Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple are the detectives of Agatha Christie known to millions; somewhat less well known are Tuppence and Tommy Beresford and Inspector Battle. In all four cases, Christie wrote novels, as well as short stories, using these characters. However, there are two other Christie "detectives" who never appear in a novel, only in short stories. The quotation marks are necessary, for neither of these men fulfill the usual image of the British detective. They are Mr. C. Parker Pyne and Mr. Harley Quin. With the latter must be included his friend Mr. Satterthwaite…. The stories of Pyne and Quin illustrate two different elements of Christie's mystery fiction—elements that are not part of her works about the other detectives. In the Pyne stories she combines detection, or at least deduction, and the manipulation of human lives to achieve their happiness, while in the Quin stories she combines detection and fantasy.
There are fourteen Parker Pyne stories. Of these seven can hardly be called detective stories; rather they are cases in which Pyne manipulates people to give them the happiness they desire—the mystery element is how he accomplishes the task. The other seven involve detection by Pyne when he is asked to help an unhappy person. (p. 110)
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