Short story collections by Agatha Christie

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 49. Chapters: The Mysterious Mr. Quin, Partners in Crime, Parker Pyne Investigates, The Listerdale Mystery, The Hound of Death, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, Star Over Bethlehem and other stories, The Regatta Mystery, Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories, Three Blind Mice and Other Stories, While the Light Lasts and Other Stories, Double Sin and Other Stories, Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories, The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories, The Golden Ball and Other Stories, The Harlequin Tea Set, Surprise! Surprise!. Excerpt: The Mysterious Mr. Quin is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons on April 14 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00. Each chapter or story involves a separate mystery that is solved through the interaction between the characters of the elderly Mr. Satterthwaite and the eponymous Mr. Quin who appears almost magically at the most opportune moments and disappears just as mysteriously. Mr. Satterthwaite is a small, observant man who is able to wrap up each mystery through the careful prodding and apposite questions of Mr. Quin. In Agatha Christie's Autobiography, she claims that Mr. Quin and the diminutive Mr. Satterthwaite became two of her favourite characters. The latter character reappeared in the 1935 novel Three Act Tragedy. Outside of this collection, Mr Quin appeared in two further short stories The Harlequin Tea Set and The Love Detectives which were both included in the 1992 UK collection Problem at Pollensa Bay. In the US, the former story appeared as the title story in the 1997 collection The Harlequin Tea Set and the latter in the earlier 1950 collection Three Blind Mice and Other Stories. It is New Year's Eve and a house party is taking place at a country house called Royston. Mr Satterthwaite is one of the guests. His hosts are Tom Evesham and his wife, Lady Laura. Among the other guests are Sir Richard Conway and Alex Portal and his Australian wife of two years, Eleanor. Mr Satterthwaite finds her intriguing on many counts, not least of which is the question as to why a blonde-haired woman would dye her hair dark when the usual convention is the reverse. The clocks strike midnight and as the older members of the guests gather their chairs round the fire, mention is made of Derek Capel, the previous owner of Royston, who committed suicide ten years previously seemingly