Poirot Investigates

A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

By: Agatha Christie

Narrated by: David Suchet

Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond...then came the "suicide" that was murder...the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat...a suspicious death in a locked gun room...a million-dollar bond robbery...the curse of a pharaoh's tomb...a jewel robbery by the sea...the abduction of a prime minister...the disappearance of a banker...a phone call from a dying man...and finally, the mystery of the missing will.

What links these fascinating cases? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot!

©1924 Agatha Christie Limited (P)1990 EMI Record trading on Music for pleasure Ltd

A classic collection of Poirot stories

It's a nice cross-section of many of the short story form mysteries by Agatha Christie of her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The collection says that it's narrated by David Suchet (who played Poirot in the television adaptations), but half of them are narrated by Hugh Frasier who played Hastings in that very same series! It's fun to hear each actor voice their own role as well as their fellow's.

Entertaining Short Whodunits

This was a fun little collection of Poirot short stories. Glad to say, of the 14 mysteries, I caught the same clues as Poirot and guessed the culprit at least a few times. If nothing else, I can always tell what Hastings will pick up on and know that that will likely be wrong. Last story a rare gem in which Poirot relates a story of a case in which he failed.
As only my second Poirot book, though I have read many since, I thought these made a great introduction to Christie's style, almost like they were a way of breaking me in as a reader and getting to know Poirot's methods before getting to some more of the full-length novel mysteries.

I prefer longer cases

I prefer longer cases as compared to mini cases. I need to listen over again because I didn’t pay as much attention to these short cases compared to The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Murder on the Links.

A definite re listen !

great listen, David Suchet is Hercule Poirot!. It follows the stories almost exactly yo a t

Superb narration enjoyable mysteries

Superbly narrated by the incomparable David Suchet, these early Poirot short stories by Agatha Christie are fast-paced and enjoyable. The last few stories are narrated by Hugh Fraser, who is also excellent.

The first Poirot collection

Hastings may have left for South America at the end of "The Murder on the Links" but we're treated to many Poirot stories with him still at the Belgian's side before that novel.

Overall, the stories were really good, though I wasn't completely drawn in by all of them. I enjoy having books like this to listen because I can always find a short story to listen to when I have nothing else to listen. So I will be coming back to this collection in the future.

This was the first time I heard actor David Suchet narrating a book of the character he played on screen. His narration is equal to Hugh Fraser and now I am interested in seeing some of the shows in which Suchet portrayed Poirot.

Up next is "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"...

entertaining shorts!

this was a great series of short stories. Hercule at his finest. thoroughly enjoyed.

Perfect performance!

I remember no Agatha Christie books I did not like. David Suchet brings them to life beautifully!

Don't let your mind wander!!!

STORY (short detective stories) - This is a collection of maybe 10-15 short stories by Agatha Christie, set in the early 1900's. The star is a Belgian detective named Hercule Poirot, a small man with a big ego who always manages to outsmart everyone and crack the case. The publisher's summary gives hints about the different stories so I won't repeat that here, except to say that there's a bit of everything -- kidnapping, murder, robbery, etc.

I think the mysteries are well-written and interesting. My only negative comment is that, since the stories are short, there is very little "fluff." Everything is important, so you must listen carefully. Unfortunately, I'm used to much longer books and, as I'm commuting to and from work, my mind wanders a bit. In a mystery which is, say, 30 minutes in duration, you can't afford to "zone out" for two or three minutes without missing something important. I found myself lost several times and having to rewind and rehear to understand. Alternatively, I often just continued and was completely lost at the end of the story.

PERFORMANCE - Throughout most of the book, Mr. Suchet performed convincing French and British accents, great emotional performances and probably the best female voices I've ever heard performed by a male narrator. The only reason he received a four-start rating is because the last few stories (about the last hour) seemed like a completely different narrator was reading! The great voice of Hercule Poiroit was gone and blended in with the voices of the other minor characters. What happened? Anyway, he went from a five-star rating to a four just because of the final hour.

OVERALL - No sex or cursing. There's kidnappings and killings but they're described with basically no violence. Recommended for any audience, but must be prepared to listen carefully and concentrate!

Poirot at his best: short

What did you love best about Poirot Investigates?

Poirot, like Sherlock Holmes, is at his best in short stories, and this is a collection of mostly clever ones. Agatha Christie has a tendency to cheat sometimes, and Poirot's deductions are sometimes little more than guesswork, but that's a lot more forgivable in a short story than a full-length novel. It happens in some of these stories, but they're good enough to survive it.

Also, David Suchet pretty much is the voice of Poirot now. He does it well here.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There is only one character that matters here.