarking briefly and succinctly to his youthful friends: “Blimey, if it ain’t a cop all togged up!” … Read more
Book Preview Foreword by Giles Reilly, MD The events chronicled in this narrative took place some four years ago. Circumstances have rendered it necessary, in my opinion, that a straightforward account of them should be given to the public. There have been the wildest and most ridiculous rumours suggesting that important evidence was suppressed and … Read more
Book Preview About Agatha Christie Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 100 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. … Read more
Book Preview Sanctuary I The vicar’s wife came round the corner of the vicarage with her arms full of chrysanthemums. A good deal of rich garden soil was attached to her strong brogue shoes and a few fragments of earth were adhering to her nose, but of that fact she was perfectly unconscious. She had … Read more
Book Preview Contents Cover Title Page Author’s Foreword to Miss Marple and the Thirteen Problems Chapter 1 – The Actress Chapter 2 – The Girl in the Train Chapter 3 – While the Light Lasts Chapter 4 – The Red Signal Chapter 5 – The Mystery of the Blue Jar Chapter 6 – … Read more
Book Preview One A THEATRICAL PARTY The memory of the public is short. Already the intense interest and excitement aroused by the murder of George Alfred St. Vincent Marsh, fourth Baron Edgware, is a thing past and forgotten. Newer sensations have taken its place. My friend, Hercule Poirot, was never openly mentioned in connection with … Read more
Book Preview Chapter One Hercule Poirot frowned. “Miss Lemon,” he said. “Yes, M. Poirot?” “There are three mistakes in this letter.” His voice held incredulity. For Miss Lemon, that hideous and efficient woman, never made mistakes. She was never ill, never tired, never upset, never inaccurate. For all practical purposes, that is to say, she … Read more
Book Preview Foreword: Who Is Hercule Poirot? He was born in Agatha Christie’s fertile brain—a refugee from the German invasion of Belgium that brought Britain into World War I, the Great War of 1914–18. Those who could flee the German onslaught did, and as a ranking policeman in the city of Brussels, Poirot might well … Read more
Book Preview My dear James You have always been one of the most faithful and kindly of my readers, and I was therefore seriously perturbed when I received from you a word of criticism. You complained that my murders were getting too refined—anaemic, in fact. You yearned for a ‘good violent murder with lots of … Read more
Book Preview HERCULE POIROT’S CASEBOOK Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her seventy-six detective novels and books of stories have been translated into every major language, and her sales are calculated in tens of millions. She began writing at the end of the First World War, when she created … Read more
Book Preview Although it was published in November 1956, the Hercule Poirot novel Dead Man’s Folly had a complicated two-year genesis. In November 1954 Agatha Christie’s agent Hughes Massie wrote to the Diocesan Board of Finance in Exeter explaining that his client would like to see stained glass windows in the chancel of Churston Ferrers … Read more
Book Preview One Mrs. Ariadne Oliver had gone with the friend with whom she was staying, Judith Butler, to help with the preparations for a children’s party which was to take place that same evening. At the moment it was a scene of chaotic activity. Energetic women came in and out of doors moving chairs, … Read more
Book Preview It was the opening night of London’s new National Opera House and consequently an occasion. Royalty was there. The Press were there. The fashionable were there in large quantities. Even the musical, by hook and by crook, had managed to be there – mostly very high up in the final tier of seats … Read more