The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot)

by Agatha Christie

Paperback, 1986

Status

Available

Call number

823.912

Publication

Berkley (1986), 176 pages

Description

There's a body in a trunk; a dead girl's reflection is caught in a mirror; and one corpse is back from the grave, while another is envisioned in the recurring nightmare of a terrified eccentric. What's behind such ghastly misdeeds? Try money, revenge, passion, and pleasure. With multiple motives, multiple victims, and multiple suspects, it's going to take a multitude of talent to solve these clever crimes. In this inviting collection, Agatha Christie enlists the services of her finest-Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Parker Pyne-and puts them each to the test in the most challenging cases of their careers.

User reviews

LibraryThing member passion4reading

This collection of nine stories, featuring three of her best-known creations, samples Agatha Christie's skill with the short story, with some more, some less successful. On the whole I enjoyed the slightly longer stories more, especially 'The Regatta Mystery' and 'The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest',

while I thought the solution in other stories too clever and intricate and thus stretching credulity ('Yellow Iris', 'The Dream' and 'Problem at Sea'); 'A Glass Darkly', a mystery with a touch of the paranormal, I found neither here nor there. In all, this anthology presented a nice little diversion to pass the time when my brain was too tired to cope with a novel, but nothing more.

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LibraryThing member cmbohn

A collection of short stories featuring almost all of Christie's detectives. Miss Marple's story, told in a letter, is of helping a man accused of murdering his wife. Poirot is in this one too, working on a jewel theft, as is mysterious sleuth Parker Pyne, who interrupts his vacation to help some

frustrated lovers. A good collection.

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LibraryThing member riverwillow

An interesting bunch of short stories featuring Christie's main sleuths, Poirot, Miss Marper and Parker Pyne. Some ofthe stories have a supernatural twist and others are fiarly straightforward mysteries which makes this an interesting and varied collection.

LibraryThing member cbl_tn

The Regatta Mystery is a collection of short stories featuring three of Christie's detectives: Hercule Poirot, Parker Pyne, and Miss Marple. One story is a stand-alone suspense story with supernatural elements. The audio version uses various readers, including Hugh Fraser (Hastings in the British

TV series), David Suchet (Poirot in the British TV series), and Joan Hickson (my favorite Miss Marple).

This collection would be a good introduction to Christie's works for newbies. Christie was at the top of her game when this collection was first published. The Poirot stories are all classics. The Miss Marple story is delightful, particularly since it is one of her few appearances in Christie's works up to this point in their publication history. Although Parker Pyne isn't my favorite Christie detective, his two stories in this collection are both entertaining. I don't care for supernatural fiction in general, and Christie's works in this genre are no exception. The single story in this collection is more tolerable than most.

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LibraryThing member pussreboots

While I prefer Agatha Christie's longer works, it's sometimes nice just have a sampling. My favorite of the short stories are the ones with Parker Pyne who in one story reluctantly admits that his first name is Christopher. Pyne is the opposite of fastidious and sometimes pompous M. Poirot or the

ever congenial Miss Marple. No, he's in his line of work for the money and makes no apologies for it.

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LibraryThing member antiquary

Some individual stories are good, but this collection irritates me because it is a reshuffling of stories which have appeared in other collections.

LibraryThing member jguidry

This was a collection of short stories starring various Christie detectives. Some of the stories were better than others, which is usual for an anthology. I do find it humorous that both my favorite and least favorite stories starred the same detective, Parker Pyne. My favorite story was the title

story, "The Regatta Mystery". It was my first introduction to Parker Pyne and I liked his style. Very similar to Hercule Poirot, my favorite Christie detective. I did not like "Problem at Pollensa Bay" also starring Parker Pyne. I thought the resolution of the problem was ridiculous. The other stories were a decent mixture of Agatha Christie's style.

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LibraryThing member mstrust

A collection of short mysteries that feature Poirot, Miss Marple or Parker Pyne. These involve murders, a stolen diamond, and a woman who wants her son's engagement to an unsuitable woman to be broken.
I like these quick mysteries from Christie. She gets to the point with small lists of suspects

and few red herrings. I like knowing that she enjoyed writing mysteries enough to do them at any length, and had such an imagination that the well never ran dry. Some are better than others, but they're all pretty good.

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LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq

The Regatta Mystery - Parker Pyne: Mr Parker Pyne catches a diamond thief during regatta festivities at Dartmouth Harbour.

The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest - Poirot: M. Poirot figures out how a dead body found its way into the titular chest in the midst of a dance party

How Does Your Garden Grow? -

Poirot: M. Poirot finds the clue to the murder of an older woman who has written him for help just prior to her death

Problem at Pollensa Bay - Mr. Pyne: During his vacation, Parker Pyne solves a mother's dislike for her son's fiancee before an act of violence can occur

Yellow Iris - Poirot: Poirot follows an anonymous phone call to a restaurant table laden with the favourite flower of a woman who died mysteriously four years before. This story was expanded and made into the full-length mystery Sparkling Cyanide, featuring Colonel Race instead of Poirot

Miss Marple Tells a Story - Marple: Miss Marple recalls solving (without leaving her own chair) a seemingly impossible murder

The Dream - Poirot: An eccentric millionaire tells Poirot of a troubling dream in which he kills himself – and is found dead a week later

In a Glass Darkly - I have not read

Problem at Sea - Poirot: a rich woman is found dead in her cabin on a luxury ship off the shore of Alexandria. The story concludes with Poirot saying: "I do not approve of murder."

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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50

The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories by Agatha Christie is a collection of short stories from her voluminous library of works. All the stories with the exception of one feature her well-known detectives, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Parker Pine. The once exception is Through a Glass Darkly

which has a slight connotation of the super-natural which seemed fitting for this time of year.

I loved the Miss Marple story, entitled Miss Marple Tells A Story. And although I had read two of the Hercule Poirot stories before, they all had Poirot using his “little grey cells” to his advantage. I had mixed feelings about the Parker Pine stories probably as this was my first introduction to this character and I found him rather obnoxious and as insufferable as Poirot but without the humor and idiosyncrasies that the Belgium detective displays.

While I do prefer Christie’s longer works as it gives her more of chance to twist the stories, sprinkle more red herrings and give us clever endings, these stories were good and I enjoyed reading them.

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LibraryThing member AmphipodGirl

A mixed bag of short stories: some Parker Pyne, some Poirot, one Marple, and one spooky. My favorite was How Does Your Garden Grow? -- a Poirot with a clever attempt to hide the murder method.

LibraryThing member funstm

The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories contains one miscellaneous story; two Parker Pyne stories, five Hercule Poirot stories and one Miss Marple. My favourites were the Parker Pyne, Problem at Pollensa Bay and the Miss Marple; Miss Marple Tells a Story. My least favourites were the Poirot, How Does

Your Garden Grow? and the miscellaneous story, In a Glass Darkly. The overall collection rating is 3 stars. Individual ratings and reviews below.

PARKER PYNE: THE REGATTA MYSTERY ***
POIROT: THE MYSTERY OF THE BAGHDAD CHEST: ***
POIROT: HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?: **
PARKER PYNE: PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY ****
POIROT: YELLOW IRIS: ***
MARPLE: 14.14: MISS MARPLE TELLS A STORY ****
POIROT: THE DREAM: ***
MISC: IN A GLASS DARKLY: **
POIROT: PROBLEM AT SEA: ***

PARKER PYNE: THE REGATTA MYSTERY ***

A young girl bets she can successfully steal a very expensive diamond but is distraught to find it actually missing. This was alright, I didn't really guess how it was done, but the conclusion was interesting. 3 stars.

POIROT: THE MYSTERY OF THE BAGHDAD CHEST: ***

A wife asks Poirot to investigate her husband's murder when his best friend is arrested. This was kind of genius in some ways, average in others. The actual execution of the crime was interesting but the motive of the guilty party seemed a little weak. I mean he wanted the wife? And not even the friend who they think is on with the wife, but the other friend. Just seemed a little over the top. 3 stars.

POIROT: HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?: **

An old lady dies leaving her money to her nurse attendant and the family are not pleased. Miss Lemon (Poirot's confidential secretary) is a card - as much as George the Valet. Where does Poirot find these people? I love that in order to satisfy his desire for order and process that he keeps having to find people with limited imagination. The mystery itself was pretty boring. Very basic - it wasn't really long enough for proper detail. 2 stars.

PARKER PYNE: PROBLEM AT POLLENSA BAY ****

A mother travelling with her son is horrified to find he wants to get married to an unsuitable modern woman. This one was funny. I loved that the mother decides to like the fiancee once she appears to be the better choice. And I felt sorry for Pyne that he wasn't able to get away from anyone long enough to have a holiday. 4 stars.

POIROT: YELLOW IRIS: ***

Poirot receives a mysterious call begging for him to come to a restaurant to prevent a murder, except when he gets there no one owns up to calling him. So he joins the dinner party and soon finds himself puzzling out the motives of a murder that happened four years ago - and looks to be repeated again. This one was alright, usual fare. 3 stars.

MARPLE: 14.14: MISS MARPLE TELLS A STORY ****

This short story experiments with the use of first person, having Miss Marple supposedly speaking to Raymond and Joan. Marple is visited by Mr Petherick, her solicitor and one of his client's, a Mr Rhodes. Mr Rhodes' wife was just stabbed to death and the prime suspect was him. No one other than him and the chambermaid were seen entering or leaving the room and the chambermaid doesn't seem to have any motive. Mr Petherick decides to visit Miss Marple - because if anyone can solve a crime - it's her!

I guessed most of this one which always makes me happy. The style was interesting and I thought it worked well with the tale. The crime was amusing and I liked Miss Marple's solution to it. 4 stars.

POIROT: THE DREAM: ***

A billionaire has a recurring dream of his death and then is found dead the exact same way. Poirot is called to consult. I guessed parts of this which always increases my esteem of a short story. I love that all the police are getting behind the idea that any death which includes Poirot in any way must be murder.

“So that there is every reason to suppose that Mr. Farley committed suicide.” Inspector Barnett smiled a little. “There would have been no doubt at all but for one point.” “And that?” “The letter written to you.” Poirot smiled too. “I see! Where Hercule Poirot is concerned—immediately the suspicion of murder arises!” “Precisely,” said the inspector dryly. (p. 628)

3 stars.

MISC: IN A GLASS DARKLY: **

A man sees a spooky premonition of the death of his friend's sister by her fiance - both of whom he hasn't yet met. It was okay. Nothing special. Kinda creepy. The man in the mirror was actually him almost killing her. 2 stars.

POIROT: PROBLEM AT SEA: ***

Poirot is on a cruise ship (and I really wanted to know how he was convinced to think that was a good idea) when one of the passengers is found dead. This one was okay. I figured most of it out. - I guessed who was guilty (the husband) and some of the how - like that he threw his voice to make it sound like she was still alive when she was already dead - but not that he staged the card trick to set an alibi as a illusionist rather than a ventriloquist . But it just didn't really grab me that much. 3 stars.

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