Hercule Poirot: Novels, Novellas and Short Stories by Agatha Christie (An Update) Second Part: Short Stories Collections, Novellas and Miscellanies


images (1)This is an update from a previous post. If I’m right, the character of Poirot features in some 33 novels and on close to 58 short stories and novellas by Agatha Christie –depending on which ones you would like to take into account. Suffice is to say that some of her short stories were later on expanded into a novella or a full-length novel. I believe I’ve read them all, though for some purist I still have to read “Black Coffee” and “Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly”.

I would like to thank Ronald Ankers for his comments to my previous post.

Hercule Poirot short story collections, novellas and miscellanies.

–  Poirot Investigates is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. It contain the following eleven stories: “The Adventure of the Western Star”; “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor”; “The Adventure of the Cheap Flat”; “The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge”; “The Million Dollar Bond Robbery”; “The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb”; “The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan”; “The Kidnapped Prime Minister”; “The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim”; “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman” and “The Case of the Missing Will”. The American version of this book, published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1925, featured an additional three stories which did not appear in book form in the UK until 1974 with the publication of Poirot’s Early Cases: “The Chocolate Box”; “The Veiled Lady” and “The Lost Mine”.

–  Murder in the Mews is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club in March 1937. In the US, the book was published by Dodd, Mead and Company under the title Dead Man’s Mirror in June 1937 with one story missing (The Incredible Theft); the 1987 Berkeley Books edition of the same title has all four stories: Murder in the Mews; The Incredible Theft; Dead Man’s Mirror, and Triangle at Rhodes. All of the tales feature Hercule Poirot.

–  The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1939.The stories feature, with one exception (“In a Glass Darkly”), Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple or Parker Pyne, Christie’s detectives. Five of the stories feature Hercule Poirot (“The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest”, “How Does Your Garden Grow?”, “Yellow Iris”, “The Dream”, “Problem at Sea”). The collection was not published in the UK and was the first time a Christie book was published in the US without a comparable publication in the UK; however all of the stories in the collection were published in later UK collections.

–  The Labours of Hercules is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1947 and in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September of the same year. It features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and gives an account of twelve cases with which he intends to close his career as a private detective. The stories were all first published in periodicals between 1939 and 1947.The twelve stories are: “The Nemean Lion”; “The Lernaean Hydra”; “The Arcadian Deer”; “The Erymanthian Boar”; “The Augean Stables”; “The Stymphalean Birds”; “The Cretan Bull”; “The Horses of Diomedes”; “The Girdle of Hippolyta”; “The Flock of Geryon”; “The Apples of Hesperides” and “The Capture of Cerberus”.

–  The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1948. The story “The Second Gong” features Hercule Poirot, the only character in the stories who appears in any other of Christie’s works.

–  Three Blind Mice and Other Stories is a collection of short stories written by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1950. The later collections The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960), Poirot’s Early Cases (1974), Miss Marple’s Final Cases and Two Other Stories (1979), and Problem at Pollensa Bay (1992) reprint between them all the stories in this collection except the title story “Three Blind Mice”, an alternate version of the play The Mousetrap, and the only Christie short story not published in the UK. The stories featuring Poirot are “The Third Floor Flat”; “The Adventure of Johnny Waverly”; and “Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds”.

–  The Under Dog and Other Stories  is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the United States by Dodd Mead and Company in 1951 comprising the following stories: “The Underdog”, “The Plymouth Express”, “The Affair at the Victory Ball”, “The Market Basing Mystery”, “The Lemesurier Inheritance”, “The Cornish Mystery”, “The King of Clubs”, “The Submarine Plans” and “The Adventure of the Clapham Cook”. The title story was published in booklet form along with Blackman’s Wood (by E. Phillips Oppenheim) in the United Kingdom in 1929 by The Reader’s Library. It contains works from the early days of Christie’s career, all featuring Hercule Poirot. All the stories were published in British and American magazines between 1923 and 1926. All of the stories, save the title story, were to appear again in 1974 in Poirot’s Early Cases.

–  The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and a Selection of Entrées is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 24 October 1960. It is the only Christie first edition published in the UK that contains stories with both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, the writer’s two most famous detectives, and comprises six cases, five of which featuring Hercule Poirot: “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” (apa “The Theft of the Royal Ruby”); “The Mystery of the Spanish Chest”; “The Under Dog”; “Four and Twenty Blackbirds” and “The Dream”.  It was not published in the US although the stories it contains were published in other volumes there.

–  Double Sin and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1961. The collection contains eight short stories and was not published in the UK; however all of the stories were published in other UK collections. The titles featuring Hercule Poirot are: “Double Sin”; “Wasp’s Nest”; “The Theft of the Royal Ruby” (apa “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”); and “The Double Clue”.

–  Poirot’s Early Cases is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by Collins Crime Club in September 1974. Although the stories contained within the volume had all appeared in previous US collections, the book also appeared there later in 1974 under the slightly different title of Hercule Poirot’s Early Cases. The eighteen short stories are: “The Affair at the Victory Ball”; “The Adventure of the Clapham Cook”; “The Cornish Mystery”; “The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly”; “The Double Clue”; “The King of Clubs”; “The Lemesurier Inheritance”; “The Lost Mine”; “The Plymouth Express”; “The Chocolate Box”; “The Submarine Plans”; “The Third Floor Flat”; “Double Sin”; “The Market Basing Mystery”; “Wasps’ Nest”; “The Veiled Lady”; “Problem at Sea” and “How Does Your Garden Grow?”. All the stories had first been published in periodicals between 1923 and 1935.

–  Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories is a short story collection by Agatha Christie published in the UK only in November 1991 by HarperCollins. It was not published in the US but all the stories contained within it had previously been published in American volumes. It contains two  stories with Hercule Poirot (“The Second Gong” first published in issue 499 of the Strand Magazine in July 1932 and the basis of the novella “Dead Man’s Mirror” in 1935; and ”Yellow Iris” first published in issue 559 of the Strand Magazine in July 1937, and the basis of the novel Sparkling Cyanide, in which Poirot was replaced by Colonel Race and the plot was heavily altered). “The Regatta Mystery”, first published in issue 546 of the Strand Magazine in June 1936 under the title “Poirot and the Regatta Mystery” was later rewritten by Christie to change the detective from Hercule Poirot to Parker Pyne before its first book publication in the US in The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories in 1939 and in the UK in this volume.

– The Harlequin Tea Set  is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by G. P. Putnam’s Sons on 14 April 1997. It contains nine short stories each of which involves a separate mystery. With the exception of “The Harlequin Tea Set”, which was published in the collection Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories, all stories were published in the UK in 1997 in the anthology While the Light Lasts and Other Stories.“The Mystery of the Spanish Chest” is the only story featuring Hercule Poirot.

–  While the Light Lasts and Other Stories is a short story collection by Agatha Christie first published in the UK on 4 August 1997 by HarperCollins. It contains nine short stories. In addition to detailed notes by Christie scholar Tony Medawar, the collection comprises the following Poirot stories: “Christmas Adventure” first published in issue 1611 of The Sketch Magazine on 11 December 1923, later expanded into novella form under the title “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”and was printed as the title story in the 1960 UK collection The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding; and “The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest” first published in issue 493 of the Strand Magazine in January 1932. The story was later expanded into novella form and was printed as “The Mystery of the Spanish Chest” in the 1960 UK collection The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.

–  Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short Stories. Omnibus Collection. All (?) 51 Hercule Poirot short stories presented in chronological order in a single volume – plus a bonus story not seen for more than 70 years. Arranged in their original publication order were published by HarperCollins Publishers in the UK in 1991, and in 1999 in the US. The stories in this volume have all been previously published in the following books by Agatha Christie: Poirot Investigates, 1924; Murder in the Mews, 1937; The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories, 1939; The Labours of Hercules, 1947; Three Blind Mice, 1950; The Under Dog and Other Stories, 1960; and Double Sin and Other Stories, 1974. The latest editions include “Poirot and the Regatta Mystery”, an early version of an Agatha Christie story not published since 1936! The 51 short stories and novellas are:

  1. “The Affair at the Victory Ball” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Sketch, March 7, 1923.
  2. “The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published as “The Curious Disappearance of the Opalsen Pearls” in The Sketch March 14, 1923.
  3. “The King of Clubs” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published as “The Adventures of the King of Clubs” in The Sketch March 21, 1923.
  4. “The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim” (short story from Poirot Investigates), was first published in The Sketch, March 28, 1923.
  5. “The Plymouth Express” 1939 (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), was first published as “The Mystery of the Plymouth Express” in The Sketch, April 4, 1923. It was expanded into the 1928 novel The Mystery of the Blue Train.
  6. “The Adventure of the ‘Western Star’” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, April 11, 1923.
  7. “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, April 18, 1923.
  8. “The Kidnapped Prime Minister” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, April 25, 1923.
  9. “The Million Dollar Bond Robbery” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, May 2, 1923.
  10. “The Adventure of the Cheap Flat” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, May 9, 1923.
  11. “The Mystery of the Hunters Lodge” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, May 16, 1923.
  12. “The Chocolate Box” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Sketch, May 23, 1923.
  13. “The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, September 26, 1923.
  14. “The Veiled Lady” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published as “The Case of the Veiled Lady” in The Sketch, October 3, 1923.
  15. “The Adventure of Johnny Waverly” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published as “The Kidnapping of Johnny Waverly” in The Sketch, October 10, 1923.
  16. “The Market Basing Mystery” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases) first published in The Sketch, October 17, 1923. It was expanded into the 1937 novella “Murder In The Mews” It first appeared in book form the US collection The Under Dog and Other Stories in 1951. The story first appeared in book form in the UK in 1966 in the collection Thirteen for Luck!, but its first appearance in an Agatha Christie only collection was in 1974 in Poirot’s Early Cases.
  17. “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, October 24, 1923.
  18. “The Case of the Missing Will” (short story from Poirot Investigates), first published in The Sketch, October 31, 1923.
  19. “The Incredible Theft” (short story from Murder in the Mews) is an expanded version of “The Submarine Plans”, which was serialised in six instalments in the Daily Express from April 1937, “The Incredible Theft” first appeared in the collection Murder in the Mews in the UK later that year, but was not published in the original US edition, 1937. ###
  20. “The Adventure of the Clapham Cook” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Sketch, November 14, 1923.
  21. “The Lost Mine” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Sketch, November 21, 1923
  22. “The Cornish Mystery” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Sketch, November 28, 1923
  23. “The Double Clue” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Sketch, December 5, 1923
  24. “The Theft of the Royal Ruby” (short story from The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding) first published as “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” in The Sketch, December 12, 1923. This is an expanded version of “The Christmas Adventure”.
  25. “The Lemesurier Inheritance” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in The Magpie, Christmas 1923
  26. “The Under Dog” (short story from The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding), first published in the USA in Mystery Magazine, April 1, 1926, then in London Magazine, October 1926.
  27. “Double Sin” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published as “By Road or Rail” in the Sunday Dispatch 23, 1928.
  28. “Wasps’ Nest” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published as “The Wasps’ Nest” in the Daily Mail, November 20, 1928
  29. “The Third Floor Flat” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases), first published in Hutchinson’s Story Magazine, January 1929.
  30. “The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest” (short story published in the US in The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories in 1939 and also in While the Light Lasts in 1997) was first published in The Strand, January 1932. The story was later expanded into novella form and was printed as “The Mystery of the Spanish Chest” in the 1960 UK collection The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.
  31. “Dead Man’s Mirror” 1937 (short story from Murder in the Mews) an expanded version of “The Second Gong” which was first published in the US in Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1932, then in The Strand, July 1932. 
  32. “How Does Your Garden Grow?” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases and The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories) first published in the US in Ladies’ Home Journal, June 1935, then in The Strand, August 1935.
  33. “Problem at Sea” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases and The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories) first published in the US in This Week, January 12, 1936, then as “Poirot and the Crime in Cabin 66” in The Strand, February 1936.
  34. “Triangle at Rhodes” (short story from Murder in the Mews), was first published in the US in This Week, February 2 1936, then as “Poirot and the Triangle at Rhodes” in The Strand, May 1936.
  35. “Murder in the Mews” 1937 (short story from Murder in the Mews) was first published in the US in Redbook Magazine, September/October 1936, then as “Mystery of the Dressing Case” in Woman’s Journal, December 1936. An expanded version of “The Market Basing Mystery”.
  36. “Yellow Iris” 1937 (short story from The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories and Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories) first published in The Strand, July 1937. It was expanded into the 1945 novel Sparkling Cyanide featuring Col. John Race instead of Poirot.
  37. “The Dream” 1939 (short story from The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories) first published in the US in The Saturday Evening Post, October 23, 1937, then in The Strand, February 1938.
  38. “The Nemean Lion” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in The Strand, November 1939
  39. “The Lernaean Hydra” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in the US as “The Invisible Enemy” in This Week, September 3, 1939, then in The Strand, December 1939.
  40. “The Arcadian Deer” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in The Strand, January 1940.
  41. “The Erymanthian Boar” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in The Strand, February 1940.
  42. “The Augean Stables” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in The Strand, March 1940.
  43. “The Stymphalean Birds” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in the US as “The Vulture Women” in This Week, September 17, 1939, then as “Birds of Ill Omen” in The Strand, April 1940.
  44. “The Cretan Bull” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in the US as “Midnight Madness” in This Week, September 24, 1939, then in The Strand, May 1940.
  45. “The Horses of Diomedes” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in The Strand, June 1940.
  46. “The Girdle of Hyppolita” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in the US as “The Disappearance of Winnie King” in This Week, September 10, 1939, then as “The Girdle of Hyppolita” in The Strand, July 1940.
  47. “The Flock of Geryon” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in the US as “Weird Monster” in This Week, May 26, 1940, then in The Strand, August 1940.
  48. “The Apples of Hesperides” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in The Strand, September 1940.
  49. “The Capture of Cerberus” (short story from The Labours of Hercules), first published in the Collins hardcover edition of The Labours of Hercules, September 1947.
  50. “Four and Twenty Blackbirds” (short story from The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding), first published in the US in Collier’s Magazine, November 9, 1940, then as “Poirot and the Regular Customer” in The Strand, March 1941.
  51. “Poirot and the Regatta Mystery” first published in the Strand Magazine, June 1936. It  was later rewritten by Christie as “The Regatta Mystery” to change the detective from Hercule Poirot to Parker Pyne. 

Posthumously published short stories and novellas

  1. “The Capture of Cerberus” 1947 (posthumous short story), originally intended to be the last of The Labours of Hercules but re-written due to its political content. Published in Agatha Christie’s Secret
    Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making     (2009) by John Curran.
  2. “The Incident of the Dog’s Ball” (posthumous short story) expanded into the 1937 novel Dumb Witness. Published in Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making (2009) by John Curran.
  3. “Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly”,first published posthumously in the UK by HarperCollins Publishers in 2014, a novella that turned into Dead Man’s Folly. In 1954, Agatha Christie wrote this novella with the intention of donating the proceeds to a fund set up to buy stained glass windows for her local church at Churston Ferrers, and she filled the story with references to local places, including her own home of Greenway. But having completed it, she decided instead to expand the story into a full-length novel, Dead Man’s Folly, which was published two years later, and donated a Miss Marple story (“Greenshaw’s Folly”) to the church fund instead.

Expanded/Adapted stories. Some Poirot adventures were later expanded into other stories or re-written. They are:

  1. “The Plymouth Express” 1923 (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases) expanded into the 1928 novel The Mystery of the Blue Train.
  2. “The Market Basing Mystery” (short story from Poirot’s Early Cases) expanded into the 1937 novella “Murder In The Mews” It first appeared in book form the US collection The Under Dog and Other Stories in 1951. The story first appeared in book form in the UK in 1966 in the collection Thirteen for Luck!, but its first appearance in an Agatha Christie only collection was in 1974 in Poirot’s Early Cases.
  3. “The Submarine Plans” (1923 short story from Poirot’s Early Cases) was expanded into the 1937 novella “The Incredible Theft”.
  4. “Christmas Adventure” (1923 short story) expanded into the 1960 novella “The Adventure Of The Christmas Pudding”
  5. “The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest” (short story from “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”1932) was expanded into the 1960 novella “The Mystery of the Spanish Chest”. (From The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories), 1960
  6. “The Second Gong” (1932 short story from Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories) expanded into the 1937 novella “Dead Man’s Mirror”.
  7. “Poirot and the Regatta Mystery” (1936 short story first published in the Strand Magazine, June 1936). The story was re-written as “The Regatta Mystery” in 1939 featuring Parker Pyne instead of Poirot and published in book form at The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories.
  8. “Yellow Iris” 1937 short story from The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories and Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories) was expanded into the 1945 novel Sparkling Cyanide featuring Col. John Race instead of Poirot.

Not included above:

– “Black Coffee” First published in the UK by HarperCollins Publishers in 2000. A stage play written by Agatha Christie in 1929, accepted for production in 1930 at the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage, London. Adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne and published in 1998.

Recommended Readings:

–  Agatha Christie’s Complete Secret Notebooks: Stories and Secrets of Murder in the Making (HarperCollinsPublishers, 2020) by John Curran.

–  An Autobiography (HarperCollinsPublishers, 2017) by Agatha Christie.

–  Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot: The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot (HarperCollinsPublishers, 2019) by Anne Hart.

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