Locked in a Drawer until the Novels Succeed?! Reviewing "Poirot Investigates!"

It's funny--this book collects fourteen Poirot short stories that were published between 1923 and 1924, which was years after the first Poirot novel came out in 1920. Yet it feels like Christie was still developing Poirot as I read through these.

I wonder if a bunch of Poirot shorts spent a few years in Christie's desk before the success of the novels gave the magazines a better reason to publish them?

Another thing I learned while working on this review was that a lot of these early Poirot stories are actually in the public domain!

Subpar Poirot?! A Review of "The Clocks"

This one gives me some serious mixed feelings. I've read a decent number of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels, and they are invariably excellent. Until today.

I was wandering around a physical, public library one day last month and the most interesting thing I found on their shelves was a copy of The Clocks, supposedly a Hercule Poirot mystery, by Agatha Christie of course. I managed to read a good chunk of it before my friends arrived, and I decided to come back and finish it this weekend.