While the Light Lasts and Other Stories

I’ve only read Agatha Christie’s mysteries with poirot- this style of writing was quite entertaining and ended with something thought-provoking. Themes like jealousy, infidelity and loss were common in each - there was Poirot in one story, called mystery of the Baghdad chest. That was pretty entertaining

While the Light Lasts is a collection of rarely published shorter fictions by Agatha Christie. It was first published in the UK in 1997 by HarperCollins.

The book contains nine short stories. The House of Dreams, The Actress, The Edge, Christmas Adventure, The Lonely God, Manx Gold, Within a Wall, The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest and While the Light Lasts.

The House of Dreams was first published in the Sovereign Magazine in 1926. This story has a touch of the supernatural. I liked the way Christie described the feeling one gets when a dream seems authentic enough to be real. The way a dream feels really rational the moment you wake up but the unreality of it all hits you afterwards. Plot wise the story is good. The story has a sort of a show more surreal quality to it.

The Actress was first published in The Novel Magazine in 1923. Its original title was A Trap for the Unwary. The plot of The Actress is rather simplistic. It is also very, very short. I enjoyed the story in spite of its simple plot.

The Edge, first published in the Pearson's Magazine in 1927, is a disturbing story. It shows how easy it is to go from being an upright and honest person to a conniving and malicious one. None of the characters are likable but there is something inherently sinister about the protagonist. Both the literal and the metaphorical edge made me uncomfortable.

Christmas Adventure is an early version of the Hercule Poirot novella, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960). It was published in The Sketch Magazine in 1923. Although they are essentially the same story there are some differences between Christmas Adventure and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. I think The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is more fun than Christmas Adventure. Christie did the right thing by expanding and re-writing it.

The Lonely God was first published in the Royal Magazine in 1926. This is an unabashedly romantic story. The central plot is nothing novel but the central figure of the story, the statue of an unknown ancient god, is unique. Generally, I’m not too fond of romance. But I liked The Lonely God. Curiously, I actually felt bad for the statue. Poor little thing, I thought.

Manx Gold isn’t officially an Agatha Christie story. Its history is a bit peculiar. In 1930 to promote tourism to the Isle of Man, a treasure hunting game was planned by the local authorities. Christie was commissioned to write a short story. The story gave clues to the location of four hidden boxes on the island and each held a prize in it. It was published in the Daily Dispatch in five instalments. The story was also published in as a promotional booklet which was distributed at tourist spots. Interestingly, only one booklet is known to have survived. Although it is not legitimately a story, it is fun to read.

Within a Wall is another one of Christie’s non-mystery romantic/drama stories. It was first published in the Royal Magazine in 1925. The story is kind of depressing. It is a good story but its ambiguous ending left me a bit dissatisfied. Christie herself never gave any explanation as to what she meant by the ending. I think that the man forgets the selfless love he had received and returns to his stifling life. That is what I got from it.

The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest is an earlier version of a Hercule Poirot novella. It was expanded and renamed as The Mystery of the Spanish Chest (1960). The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest was first published in the Strand Magazine in 1932. I prefer The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest to its longer version The Mystery of the Spanish Chest. The same story told with a little less details doesn’t take anything away from this narrative. I found the method of the murder unique and somewhat gruesome. This is a decently good mystery short story.

While the Light Lasts is perhaps the weakest story of the lot. It was first published in The Novel Magazine in 1924. It is unimpressive and kind of stupid. Why they named the collection after this inane story I don’t get.

Among the stories I liked The Actress, The Edge and The Lonely God. The House of Dreams and Within a Wall are good but somewhat vague stories. The eponymous While the Light Lasts was bad.

This collection is a valuable addition to the Christie repertoire. The afterwords by Tony Medawar are an added bonus. He explains the original publication histories of the stories. He also adds Christie’s inspiration behind writing each story and her final impression of them.

While the Light Lasts is a delightful little collection. Recommended. show less

I Bless the Rains Down in Africa
A review of the HarperCollins paperback (UK 2003) of the Harper Collins original hardcover (UK 1997) collecting stories first published in various magazines 1923-1932.

[3.44 average rating for the 9 stories, but bumped up to 4 stars due to the very thorough Introduction and detailed Afterwords for each story in this edition by Agatha Christie expert [author:Tony Medawar|454033], which makes for a value-added enhancement.]

This shares 7 stories with [book:The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories|16358] (US 1997) but I am going with the UK editions to close out the short story portion of my Agatha Christie binge as it hopefully makes for better consistency. The 2 odd men out are the early Poirot stories.

Most show more of the stories here are not even crime mysteries although a few tragic deaths do occur. That is probably the reason that Christie's publishers weren't interested in collecting them earlier. They are better suited to the Mary Westmacott (Christie's non-crime writing alias) canon and the title story became the basis for one of those novels.

Despite the cover image showing the distinctive umbrella acacia trees of Africa, only the title story takes place there. That did inspire my soundtrack though, see below for that.

The following individual ratings and synopses contain setup descriptions and publishing histories only, so I have not spoiler blocked them.

1. The House of Dreams *** A man has a recurring dream of a house that he cannot enter and then falls in love with a woman who says she can never marry. Adapted from Christie’s early story “The House of Beauty” (pre-WWI) which was her first that “showed promise.” First published in Sovereign Magazine January 1926.

2. The Actress *** Actress Olga Stormer is subject to a blackmail attempt when an old Chicago acquaintance discovers her on a London stage. She plans to turn the tables on the blackmailer with the help of an understudy. First published in the Novel Magazine in 1923 with the title “A Trap for the Unwary.”

3. The Edge *** Clare Halliwell discovers that Vivien Lee, her romantic rival, is having an affair and debates whether to reveal it to Vivien’s husband Sir Gerald Lee and then hopefully claim his affections when he is divorced and on the rebound. The two women have a fateful encounter by the side of a dangerous cliffside known as “The Edge.” First published in Pearson’s Magazine in February 1927.

4. Christmas Adventure **** Hercule Poirot attends a Christmas gathering and receives a secret message warning him “Don’t eat any plum-pudding.” Meanwhile the other guests are planning a mock murder in order to trick Poirot. First published in The Sketch in December 1923 as The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding .

5. The Lonely God **** A meet-cute story of two lonely people who are drawn towards a rather neglected statue in the British Museum which they think of as the Lonely God. After some initial encounters, the woman suddenly disappears, but the man is inspired to do a painting which may reunite them. First published in the Royal Magazine in July 1926.

6. Manx Gold **** A treasure hunt story on the Isle of Man. The clues are hidden inside the story but the exact locations are kept hidden. The afterword (not by Christie) tells of the real-life hunt. Commissioned by the Isle of Man to promote tourism to the island. First serialized in the Daily Dispatch at the end of May 1930 in 5 installments and was also distributed as a tourism booklet throughout the island.

7. Within a Wall *** A painter’s love is divided between two woman, one of them is not his wife. He paints both their portraits, but one painting is flat and without life whereas the other is full of life. Then one woman dies and a secret is revealed. First published in the Royal Magazine on October 1925.

8. The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest **** Hercule Poirot is asked to solve the mystery of how a dead man came to be found in a chest from Baghdad in the home of the man who was the rival for his wife’s affections. First published in The Strand Magazine in January 1932. Later revised as The Mystery of the Spanish Chest and collected in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960).

9. While the Light Lasts *** A woman and her 2nd husband are touring a tobacco farm in Rhodesia, Africa when she discovers to her shock that her 1st husband, who had supposedly died during the war, is in fact alive. First published in the Novel Magazine in April 1924. The plot was later used as the basis for the Mary Westmacott novel [book:Giant's Bread|1949253] (1930).

Soundtrack
As mentioned above, there was only a single story with an African locale in this book, although the cover art is definitely an African scene of umbrella acacia trees. As you probably guessed from my lede header I listened to Toto's Africa, originally from the Toto IV (1982), but in the later choral arrangement as performed by the youth choir Christ University Choir, India on YouTube here and the adult choir Angel City Chorale, Los Angeles, USA on YouTube here.
I especially enjoyed the choir sound effects evoking rainfall and thunder.

Addendum
This short story collection counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge read goal, so I have 9 novels (including 3 remaining Westmacotts), 2 short story collections, 9.5 full-length theatrical plays, 2 short 1-Act plays and 1 autobiography left to go. Overall I am going to go with the official UK list of 166 stories, and the 20 or so still to go are in the collections listed below. If my count is wrong I'll adjust it as I get nearer to the end of my target.
The remaining 2 (I have stroked through #3 which may not be visible on all platforms) short story collections would be:
1. [book:The Listerdale Mystery|37562] (UK 1934) [should be 12 stories]
2. [book:Problem at Pollensa Bay|1121677] (UK 1991) [should be 8 stories]
3. [book:While the Light Lasts|11634565] (UK 1997) [should be 9 stories]
Some of these may contain stories that I've already read in a US edition. A few individual stories may still need to be tracked down if I have missed something. show less

Interesting collection of early work, including some stories later expanded into novellas. Hence quite familiar! 2024 re read - quite a few of these stories have been covered in the All About Agatha podcast so it was interesting to read them again. Whilst most are more traditional detective stories, four of the nine are more human dramas, work that she would later develop under her pseudonym Mary Westmacott. The book also includes notes for each story including publication history and if the work was later expanded or reworked. Well worth the read for Agatha completists but also would be enjoyed by an Agatha novice.

This is another collection of short stories which were re-issued in this particular collection published in 1997, so not a compilation that Dame Agatha would have had a hand in compiling.

Nevertheless, there are some real gems amongst the stories. My personal favourites, the eponymous While the Light Lasts, The Edge and The Actress, are where AC shows some of the darker aspects of life, and she does it well.

The stories do not follow the usual formula of the who-dunnit and if that is what you are looking for you may as well pick one of her Marple or Poirot short stories. However, there are a couple that were later re-worked into Poirot adventures.

The stories contained in this volume are:

- The House of Dreams (first published in show more January 1926)

- The Actress (first published in May 1923 under the title of A Trap for the Unwary)

- The Edge (first published February 1927)

- Christmas Adventure (first published on 11 December 1923). This story was later expanded into novella form and was printed as The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot).

- The Lonely God (first published in July 1926)

- Within a Wall (first published in October 1925)

- The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest (first published in January 1932). The story was later expanded into The Mystery of the Spanish Chest.

- While the Light Lasts (first published in April 1924)

- Manx Gold (first published in May 1930)

3.5* really, but not quite 4*. show less

Somewhat conflicted ...

This has nine short stories ... a few of which i liked, others i .. didn't care as much for.

I feel robbed almost, since only three, arguably four are mysteries, the other being some kind of romances, and i have to say, romance just doesn't do it for me.

Was not very engrossed in this, since i wasn't very interested in some of the shorts.

"The House of Dreams" : Eh, i guess, mostly it's a subversion of the common classic horror literature of the time, not bad, but meh.
"The Actress": Short and Sweet, by far my favorite.
"The Edge": Very intriguing, even more with the meta-context of Agatha's episode, but also in itself.
"Christmas Adventure": Very nice
"The Lonely God": yeah i dont care
"Manx Gold": yeah i dont show more care
"Within a Wall": yeah i dont care
"The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest": wasnt as focused as id have liked, need to re-read or listen (fucking AI narrators goddamn fucking fucks bland-ass dogshit-)
"While the Light Lasts": yeah i dont care show less

Interesting collection of short stories including a couple where Poirot makes an appearance.