Sinister Spring
by Agatha Christie
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The days are growing warmer and the nights are growing shorter. It's the perfect time to relax in the garden with this spring-themed collection from legendary mystery writer Agatha Christie. Blossoming flowers and countryside strolls may sound innocent enough, but not when there's murder in the air. Beware of secluded cottages, stolen treasure and fatal revenge schemes. This compendium of short stories, some featuring beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, is an essential omnibus show more for Christie fans and the perfect gift for mystery lovers. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This is the third of the seasonal- titled Agatha Christie collection of short stories I’ve read and it’s well worth owning. I didn’t find every story a gem in this one, but with so many that were either immensely enjoyable or truly great reads, I’m still glad I picked it up in hardcover along with the other seasons.
Here is an overview of the titles included from my perspective :
The Market Basing Mystery — An especially charming Poirot story because our favorite little Belgian is having breakfast with Hastings and Japp, who happens to be on holiday. But of course their morning is interrupted by a suicide which can’t possibly be a suicide.
The Case of the Missing Lady — A fun Tommy and Tuppence story about a missing woman show more which is quite amusing to all but the easily offended woke crowd, who will blow a gasket over the solution.
The Herb of Death — This is one of those Marple round table stories from The Tuesday Club where of course Miss Marple is the one up to the challenge, and figures out the mystery presented. Fun reading.
How Does Your Garden Grow — A rare Poirot with Miss Lemon, and no Hastings, who was missed by this reader. Still quite fun however.
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan — A charming one with Hastings treating his friend Poirot to a little outing, and of course a good little mystery finds them.
The Soul of the Croupier — A really special story involving Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin. The reader will have to decide if it contains two happy endings or only one. Christie at her best here.
The Girl in the Train — An utterly charming light romantic adventure, a stand-alone that is very old-fashioned and enjoyable, and humorous. Christy displays a deft touch here, reminding me of the pre-Charlie Chan stories of Earl Derr Biggers.
Ingots of Gold and Greenshaw’s Folly — Two with Miss Marple, with Folly being much more Raymond West. Ingots of Gold the better one, where Miss Marple’s having lived in a house with a garden, bringing about the solution.
Have You Got Everything You Want? — A typically enjoyable Parker Pyne story that, while nothing memorable, is nonetheless enjoyable light reading fare.
Swan Song — About a woman getting revenge. I didn’t care for Swan Song much, and with three quasi Marple stories included, replacing one of them and/or Swan Song with another Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin would have made Sinister Spring sublime rather than just very good..
The standouts for me in the Sinister Spring volume were : The Girl in the Train, The Market Basing Mystery (Poirot), The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan (Poirot), and The Soul of the Croupier (Sattethwaite and Mr. Quin). Definitely recommended for Christie fans. show less
Here is an overview of the titles included from my perspective :
The Market Basing Mystery — An especially charming Poirot story because our favorite little Belgian is having breakfast with Hastings and Japp, who happens to be on holiday. But of course their morning is interrupted by a suicide which can’t possibly be a suicide.
The Case of the Missing Lady — A fun Tommy and Tuppence story about a missing woman show more which is quite amusing to all but the easily offended woke crowd, who will blow a gasket over the solution.
The Herb of Death — This is one of those Marple round table stories from The Tuesday Club where of course Miss Marple is the one up to the challenge, and figures out the mystery presented. Fun reading.
How Does Your Garden Grow — A rare Poirot with Miss Lemon, and no Hastings, who was missed by this reader. Still quite fun however.
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan — A charming one with Hastings treating his friend Poirot to a little outing, and of course a good little mystery finds them.
The Soul of the Croupier — A really special story involving Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin. The reader will have to decide if it contains two happy endings or only one. Christie at her best here.
The Girl in the Train — An utterly charming light romantic adventure, a stand-alone that is very old-fashioned and enjoyable, and humorous. Christy displays a deft touch here, reminding me of the pre-Charlie Chan stories of Earl Derr Biggers.
Ingots of Gold and Greenshaw’s Folly — Two with Miss Marple, with Folly being much more Raymond West. Ingots of Gold the better one, where Miss Marple’s having lived in a house with a garden, bringing about the solution.
Have You Got Everything You Want? — A typically enjoyable Parker Pyne story that, while nothing memorable, is nonetheless enjoyable light reading fare.
Swan Song — About a woman getting revenge. I didn’t care for Swan Song much, and with three quasi Marple stories included, replacing one of them and/or Swan Song with another Satterthwaite and Mr. Quin would have made Sinister Spring sublime rather than just very good..
The standouts for me in the Sinister Spring volume were : The Girl in the Train, The Market Basing Mystery (Poirot), The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan (Poirot), and The Soul of the Croupier (Sattethwaite and Mr. Quin). Definitely recommended for Christie fans. show less
A collection of 12 short mysteries from Agatha Christie, Sinister Spring is a good pick for anyone who loves the author, the mystery-thriller genre, or are in a reading slump.
With a dozen unique stories, it will keep you attentive throughout. The theme of the crimes (murder, theft) varies from serious to hilarious, with tinges of romance, tragedies and sometimes absurd! This is a good example of the author's expansive writing style, covers a lot of detectives (Poirot, Parker Pyne, Marple) and also a good book to start with, if you are an Agatha Christie virgin.
The title of the book is also stuck with throughout the book by introducing elements of spring like gardening, birds or fields.
Out of the 12, these were my favorite:
The Herb of show more Death
Swan Song
Greenshaw’s Folly
PS: WATCH 'THE DISSAPEARANCE OF AGATHA CHRISTIE' BY buzzfeed unsolved - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0j2dlBMzUs show less
With a dozen unique stories, it will keep you attentive throughout. The theme of the crimes (murder, theft) varies from serious to hilarious, with tinges of romance, tragedies and sometimes absurd! This is a good example of the author's expansive writing style, covers a lot of detectives (Poirot, Parker Pyne, Marple) and also a good book to start with, if you are an Agatha Christie virgin.
The title of the book is also stuck with throughout the book by introducing elements of spring like gardening, birds or fields.
Out of the 12, these were my favorite:
The Herb of show more Death
Swan Song
Greenshaw’s Folly
PS: WATCH 'THE DISSAPEARANCE OF AGATHA CHRISTIE' BY buzzfeed unsolved - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0j2dlBMzUs show less
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2,146+ Works 439,621 Members
One of the most successful and beloved writer of mystery stories, Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay, County Devon, England. She wrote her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, in 1920, launching a literary career that spanned decades. In her lifetime, she authored 79 crime novels and a short story collection, 19 show more plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language with another billion in 44 foreign languages. Some of her most famous titles include Murder on the Orient Express, Mystery of the Blue Train, And Then There Were None, 13 at Dinner and The Sittaford Mystery. Noted for clever and surprising twists of plot, many of Christie's mysteries feature two unconventional fictional detectives named Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Poirot, in particular, plays the hero of many of her works, including the classic, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926), and Curtain (1975), one of her last works in which the famed detective dies. Over the years, her travels took her to the Middle East where she met noted English archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. They married in 1930. Christie accompanied Mallowan on annual expeditions to Iraq and Syria, which served as material for Murder in Mesopotamia (1930), Death on the Nile (1937), and Appointment with Death (1938). Christie's credits also include the plays, The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution (1953; film 1957). Christie received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for 1954-1955 for Witness. She was also named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1971. Christie died in 1976. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Sinister Spring
- Original language
- English
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- 64
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- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.75)
- Languages
- English, Estonian, Polish
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
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