If you are the type of Agatha Christie fan who collects everything she ever wrote, "The Harlequin Tea Set" will be a cause for celebration. Six of the nine stories originally appeared in magazines and have never been collected before. I would say Dame Agatha made a wise decision to let these little critters languish between magazine covers.

Most of the stories were written very early in her career and have a girlishly romantic flavor with almost no mystery. The one Hercule Poirot tale "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" is a fair puzzle, but she enlarged on the theme more successfully in the full-length "Baghdad Chest." The will-o'-the wisp, Mr. Harley Quin, one of my least favorite Christie characters, appears in the title piece with a very elderly Mr. Satterhwaite.

To savor Dame Agatha's really fine abilities as a short story writer, may I suggest the excellent "The Thirteen Problems." Give this one a pass.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

The Poirot piece here is an extended version of a similar story appearing previously in the Regatta Mystery. In this installment, Hercule laments that he wishes his old pal Hastings were around to give his romantic views on the murder case, when in the story's first incarnation, Hastings is narrating the tale! Very funny.
The best piece is the Lonely God, about a non descript museum idol that brings two lost souls together. Quite moving and touching... Also, as well, in the final story, it's nice to see Harley Quinn again. He appears almost like an apparition here, and very well could be just a figment of the main character's imagination.

Most of the stories herein have not appeared in previous collections after their original magazine publications; apart from the "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" and the title story, none feature any of Christie's stable of recurring characters.

Jack Leavitt makes the mistake of trying to blackmail "The Actress" (1923, Novel). 'Olga Stormer' - formerly Nancy Taylor - is *very* quick-witted, and came up through a tough school. She remembers Leavitt - and intends to turn the tables on the lever of his cowardice.

"While the Light Lasts" (1923, Novel) (The use of language at the beginning of the story is unintentionally funny - the phrase 'boy lover', for instance.) George Crozier has never properly understood that Deirdre broke their engagement to marry Tim Nugent for love, but married *him* for the material comforts he offered her, after Tim died in WWI. During their visit to one of George's business interests in Rhodesia, Deirdre notes a text on her dowdy hostess' wall that, of course, doesn't apply to her: 'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?'

Alan Everard's little daughter asks him a riddle: '"Within a Wall" (1925, Royal) as white as milk, within a curtain soft as silk, bathed in a sea of crystal clear, a golden apple doth appear.' He absently answers 'your mother' - Isobel, the penniless society beauty who married him, a genius painter, rather than a wealthy man. But she has a taste for the good life, and a certain cold calculation...(The 'correct' answer is 'an egg', incidentally.)

"The Lonely God" (1926, Royal) really *is* a god - a small, forgotten idol, head in his hands, on a shelf in the British museum, without even a plaque bespeaking his name or country of origin. Then the unlikeliest chance befalls him: Frank Oliver, lonely after spending his life in the farthest reaches of the Empire, notices him, and feels a kinship to another stranger in a strange land.

"The House of Dreams" (1926, Sovereign) Fantasy more than mystery. John Segrave comes of a socially prominent family fallen on hard times - he makes an adequate living as a clerk, but isn't a likely candidate for promotion. There's more to him than meets the eye, but he isn't interested in forming relationships. Then the boss' daughter takes a fancy to him - but John falls for her 'court jester' Allegra rather than for her. But something's wrong behind Allegra's lovely facade, just as there's something ominous about the lovely white house haunting John's dreams.

"The Edge" (1927, Pearson's) Claire Hailiwell always expected her childhood friendship with Gerald Lee to end in marriage - but Gerald married Vivien Harper after a whirlwind courtship, and was thick enough to expect them to be friends afterward. The relationships don't quite play out as the reader might expect. :)

"Manx Gold" (1930, The Daily Dispatch) This was written to support a _Masquerade_-style treasure hunt on the Isle of Man, which in turn was part of a scheme to boost tourism. The story itself is a missing legacy story - i.e., uncle hid the majority of his assets and our heroes must unravel the puzzle he set them in his will. The narrator and his first cousin Fenella have an intermittent engagement (depending on their finances), and uncle Myles pepped up matters by 1) *also* notifying 2 other relatives, both unscrupulous, but 2) giving the lovebirds 24 hours' start. The 4 'treasures' in the real life contest were hidden where the treasures in the story were found, so the story is at first rather obscure about exactly where our heroes located the snuffbox treasure chests.

"The Mystery of the Spanish Chest" (a.k.a. "The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest") is a Poirot story that appears in other collections, such as _The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories_.

"The Harlequin Tea Set" (1971) is one of the few Satterthwaite and Quin stories not collected in _The Mysterious Mr. Quin_, mainly because it takes place in the early 1970s - forty years after their last meeting in 'Harlequin's Lane' - so it's not surprising that while the sight of a Harlequin tea set in a shop window reminds Satterthwaite of something, it takes him a little thought to recall exactly what.

En realidad, le puse 4 estrellas porque si bien es un libro muy bueno, no es la excelencia a la que nos tiene acostumbrados Agatha Christie. Realmente, la lectura es fácil y amena, pero hay partes del libro que han quedado obsoletas, o bien que son demasiado remanidas. Pero para alguien que quiera un libro para leer, y pasar un buen rato, puede detenerse en este, sin demasiadas expectativas. (No es "La muerte de Roger Ackroyd", por ejemplo).

Uno de los aspectos más interesantes de esta historia es que sabe mantener el suspense. No le encuentro fallos,he leido el libro como actividad escolar, tengo doce años.

Set in the hotel of Styles Court in Styles, Essex, Agatha Christie's Curtain is a murder mystery that seemed to never be figured out. The main character, Arthur Hastings, is a detective who wanted to stay in a peaceful hotel(Styles), but discovers it is everything but peaceful. Hastings, as hercule Poirot would say is,"too nice." He has many struggles with this case but that is where Hercule Poirot comes in. The other main character, Hercule Poirot, coiuld be described as the one who kmnows all. He is the one who knows who the killer is but refuses to tell. He wants Hastings to discover it by himself. Poirot helps Hastings yo open his mind to solving mysteries. In one scene Poirot tells Hastings to open his mind. He staes,"Your personality is too nice to be a detective." With this being said he has to amke a decision whether to continue the case and to see who the muredere is or quit. If he does not continue, who will? This book shows the struggle a detective has and what she/he must go through. It keeps you on the edge of you seat. If you like murder mysteries I would definitely read this book. I would say this book is for eighth graders to twelfth graders. Any younger and they might not understand it. The book gets involoved and though you have to stay focused it will definitely keep you interested.

Unlike the superior short story collection TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS, which unifies its stories via various stylistic devices and a single detective (Miss Marple), THE MOUSETRAP AND OTHER STORIES presents a mixed bag in terms of both quality and leading characters. And simply stated, although many of the stories here have their charms, most of the titles here are not among the best of her short fiction. The collection does contain three stories that offer Christie at her stylistic and plot-twisting best: "The Case of the Perfect Maid," featuring Jane Marple, and "Third Floor Flat" and "The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly," both featuring Hercule Poirot. Indeed, the first of the three is as fine as anything Christie ever wrote in any form, a cleverly crafted tale of a maid unjustly accused of theft that Christie expertly guides through a number of unexpected turns to a completely unexpected conclusion. But such titles as "Strange Jest," "Tape-Measure Murder," "The Case of the Caretaker," "Four and Twenty Blackbirds," and "The Love Detectives" are utterly transparent at worst, minor works at best.

The centerpiece of the collection, of course, is "Three Blind Mice." This rather long story--more of a novella than a short--caused quite a stir among mystery readers when it debuted, and it would go on to considerably greater fame when Christie adapted it to the stage as THE MOUSETRAP, which has the distinction of being the single longest running play in theatrical history. But whatever its merits on the stage, and in spite of one of Christie's more startling plot turns, the style of the piece is decidedly melodramatic, artificial, and now and then down right clunky. This is a collection more likely to appeal to determined Christie fans, particularly those who are interested in tracing out Christie's unique ability to reconstruct the plots of her minor short stories into considerably more successful full-length works. While the stories here are certainly readable (and considerably more interesting than the short fiction of such Christie contemporaries as Dorothy Sayers, whose style was less at home in short story format), this is not a collection I would greatly recommend to new fans. Such readers would do better to select THE TUESDAY CLUB MURDERS.

--GFT (Amazon Reviewer)--

These short stories all appear under their original titles (alternate titles are noted). If you're interested in Joan Hickson's unabridged narration of the 4 Jane Marple stories herein, see the recording _Miss Marple Investigates_. They are among the few Marple short stories that don't appear in _The Thirteen Problems_ collection. Two of the Poirot cases, on the other hand, appear in _Hercule Poirot's Early Cases_, while the third appears in _The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding_ collection.

"Three Blind Mice" - None of Christie's regular characters appear; this tale corresponds to the play 'The Mousetrap'. Once upon a time, in 1940, three young children were evacuated and sent to live at Longridge Farm. The Greggs treated them barbarously, and after one boy died, Mr. Gregg was killed escaping from the police, and Mrs. Gregg went to prison. Now Mrs. Gregg has been murdered just after her release from prison, and the next target appears to be a young woman at Monkswell Manor - but the murderer could be either the boy or the girl (now grown up), the Davises don't know the background of any of their paying guests - and they're snowed in.

"Strange Jest" - Miss Marple has a missing will problem - except that in this case, the assets rather than the will itself are hidden. The stories I can think of with this theme are all of the form: wealthy uncle decides to amuse himself at his heirs' expense, and hides their inheritance. (Sayers' "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will" from _Lord Peter Views the Body_ is a stronger story than "Strange Jest" - the uncle not only had a purpose in hiding the will, but a wicked sense of humor.)

"Tape-Measure Murder" and "The Case of the Perfect Maid", like most Marple short stories (and unlike the novels) are set in St. Mary Mead. In the first case, mild Mr. Spenlow is suspected by the village of murdering his wife, whose body was discovered by a dressmaker coming in for a fitting. In the second, Miss Marple is asked to intercede with the Skinner sisters when they fire their maid, Gladys, with an implication of theft. The slur on her character is compounded when the Skinners bring in an outsider who appears to be a paragon - too good to be true. (As a bonus, the village eagerly awaits Dr. Haydock's first professional encounter with the hypochondriac Miss Emily, and he comes up to scratch.)

To speed Miss Marple's recovery from a serious illness, Dr. Haydock writes up "The Case of the Caretaker" as a story-within-a-story for Miss Marple to get her teeth into. The end of Haydock's manuscript is an implied 'Challenge to the Reader', since at that point one has all the information needed to solve the puzzle; most of the stories of the Marple collection _The Thirteen Problems_ share this feature, although the other 3 Marple stories in this collection do not.

"The Third-Floor Flat" When Patricia Garnett finds herself locked out of her 4th floor flat after a double date, one of the young men climbs up the coal lift ("Pat *never* locks and bolts things"), but gets out on the wrong floor - and discovers the body of Pat's downstairs neighbour. Poirot, her upstairs neighbour, offers his help after being roused by the commotion.

"The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly" (a.k.a. "At the Stroke of Twelve") The only Poirot story in this collection narrated by Hastings. Why did the kidnapper send threatening notes to the Waverlys *before* snatching their little boy?

"Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds", a.k.a. "Poirot and the Regular Customer" - Listening to this one read by David Suchet may make you hungry; be warned. A friend of Poirot's has taken him to the Gallant Endeavour, a picturesque restaurant with very reliable cooking. The friend points out an elderly fellow diner who appears twice a week like clockwork and has very predictable eating habits, so the staff knows him, although they don't know his name, business, or anything else about him. Molly, the waitress, adds that he came in on *Monday* the previous week, and ordered stuff he ordinarily couldn't abide - she worried that she'd forgotten what day of the week it was! Poirot feels uneasy - later he felt that he should have forseen what was coming, and prevented it. :)

"The Love Detectives", a.k.a. "At the Crossroads" (30 October 1926) - One of the few Quin & Satterthwaite stories that doesn't appear in _The Mysterious Mr. Quin_. Satterthwaite, staying with an old friend who happens to be chief constable, is carried along to a murder investigation. After finding out about the blunt instrument and the body in the library, you may start taking a hard look at the butler, but the investigators are themselves aware of the cliche, so don't be suckered on appearances.

"Three Blind Mice and Other Stories," by the absolutely outstanding "Queen of Crime" Agatha Christie, is an absolute gem of a book! All of the nine stories in this collection shed light on Christie's gift of creating unforgettable characters and spine-tinglingly suspenseful plots. I particularly enjoyed reading "Three Blind Mice," (the novella of the collection) because I had recently seen a high school production of "The Mousetrap," the play that Christie wrote after the novella was so successful. I enjoyed comparing the two, because both verstions, though similar have many differences. This novella does not feature any of Christie's series detectives, (Hercule Poirot, or Jane Marple,) but is is outstandingly brilliant in introducing characters that will stay with you long after the book is completed. I'll say one thing, I'll never look at the nursery rhyme "Three Blind Mice" the same way again! Readers are treated to four delightful stories featuring Miss. Marple, ("Tape Measure Murder," "The Case of the Perfect Maid," "The Case of the Caretaker," and "Strange Jest.") The are treated to three stories featuring Hercule Poirot, "The Third Floor Flat," The Adventure of Johnny Waverley," and (my personal favorite,) "Four and Twenty Blackbirds," in which Poirot examines the eating habits of a certain individual in order to solve a murder. There is also a special treat of a story featuring Mr. Harley Quin called "The Love Detectives." All in all, a wonderful feast of humor, mystery, and suspense, which I'm sure will be enjoyed by people for many years to come. Happy reading to you all, and take care!!

Every now and then, even a fantastic author like Agatha Christie will produce a virtually unreadable book. This, in my opinion, is one of those books. Despite an intriguing premise, the story (which concerns a fairly uninteresting group of young college students) deteriorates somewhere in the middle and the reason for the random thefts takes an unusual and boring direction. The solution, which is arrived at with little of the skillful detection that Poirot is known for, is one of those types that you forget almost immediately after finishing. For first readers of Christie, please don't let this book influence your opinion of her quality. I STRONGLY recommend AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, DEATH ON THE NILE, THE ABC MURDERS, and FIVE LITTLE PIGS, which rank among her very best.

Poirot's perfect secretary types a letter with THREE mistakes in it! What could be wrong? Miss Lemon is worried about her sister. She is housemother at a student boarding house. Odd thefts are occurring and she's worried. Poirot soon catches one of the thieves, but it's obvious there's something sinister going on.

I liked Christie's take on the college scene in England. The students are many and varied, but each well-written. As always, she give plenty of clues. But as always, you don't know which clues are the important ones.

If you like Christie and haven't read this one, I really recommend it.

I absolutely loved this book! It was great! The only thing I didn't understand, and still don't understand is just WHY it's called Hickory Dickory Dock? The ending was so chilling I had to sleep with the light on! Poirot, as always, handled the case with the same patience and arrogance we have come to expect and love him for. This, along with Five Little Pigs, is Christie's best work as far as I'm concerned!

Being an avid mystery fan and a great fan of Agatha Christie, I was delighted when I came upon this novel. My delight turned to dismay as I started reading this "novel". I use this term loosely since it reads more like the play that it was originally meant to be. The book reminded me of a Nancy Drew mystery , which were favorites of mine in the fifth grade. If I ever get a craving for a good old fashioned Agatha Christie mystery, I'll just have to re-read one of her classics, and enjoy watching her plays performed on stage, as Miss Christie intended.

Im not usually a big reader but i had to read a book by Agatha Christie for a book report. I liked this book because as soon as I started to read it got my attention. The more u read this book the harder it is to put down. I also enjoyed this book because it wasn't another one of those boring books this book had many twists and turns. I thought i knew who the murderer was at one point and then it took a huge turn and it was somebody else that i'd never think.

Even though I am 13 years of age, I have read about three-quarters of the books Agatha Christie has written. Most of the books I have read by her I found to be flawless and exciting. I am a devoted fan of her books and refuse to read other murder-mysteries. When I found out there was a "new" Agatha Christie book out I went straight to the shops to buy it. I found the book to be very enjoyable and even though it only took me 24 hours to read it (I couldn't put it down and stayed up 'till the early hours of the morning to read it until I got caught and had to go to sleep) I thought it was excellent. I usually find that the beginning of Agatha Christie books are a bit confusing but this was one of the least. The murder in the book is a masked mystery until the sureness is proved wrong. I found the book didn't have much suspense but I don't think it mattered. Charles Osborne writes very much like Agatha Christie and he even added things that Agatha Christie didn't usually add like a map of the room the murder occured in. For all people who read and liked The Murder of Roger Ackroyd this book is an absolute must.

A collection of 15 short stories, none of which feature any of Christie's recurring characters, not even the small fry like Ariadne Oliver. Although the code of ettiquette that she and her fellow writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers followed for mysteries forbade any supernatural elements, Christie could and did occasionally dabble in such stories outside the mystery format. Several of the stories here have such elements; specifically, those from _The Hound of Death and Other Stories_. Others are more conventional; several of these feature men who 'seize the golden ball of opportunity' and get something out of their adventures, if only some self-respect. They are sorted by the original publication dates in magazines or story collections.

"The Hound of Death", "The Gipsy", "The Lamp", "The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael", and "The Call of Wings" are all taken from an earlier collection, _The Hound of Death and Other Stories_ (see my review). Properly speaking, by the way, "The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael" is really "The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael" - it isn't often that the *title* of a story is the subject of a widespread printer's error.

"The Girl in the Train", "Jane in Search of a Job", "The Manhood of Edward Robinson", "The Listerdale Mystery", "The Rajah's Emerald", "Swan Song", "A Fruitful Sunday" - taken from an earlier collection, _The Listerdale Mystery_ (see my review for details of each). "The Girl on the Train" is essentially similar to "The Golden Ball", although the settings differ. "Jane in Search of a Job" and "The Listerdale Mystery" each involve a woman - one young, one middle-aged - in desperate financial straits answering an advertisement that's too good to be true. "The Manhood of Edward Robinson" and "The Rajah's Emerald" each involve a young man with a girlfriend who's tiresome about money (one is bossy and prudent, the other likes to live higher than her boyfriend can afford) who accidentally gets hold of stolen gemstones and must think quickly to avoid wrongful arrest. "A Fruitful Sunday" starts out on a similar tack, but with a sympathetic girlfriend who *isn't* keen on giving the stones back. "Swan Song", the only story not featuring someone who's struggling, concerns a soprano with a fiendish 'temperament' and her final, definitive performance of _Tosca_.

"Magnolia Blossom" (March 1926) Theodora Darrell and Vincent Easton had fallen in love under the branches of the magnolia tree at her home in London, and now, 2 weeks later, she's prepared to run away with him to his home in the Transvaal - until she sees a newspaper account of the collapse of her husband's firm. She can't leave, today of all days. Then Richard Darrell (who hasn't got a clue) asks her to persuade a man into giving her the evidence of his own criminal conduct: Vincent Easton.

"The Golden Ball" (1934) Nothing to do with the fairy tale of the same name. George Dundas, like George Rowland (see above) has just been fired by his uncle, for taking an unscheduled day off in the middle of the week, and been read a lecture about 'seizing the golden ball of opportunity'. When he encounters society beauty Mary Montressor on the street outside the office, he's in a mood to take whatever adventure comes to him...

"Next to a Dog" - Joyce, left widowed by a beloved husband whose only flaw was that he gambled, is too proud to sponge, but can't take just any kind of job, because she's still got someone to care for: her beloved, half-blind old terrier, Terry, a gift from her late husband. Governesses and companions can't have such dogs; what can she do to keep their heads above water?

This is early Christie and definitely a product of its time. Much more personal than her regular mystery stories, these exude '20s style and mysticism. The first half of the book seems devoted to young people and adventure, with a great deal of attention to the recurring motif of the car representing freedom and the jewels imbuing their wearers with special traits.

In the second half, Christie delves deeper and deeper into the occult, going from Atlantis theories to reincarnation to "the gift" to metamorphosis to the ghostly sobbing of dead children. Even as I reject the pushiness of the occult aspects of these stories, I am thoroughly entertained by Christie's writing style. Her dialogue is simply enchanting, and even though I recognize the flaws in this collection, I find myself often drawn to re-reading it to escape into a whole different world.

Some of Agatha's most insightful, penetrating writing. The varying tales run the gamut from hilarious, playful, romantic to downright spooky in places. Plus two of them in particular are heart breaking. (I won't reveal which ones.) A really nice addition to her heavy collection, these pieces will stick with you long after you put them down. And yes: one of them even brought me to tears. Here's strong evidence Christie was more than just a one note author. The stories could very well be classified as literary gems.

What was the vain Hercule Poirot to do when a girl insisted on seeing him outside his official hours, and upon one look at him, blurted out that he was too old and left without accounting for herself? Especially after she mentioned she might have murdered someone?

Weaving together several subplots from her previous works, Agatha Christie tried to create a new setting for her recurrent characters: Hercule Poirot and Oliver Ariadne.

The Third Girl referred to a term used to advertise for a third female tenant to share the rent of a London apartment. She was also the "Orhelia devoid of physical attraction" who insulted Hercule Poirot. It was later realised from his indignant outpouring to Oliver Ariadne that she was probably the one who recommended Poirot to this girl.

Thus began the mystery that might not have been a mystery. Poirot's connections to the police did not reveal any possible candidate for the murder mentioned by Norma Restarick, youthful daughter to one Andrew Restarick. Andrew Restarick had abandoned his wife and daughter fifteen years before and left for Africa with another woman. The deaths of his wife, then his brother, brought him back to England, with a new wife, and took over the family business.

Between their visits to Norma's flat and Restarick office in London, and the visit to their home in Crosshedges, Long Basing, Poirot and Ariadne composed a picture of a family challenged by the "revolution" of the 60s. Yet there was something beyond the normal angst, and as Poirot and Ariadne continued in their pursuit, they realised there was a very real danger. There were gossips of guns, knives and bloody stains, but no murder victim to account for; which begged the question whether Norma was guilty, innocent or insane.

But the questions like what was the danger, who was in danger and from whom, remained frustratingly vague, resisting most attempts of illumination. This is a departure from most detective genres and fans seeking a good old crime would be exasperated at the development of the story.

Nonetheless, fans of Agatha Christie would be able to garner clues if they had learned how the Queen of Mystery usually placed them subtly.

There were two perspectives to the deception; as a male, I uncovered the male perspective of the deception so easily that I did not realise there was a female perspective deception in place. Certainly it was nothing to complain about for as a reader, I received my entertainment of being mystified and surprised.

there is absolutely no possibility that this is her worst book. (I dont think she really has one...theyve all been good)

but, this is certainly not one of her best. The plot tends to ramble, its very slow, and at times it can be a bit dull. (probably owing to the fact that there really doesnt seem to be mch crime involved at all, let alone a death, until almost right at the end.)

But it is still a worthy effort...its an original premise, its intriguing, and the solution is clever and unexpected, as we have been led to expect from AC. If you can wade through much of the slightly dull middle section, then you will probably be quite glad you read it. Its not her best, but its not her worst, and there are certainly some enjoyable moments (in particular, Mrs Olivers following of a suspect...Mrs Oliver is my favourite of all Christie's creations.)

Agatha Christie has always done well in depicting characters and their traits. Third Girl is another example of this great ability. Hercule Poirot once again unravels a mystery of deep undercurrents and seemingly unanswerable questions. Third Girl is a winding tale of suspense and intrigue.

the book wa terribl

Rosemary lived a perfect life until she was murdered,
but someone else was murdered too; someone very close to her. The person who killed her did an execellent job disguising them killer, considering they were very, very close to her.

This novel was fantastic. A thrilling plot, fascinating characters, and a suprise twist at the end combine to make this book a wonderful read for Christie fans and others who like to read a good mystery.