Agatha Christie

The illustrious career of Hercule Poirot begins with this tale of intrigue. Poirot, a master of inquiry, is called in to investigate the sudden death of elderly Emily Inglethorp at Styles Court in the village of Styles-Saint-Mary in Essex. She has just married for a second time, and Alfred Inglethorp (a former secretary and 20 years younger than Emily) is the new husband. There are many people in residence at Styles at the time of death who can

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"Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again--p. 4 cover.

A superb example of Christie drawing on real life events for her inspiration. Inspired by the horror of the true life serial killer Jack the Ripper, Christie sought to reduce the violence in The ABC Murders. She was more interested in mystery than horror. Was she wrong to do this? Would the book be better if the truly savage crimes of a serial killer were described in more detail? An ever changing society is depicted through the use of the railways....

"It's seven in the morning. The Bantry's wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry? The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple into their home to investigate. Amid rumors of scandal, she baits...

The Queen of Mystery has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense--creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters--brings her entire oeuvre of ingenious whodunits, locked room mysteries, and perplexing puzzles to Harper Paperbacks. In the Christie classic Peril at End House, a young woman who has recently survived a series of very...

"At a Hallowe'en party, Joyce--a hostile thirteen-year-old--boasts that she once witnessed a murder. When no one believes her, she storms off home. But within hours her body is found, still in the house, drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. That night, Hercule Poirot is called in to find the 'evil presence.' But first he must establish whether he is looking for a murderer or a doubler murderer ..."--Back cover.

In Agatha Christie's classic mystery, Cards on the Table, the wily Hercule Poirot is on the case when a bridge night turns deadly

Mr. Shaitana is famous as a flamboyant party host. Nevertheless, he is a man of whom everybody is a little afraid. So when he boasts to Hercule Poirot that he considers murder an art form, the detective has some reservations about accepting a party invitation to view Shaitana's "private collection."

Indeed,

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"Hercule Poirot rushes to France in response to an urgent and cryptic plea from a client. But the Belgian detective arrives just too late: the man who had summoned him is found dead on a golf course, stabbed in the back with a letter opener and wearing an ill-fitting coat with a mysterious love letter in its pocket. Strange circumstances multiply, culminating in the discovery of a second body stabbed with the same murder weapon. While the local authorities...

"When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again--for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing. The prime suspect is Ruth's estranged husband, Derek. Yet Hercule Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie reenactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board"--Page...

When a shrewish stage star is found strangled at a posh island resort, detective Hercule Poirot is called in to investigate.