Hercule Poirot: the Complete Short Stories

[sawyl]

As mentioned, I've been reading an anthology of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot stories in an attempt to recover from the vastness that was A Dance with Dragons. The collection is the antithesis of Big Fat Fantasy: the Poirot and Hastings are the only persistent characters, the rest of the cast are lightly sketched (and usual titled) archetypes, most stories are around ten pages long and even the longest only weigh in at around 50 pages, with a focus on plot to the exclusion of almost everything else.

The collection run the range of Christie's output, starting with some very early Conan Doyle-influenced shorts and eneding with the 12 thematically linked stories of The Labours of Hercules. Although the stories vary in quality, they're generally diverting and ingenious and possessed of a retro charm, conjuring up a world of butlers and eccentric millionaires and murders that seem to devoid of emotional consequences.

Ideal for the daily commute.