 Cover of modern day printing of The Regatta Mystery |
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead and Company |
| Publication date | June 1939 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 229 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | Murder is Easy |
| Followed by | And Then There Were None |
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in June 1939. The stories feature Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Parker Pyne. 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. All of the stories in the collection were published in later UK collections.
- The Regatta Mystery
- The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest
- How Does Your Garden Grow?
- Problem at Pollensa Bay
- Yellow Iris
- Miss Marple Tells a Story
- The Dream
- In a Glass Darkly
- Problem at Sea
The title story has Mr. Parker Pyne catch a diamond thief during regatta festivities at Dartmouth harbor. The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest concerns how a dead body found its way into the titular chest in the midst of a dance party. Arthur Hastings chronicles Hercule Poirot's unraveling of the mystery. How Does Your Garden Grow? is a line from the nursery rhyme "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary," which Poirot is reminded of when visiting a country house whose mistress has just died -- after writing a cryptic letter requesting his help. The Problem at Pollensa Bay concerns a mother's dislike for her son's fiance. The problem is solved (non-violently) by fellow vacationer Parker Pyne. In Yellow Iris, Hercule Poirot follows an anonymous phone call to a restaurant table laden with the favorite flower of a woman who died mysteriously four years before. Miss Marple Tells a Story is written in the first person by the elderly sleuth, who recalls how she solved an impossible murder without leaving her chair. In The Dream, an eccentric millionaire tells Poirot of a troubling dream in which he kills himself -- and is found dead the next day. In a Glass Darkly is the only story in the collection not to feature a famous detective (it is told by an anonymous narrator), and the only one to invoke the supernatural. Its title alludes to the phrase "Through a glass darkly," used by the Apostle Paul to describe how we currently view the world. In Problem at Sea, a rich woman is found dead in her cabin on a luxury ship off the shore of Alexandria. The story concludes with Hercule Poirot saying: "I do not approve of murder."
