Agatha Christie

An all-new collection of summer-themed mysteries from the master of the genre, just in time for the holiday season.

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 18 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including uncollected stories by Ngaio Marsh and John Dickson Carr. The Golden Age of detective fiction had begun inauspiciously with the publication of E. C. Bentley’s schismatic Trent’s Last Case in 1913, but it hit its stride in 1920 when both Agatha Christie and Freeman Wills Crofts – latterly crowned queen and king of the genre – had crime novels published for the first time. They ushered in two decades of exemplary mystery writing, the era of the whodunit, the impossible crime and the locked-room mystery, with stories that have thrilled and baffled generations of readers. This new volume in the Bodies from the Library series features the work of 18 prolific authors who, like Christie and Crofts, saw their popularity soar during the Golden Age. Aside from novels, they all wrote short fiction – stories, serials and plays – and although most of them have been collected in books over the last 100 years, here are the ones that got away… In this book you will encounter classic series detectives including Colonel Gore, Roger Sheringham, Hildegarde Withers and Henri Bencolin; Hercule Poirot solves ‘The Incident of the Dog’s Ball’; Roderick Alleyn returns to New Zealand in a recently discovered television drama by Ngaio Marsh; and Dorothy L. Sayers’ chilling ‘The House of the Poplars’ is published for the first time. With a full-length novella by John Dickson Carr and an unpublished radio script by Cyril Hare, this diverse collection concludes with some early ‘flash fiction’ commissioned by Collins’ Crime Club in 1938. Each mini story had to feature an orange, resulting in six very different tales from Peter Cheyney, Ethel Lina White, David Hume, Nicholas Blake, John Rhode and – in his only foray into writing detective fiction – the publisher himself, William Collins.

'The Man in the Brown Suit' is Agatha Christie at her best, a young woman investigates an accidental death at a London tube station, and finds herself of a ship bound for South Africa. Anne Beddingfeld is always ready for an adventure. So when she witnesses a man die at a tube station, she searches for clues and finds a mysterious piece of paper nearby. The Scotland Yard verdict is accidental death. But she is not satisfied. After all, who was the man in the brown suit who examined the body? And why did he race off, leaving a cryptic message behind: '17-122 Kilmorden Castle'?

Hercule Poirot rushes to France in response to an urgent and cryptic plea from a client, but the Belgian detective arrives just too late. He had been stabbed multiple times with a letter opener and left in a freshly dug grave. The victim lay face down in a grave located within a golf course. He was wearing his son's overcoat and a love letter within. His wife had reported that masked men had abducted him from their home in the dead of the night. The mystery thickens when another corpse is found, stabbed with the same weapon, in the same way. While the local authorities pursue the false leads suggested by the evidence, Poirot fights to unravel the mystery behind 'The Murder on the Links'. He relies instead upon his famous 'little grey cells' to cut through the confusion and untangle a story of blackmail, forbidden love and a long-buried secret.

First published in 1925, "The Secret of Chimneys" is the adventurous tale of murder, political intrigue, and a stolen diamond by the incomparable British mystery writer Agatha Christie. The novel begins with Anthony Cade agreeing to perform the rather ordinary errand of delivering a manuscript and several letters for his friend James McGrath. Meanwhile, in London, Lord Caterham has agreed to host a house party at his grand ancestral estate, Chimneys. Soon the letters entrusted to Cade are stolen and their disappearance is connected to the murder of the long-lost heir to the throne of Herzoslovokia at the Chimneys' gathering. Readers are introduced to one of Christie's favorite characters, the clever detective Superintendent Battle, who is soon at the scene of the crime to try to solve the murder. Battle is also involved in a related investigation into the missing Koh-i-Noor diamond, stolen from the Tower of London and possibly hidden at Chimneys. The characters are caught up in a dangerous international conspiracy over the rightful heir of a far away kingdom and the complicated plots of a famed jewel thief in this fast-paced mystery that will thrill all fans of classic suspense and adventure. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Hercule Poirot made his first public appearance in 1920 at the age, one guesses, of about 60. He finally breathed his metaphorical last in 1975 at the age of maybe 75 or 80. And in that short span of time - either 55 years or about 20, depending on how you count it - Poirot became one of England's most profitable and ubiquitous export commodities. But it's very clear that his creator, Agatha Christie, did not at first intend for it to go that way. She made a very definite attempt to end the Hercule Poirot saga in the mid-1920s, when his story consisted simply of three novels and 25 short stories. It is that first Hercule Poirot bibliography, the one Christie clearly intended to leave for posterity when she typed up the last few words of "The Crag in the Dolomites" sometime in 1924, that is presented in this collection.

Anne Beddingfeld observes a deadly accident and believes she has witnessed a murder. Impulsively following a chain of clues, Anne uncovers a sinister collection of plotters with a potentially lethal intolerance for the amateur sleuth. When a man dies in an apparent accident in a London tube station, Anne Beddingfeld notices the suspicious actions of a mysterious man in a brown suit. A second death that is seen as connected to the first by no one other than herself, puts Anne on the trail of the buried truth. Clues will drive her, alone, on a quest for justice that will result in her passage on a cruise ship bound for South Africa, and a chain of confrontations with a merciless band of professional thieves. This stand-alone novel, first published in 1924, shows Agatha Christie experimenting a little by both stepping away from her already established detective hero, Hercule Poirot, and blending stronger elements of the international thriller into her story. Replete with stolen diamonds, undercover agents, an exotic island hideaway and a steadfast heroine desperately trying to survive and make sense of it all, The Man in the Brown Suit remains one of the author’s most spellbinding tales. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Man in the Brown Suit is both modern and readable.

Novellix - Stor litteratur i et lille formatDen britiske kriminalforfatter Agatha Christie betog gennem en mere end fem årtier lang karriere et verdensomspændende publikum, der hungrede efter hendes gåder. Adskillige ikoniske detektivkarakterer stammer fra Christies hånd – heriblandt Hercule Poirot og Miss Marple – men også det mindre kendte ægtepar, amatørerne Tommy & Tuppence. De er alle at finde i denne æske – sammen med et selvstændigt retssalsdrama, der om noget viser, hvorfor forfatteren nyder kælenavne som Mistress of Mystery, Duchess of Death og Queen of Crime. Fire spændende mysterier – med overraskende løsninger. Æsken indeholder fire bøger:Den tilslørede dameMålebåndsmordetDet ubrydelige alibiAnklagerens vidne

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is a detective novel by Agatha Christie. It was written in 1916 and was first published. Styles was Christie's first published novel, introducing Hercule Poirot, Inspector (later, Chief Inspector) Japp, and Lieutenant Hastings (later, Captain). The story is told in first person by Hastings and features many of the elements that have become icons of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, largely due to Christie's influence. It is set in a large, isolated country manor. There are a half-dozen suspects, most of whom are hiding facts about themselves. The book includes maps of the house, the murder scene, and a drawing of a fragment of a will, as well as a number of red herrings and surprise plot twists.

The Murder on the Links is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead & Co in March 1923 and, in the same year, in the UK by The Bodley Head in May. It features Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings. An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course. But why is the dead man wearing his son's overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse.

Poirot Investigates is a short story collection written by English author Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. In the eleven stories, famed eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety of mysteries involving greed, jealousy, and revenge. Agatha Christie (15 Sept. 1890 - 12 Jan 1976) was an English writer of crime and romantic novels. She is best remembered for her detective stories including the two diverse characters of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. She is considered to be the best selling writer of all time. Only the Bible is known to have outstripped her collected sales of roughly four billion worldwide copies. Her works have been translated into more languages than any other individual writer.

The Man in the Brown Suit is detective fiction story by British writer Agatha Christie. A man dies in a tube station and Anne Beddingfeld witnesses it. The message on the paper dropped nearby the man's death leads her to South Africa, as she fits more pieces of the puzzle together. There murderer attempts to kill her on the ship en route to Cape Town.