Poirot must face the difficult challenge of uncovering the location of the little boy. Characters: Hercule Poirot Hastings Mrs. Waverly Mr. Waverly Miss Collins Inspector McNeil Johnnie Waverly Tredwell Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds Hercule Poirot is pulled into another mystery. While sitting down to dinner with an old friend, he notices the eating habits of one of the other patrons who the staff call “Old Father Time” as no one knows his name. He comes in every Tuesday and Thursday like clockwork, but one day he suddenly stops coming. Poirot believes he knows the truth behind the mystery, but could the truth be fatal? Characters: Hercule Poirot Henry Bonnington Molly Old Father Time Dr. MacAndrew Henry Gascoigne George Lorrimer Mr. Hill The Love Detectives A messy love triangle ends in murder. Is the widowed wife and her lover really to blame? Mr. Satterthwaite teams up once again with the mysterious Mr. Harley Quin to discover why Sir James Dwight was murdered. Characters: Mr. Satterthwaite Harley Quin Colonel Melrose Sir James Dwighton Laura Dwighton Paul Delangua Publication history 1950, Dodd, Mead and Company, hardback, 250 pp. 1952, Dell Books, paperback, 224 pp. (Dell number 633 [mapback]) 1960, Dell Books, paperback, as The Mousetrap and Other Stories (Dell number D354) 1984, Berkley Books, paperback, 212 pp. (Berkley number 06806-4) First publication of stories in the US The Adventure of Johnny Waverly: June 1925 (Volume XLI, Number 2) issue of the Blue Book Magazine with an uncredited illustration. The Love Detectives: October 30, 1926 (Volume XIX, Number 3) issue of Flynn's Weekly under the title "At the Crossroads" with uncredited illustrations. The Third Floor Flat: January 5, 1929 (Volume CVI, Number 6) issue of Detective Story Magazine under the title "In the Third Floor Flat" with an uncredited illustration. Four and Twenty Blackbirds: November 9, 1940 (Volume 106, Number 19) issue of Collier's magazine with illustrations by Mario Cooper. Strange Jest: November 2, 1941 issue of This Week under the title "A Case of Buried Treasure." The Tape-Measure Murder: November 16, 1941 issue of This Week with an illustration by Arthur Sarnoff. The Case of the Caretaker: July 5, 1942 edition of the Chicago Sunday Tribune. The Case of the Perfect Maid: September 13, 1942 edition of the Chicago Sunday Tribune. Three Blind Mice: May 1948 (Volume 124, Number 5) issue of Cosmopolitan magazine with uncredited illustrations. Appearances in UK collections The four Miss Marple