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I’d been reading too many complicated books lately. The kind with symbolism
and prose style that can sweep you up into its flow but makes you hang on for
dear life until you’re done with the book. And some of the kind that were
so off-the-wall that they leave you gasping for air. Books that for the most
part were well worth reading, but I needed a break.
As a result, I went in search of a simple detective mystery—the old style,
where most of the mystery is that you don’t know the background of the
people involved and there aren’t a lot of records to tell the detective
on the case about who they really are. Something that took place before the
information age, where someone trying to ditch their past has an electronic
and paper trail a mile long to cover up.
So I picked up this collection of Agatha Christie mysteries—mostly, I’ll
admit, because it was only $0.88 in the used book section (the other Agatha
Christies were twice that—horrors—and I wanted something dirt cheap).
I truly enjoyed this collection. I’m sure a die-hard mystery fan could
at least try to figure each story out before its conclusion (the author actually
tells the reader once where to stop and try to figure it out). But the stories
are short enough that someone who’s trying to rejuvenate their brain cells
(like I was) doesn’t have to try to figure it out before the end. The shortness
of the mysteries allows you to just go with the flow and enjoy the interesting
plots and surprise endings if you want to.
Reading this book is like eating a series of delicious snacks—it’s
perfect for someone who’s feeling a bit ADD about reading. It’s also
a good introduction to Agatha Christie. Since you get introduced to nearly all
of Christie’s detectives (the famous Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot among
them) in this book, you get a feel for which ones you like better than others,
guiding your choice of her full-length mysteries. I’ll definitely be picking
up more Christie books featuring Hercule Poirot in the future….
Ed. note: there’s no image available for this book at Amazon, but if you click above you can still find out more about it….
