Sophia Rose Reviews The Underdog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

 

The Underdog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

Narrated by David Suchet and Hugh Fraser

Historical Mystery

Publisher:  Harper Audio

Published: 8.14.12

Time:  5 hours 54 minutes

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: audio

Source:  Bought

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: Goodreads

 

GoodReads Synopsis:

A beautiful heiress has been found dead on a train. A playboy has been stabbed through the heart during a costume ball. An elderly woman suspects that she is being slowly poisoned to death. A prince fears for his reputation when his fiancÉe is embroiled in another man's murder. A forgotten recluse makes headlines after he is shot in the head.

Who but Agatha Christie could concoct such canny crimes? Who but Belgian detective Hercule Poirot could possibly solve them? It's a challenge to be met—in a triumph of detection.

 

Sophia Rose's Review

Christie’s mysteries, whether novel or shorter stories, are sensational.  Add in the star power of such narrators as David Suchet and Hugh Fraser (my favorite Poirot and Hastings pair, by the way), this turned out to be a rich luscious listen from start to finish.

 

The Underdog and Other Stories are all from the Hercule Poirot series.  I appreciated that most of them included Poirot’s friend and sleuthing partner, Captain Arthur Hastings and sometimes official police presence with Chief Inspector Japp.

 

There were nine stories altogether and I’ve listed the titles here. 

1. The Under Dog
2. The Plymouth Express
3. The Affair at the Victory Ball
4. The Market Basing Mystery
5. The Lemesurier Inheritance
6. The Cornish Mystery
7. The King of Clubs
8. The Submarine Plans
9. The Adventure of the Clapham Cook

 

I have read the book years ago and remembered most of these stories though a couple seemed new to me.  I do appreciate how Agatha Christie could work in a well-developed plot with some good surprises, show depth to main characters and some side characters, set the story firmly with background and situation, and all within a concise amount of space.  I love the banter between Poirot and Hastings and appreciate how loyal and dogged Hastings is with the brilliant, eccentric Poirot.

 

Not a dud in the batch, but don’t ask me if I can pick out a clear favorite, either.  All in all, a solid group of cozy historical mysteries from the Queen of Crime and the talented actors who lend their voices to this Harper audio edition.

 

 

Author Bio:

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She authored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

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