The only time Agatha Christie ever descends to the realm of "average" is when she writes a collection of short stories.
This is no reflection on her ability to write them, it is simply ebcause of the fact that i personally do not like short stories, normally.
the short stories here, compared with most, are actually quite good, i would suspect. Harley Quinn is a good character, but he sometimes annoys me. Far more entertaining is the brilliant Mr Satterthwaite (who we see again in the marvellous "Three Act Tragedy") who is one of Christie's great characters. He is calm, understated, interesting, clever. And very likeable.
The characters in this collection are well drawn, and the concept of a mysteriious man such as Quinn appearing almost out of nowhere to guide Satterthwaite in the solving mysteries is a very original, mysterious one, which does work well.
Overall, for a short story collection, this is very very good. but for a book by Agatha christie, it's rather average.
The only time Agatha Christie ever descends to the realm of "average" is when she writes a collection of short stories. This is no reflection on her ability to write them, it is simply ebcause of the fact that i personally do not like short stories, normally. the short stories here, compared with most, are actually quite good, i would suspect. Harley Quinn is a good character, but he sometimes annoys me. Far more entertaining is the brilliant Mr Satterthwaite (who we see again in the marvellous "Three Act Tragedy") who is one of Christie's great characters. He is calm, understated, interesting, clever. And very likeable. The characters in this collection are well drawn, and the concept of a mysteriious man such as Quinn appearing almost out of nowhere to guide Satterthwaite in the solving mysteries is a very original, mysterious one, which does work well. Overall, for a short story collection, this is very very good. but for a book by Agatha christie, it's rather average.