Tag: Virtual Mount TBR 2020

The Big Four

Laura2 Comments on The Big Four
The Big Four
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, Book # 5
HarperCollinsPublishers
January 27th 1927
Paperback
272
English
December 11, 2020 December 17, 2020

Framed in the doorway of Poirot’s bedroom stood an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man’s gaunt face stared for a moment, then he swayed and fell. Who was he? Was he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what was the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life to uncover the truth about ‘Number Four’.

About the book

The Big Four is the fifth book in the series. Hastings returns from South America and finds Poirot leaving. By a fortuitous event Poirot is leaving for South America pushed by a rich man to accept a case overseas. The arrival of Hastings blocks everything. Poirot realises that there is an organisation that is trying to get rid of him in order to dominate the world. This organisation is called The Big Four.

Amidst various murders and incidents Poirot realises that all are linked by these four individuals and tries to find their identity.

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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Laura3 Comments on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
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, Book # 4
William Morrow Paperbacks
1926
Paperback
286
English
December 7, 2020 December 11, 2020

Voted by the British Crime Writers’ Association as the "Best Crime Novel of all Time"

Hercule Poirot comes out of retirement in one of Agatha Christie’s ten favorite novels, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with an apparent drug overdose.

However the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information, but before he could finish reading the letter, he was stabbed to death. Luckily one of Roger’s friends and the newest resident to retire to this normally quiet village takes over—none other than Monsieur Hercule Poirot.

About the book

First book I read dedicated to Poirot in which there is no Hastings :( . The narrator is a country doctor (from a village called King’s Abbot) who is first called to the scene of an apparent suicide and then, a few days later , gets a rather strange phona call. This doctor, Sheppard has a peculiar neighbour and a very gossipy sister who believes the neighbour is a retired hairdresser. In reality it is Poirot who has retired to the country after a lifetime of investigating.

Poirot is called into question when the richest man in the country (Roger Ackroyd) is murdered after reading a letter about a blackmail against a woman known to him and who committed suicide a few days earlier. In addition, the doctor. right before discovering the body, receives a phone call announcing the death of Ackroyd.

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Poirot Investigates

Laura5 Comments on Poirot Investigates
Poirot Investigates
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, Book # 3
Harper
1924
Paperback
265
English
August 17, 2020 December 1, 2020

The very first collection of superb short stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings…

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond… then came the ‘suicide’ that was murder… the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat… a suspicious death in a locked gun-room… a million dollar bond robbery… the curse of a pharaoh’s tomb… a jewel robbery by the sea… the abduction of a Prime Minister… the disappearance of a banker… a phone call from a dying man… and, finally, the mystery of the missing will.

What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot! Get ready for:
1. The Adventure of The Western Star
2. The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
3. The Adventure of The Cheap Flat
4. The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
5. The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
6. The Adventure of The Egyptian Tomb
7. The Jewel Robbery at The Grand Metropolitan
8. The Kidnapped Prime Minister
9. The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
10. The Adventure of The Italian Nobleman
11. The Case of The Missing Will.

It should be noted that the above stories are the contents of the original UK edition. The American edition, which came out a year later in 1925, had three extras and more Hercule Poirot. They are:
12. The Veiled Lady
13. The Lost Mine
14. The Chocolate Box.

About the book

This third book dedicated to Hercule Poirot is a collection of short stories that never finds a super positive vote on my part. In fact, I don’t like collections that much, usually cases are too hasty and the solutions are too obvious and easy as if nothing had happened and even here I must say that the investigative part is not so present (as it should be since they are short stories and therefore should not be long).

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Laura4 Comments on The Mysterious Affair at Styles
The Mysterious Affair at Styles


, Book # 1
HarperCollins
October 1920
Paperback
304
English
June 29, 2020 July 1, 2020

The famous case that launched the career of Hercule Poirot. When a wealthy heiress is murdered, Poirot steps out of retirement to find the killer. As the master detective makes his way through the list of suspects, he finds the solution in an elaborately planned scheme almost impossible to believe.

About the book

First book of the series dedicated to Poirot. It’s not my first book since I’ve already read the 8th and 16th (I think) but I decided to read all the series even if it’s long.

The series is narrated by Captain Hasting who visits one of his friends in the first book and here he finds himself mixed with a crime. By chance, he meets with Poirot, another friend of his, who helps him solve the case.

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Laura4 Comments on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
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, Book # 3
Penguin Books
1892
Paperback
302
English
June 13, 2020 June 18, 2020

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the series of short stories that made the fortunes of the Strand magazine, in which they were first published, and won immense popularity for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. The detective is at the height of his powers and the volume is full of famous cases, including 'The Red-Headed League', 'The Blue Carbuncle', and 'The Speckled Band'. Although Holmes gained a reputation for infallibility, Conan Doyle showed his own realism and feminism by having the great detective defeated by Irene Adler - the woman - in the very first story, 'A Scandal in Bohemia'.
The editor of this volume, Richard Lancelyn Green is editor of The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. With John Michael Gibson, he compiled the Soho Series Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle.

About the book

This book is also a collection of short stories that, as usual, I hardly ever read because I don’t like collections but if I want to read all of Sherlock Holmes I have to read these too.

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