Poirot’s Early Cases

Poirot’s Early Cases
Agatha Christie

In this set of short stories Captain Hastings recounts 18 of Poirot’s early cases from the days before he was famous…Hercule Poirot delighted in telling people that he was probably the best detective in the world. So turning back the clock to trace eighteen of the cases which helped establish his professional reputation was always going to be a fascinating experience. With his career still in its formative years, the panache with which Hercule Poirot could solve even the most puzzling mystery is obvious.Chronicled by his friend Captain Hastings, these eighteen early cases - from theft and robbery to kidnapping and murder - were all guaranteed to test Poirot’s soon-to-be-famous ‘little grey cells’ to their absolute limit.

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HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

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First published in Great Britain by Collins 1974

Copyright © 1974 Agatha Christie Limited (a Chorion company). All rights reserved.

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Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

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Source ISBN: 9780007121137

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2010 ISBN: 9780007422722

Version: 2017-05-03

Contents

Title Page (#u7d69fe81-b1d4-5a56-95dd-ec0a171bb597)

Copyright

The Affair at the Victory Ball

The Adventure of the Clapham Cook

The Cornish Mystery

The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly

The Double Clue

The King of Clubs

The Lemesurier Inheritance

The Lost Mine

The Plymouth Express

The Chocolate Box

The Submarine Plans

The Third-Floor Flat

Double Sin

The Market Basing Mystery

Wasps’ Nest

The Veiled Lady

Problem at Sea

How Does Your Garden Grow?

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The Affair at the Victory Ball (#ulink_60a48b17-7584-50dc-ba3b-70d93c62fb39)

I

Pure chance led my friend Hercule Poirot, formerly chief of the Belgian force, to be connected with the Styles Case. His success brought him notoriety, and he decided to devote himself to the solving of problems in crime. Having been wounded on the Somme and invalided out of the Army, I finally took up my quarters with him in London. Since I have a first-hand knowledge of most of his cases, it has been suggested to me that I select some of the most interesting and place them on record. In doing so, I feel that I cannot do better than begin with that strange tangle which aroused such widespread public interest at the time. I refer to the affair at the Victory Ball.

Although perhaps it is not so fully demonstrative of Poirot’s peculiar methods as some of the more obscure cases, its sensational features, the well-known people involved, and the tremendous publicity given it by the Press, make it stand out as a cause célèbre and I have long felt that it is only fitting that Poirot’s connection with the solution should be given to the world.

It was a fine morning in spring, and we were sitting in Poirot’s rooms. My little friend, neat and dapper as ever, his egg-shaped head tilted on one side, was delicately applying a new pomade to his moustache. A certain harmless vanity was a characteristic of Poirot’s and fell into line with his general love of order and method. The Daily Newsmonger, which I had been reading, had slipped to the floor, and I was deep in a brown study when Poirot’s voice recalled me.

‘Of what are you thinking so deeply, mon ami?’

‘To tell you the truth,’ I replied, ‘I was puzzling over this unaccountable affair at the Victory Ball. The papers are full of it.’ I tapped the sheet with my finger as I spoke.