Stories: The Monogram Murders

Hercule Poirot's quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Stories: The Mysterious Mr Quin

It had been a typical New Year’s Eve party. But as midnight approaches, Mr Satterthwaite - ­­a keen observer of human nature – senses that the real drama of the evening is yet to unfold. And so it proves when a mysterious stranger knocks on the door. Who is Mr Quin?

Mr Satterthwaite’s new friend is an enigma. Throughout this collection of short stories he seems to appear and disappear almost like a trick of the light. In fact, the only consistent thing about him is that his presence is always an omen – sometimes good, but sometimes deadly.

Stories: The Listerdale Mystery [Short Story]

Down on her luck and living with family in a boarding house, Mrs St Vincent comes across an advert to rent a beautiful house with a benevolent landlord. From The Listerdale Mystery.

Stories: Parker Pyne Investigates

Mrs Packington felt alone, helpless and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in The Times which read: ‘Are you happy? If not, consult Mr Parker Pyne.'

Parker Pyne is a most unconventional investigator. In a uniquely charming way, he solves matters of the heart, yearnings for adventure, and one or two crimes along the way.

This collection comprises fourteen tantalising cases for this intriguing retired civil servant.

Stories: Partners In Crime

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford were restless for adventure, so when they were asked to take over Blunt’s International Detective Agency, they leapt at the chance.

After their triumphant recovery of a pink pearl, intriguing cases kept on coming their way: a stabbing on Sunningdale golf course; cryptic messages in the personal columns of newspapers; and even a box of poisoned chocolates.

Stories: Hercule Poirot And The Greenshore Folly

An urgent telephone call summons Poirot to Devonshire on what Miss Lemon declares is a "wild goose chase". The caller is the eccentric detective novelist, Mrs Ariadne Oliver, and the reason for her alarm seems based solely on woman's intuition. Is the fictional murder scenario she has been asked to devise a cover-up for something more sinister? And what is the significance of the Greenshore Folly, an architectural embarrassment in the sweeping grounds of the otherwise impressive Greenshore House?

Stories: The Grand Tour

In 1922 Agatha Christie set sail on a 10-month voyage around the British Empire with her husband as part of a trade mission to promote the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition. Leaving her two-year-old daughter behind with her sister, Agatha set sail at the end of January and did not return until December, but she kept up a detailed weekly correspondence with her mother, describing in detail the exotic places and people she encountered.

Stories: A is for Arsenic : The Poisons of Agatha Christie

Fourteen novels. Fourteen poisons. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it's all made-up...

In A is for Arsenic Kathryn Harkup explores the poisons used by Agatha Christie in her novels. Christie used poison to kill her characters more often than any other crime fiction writer. The poison was a central part of the novel, and her choice of deadly substances was far far from random; the chemical and physiological characteristics of each poison provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer.

Stories: Little Grey Cells : The Quotable Poirot

Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective solved some of the world's most puzzling crimes using only his 'little grey cells'. Now, pulled together by Agatha Christie's publisher David Brawn, discover the man behind the moustache, and the wit and wisdom of the Queen of Crime who created him.

Stories: Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre

Agatha Christie is revered around the world for her books and for the indelible characters she created. Less well-known today is her writing for the stage - an extraordinary repertoire of plays that firmly established her as the most successful female dramatist of all time. Now Julius Green raises the curtain on Agatha Christie's towering contribution to popular theatre, an element of her work previously disregarded by biographers and historians.