Poirot Short Stories

Along with the 33 Poirot novels, Agatha Christie also wrote more than 50 short stories featuring Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgium detective. This page is your guide to all the Poirot short stories so you can see which are the best Poirot short stories to read included in each of the short story collections. So for all the Poirot fans out there, there is plenty to get stuck into.

Whether you’re an ardent fan who has read every Poirot novel there is an is now looking for your next Poirot fix, or new to Agatha Christie and just withing to dip you toe in, the Poirot short story collections are a great selection of quick reads and mysteries to enjoy.

Many people enjoy the Poirot sort stories for the variety of mysteries and crimes they cover – they are not just a series of murder mysteries but cover fraud, theft, kidnapping, missing wills and everything in between. It is this variety which makes the short stories so enjoyable whether for a quick lunch break read or a 30 minute commute audiobook to enjoy.

The Poirot short story collections are, in order of publication:

Poirot Investigates – 1924
Murder in the Mews – 1937
The Labours of Hercules – 1947
Poirot’s Early Cases – 1974

Poirot short stories can be found in the following wider collections of short stories which in some cases also include Marple short stories

The Poirot short stories formed the bases for the earlier series of the ITV episodes starring David Suchet as Poirot and Hugh Fraser as Captain Hastings. The plots stay true to the novels and each episode is only an hour long in line with the short stories. The feature length ITV episodes lasting two hours are generally based on the mystery novels. The only exception to this is in series 13, The Labours of Hercules where a selection of the short stories from the Labours of Hercules short story collection where amalgamated to form the story for the TV episode, more on that below.

But where to start? Which are the best and worst Poirot short stories to read? Which collection of Poirot short stories is the best?

Well, if you’re new to Agatha Christie and Poirot then I would seriously recommend you pick up ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ novel first as this is where Christie first introduces her Belgium detective Hercule Poirot. It was written in 1920 and is Agatha Christie’s very first novel. This is the best place to start with Christie and Poirot so once you’ve read this come back to the short stories.

The short story collections cover a variety of mysteries from Kidnapped children to Prime Ministers, jewel thefts, missing wills, fraud and of course murder – but which are the best stories and the best collection if looking to buy one. Below is the list of short stories included within each Poirot short story collection and some details about the best Poirot short stories in each:

Poirot Investigates - Poirot Short Story Collection

Poirot Investigates

1. The Adventure of the Western Star – season 2
2. The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor – season 3
3. The Adventure of the Cheap Flat – season 2
4. The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge – season 3
5. The Million Dollar Bond Robbery – season 3
6. The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb – season 5
7. The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan – season 5
8. The Kidnapped Prime Minister – season 2
9. The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim – season 2
10. The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman – season 5
11. The Case of the Missing Will – season 5

The above collection was filmed as episodes found in seasons, 2, 3 and 5 and the plots stay close to the original written by Agatha Christie.

Written early on in Agatha Christie’s carer, Poirot Investigates is a collection of 11 short stories and it offers a great selection of mysteries which will keep you entertained. Because the stories are short and fast moving they do not always allow for the depth of character development you’d expect from the longer novels but the plot twists are just as good.

I would really recommend as my top picks from this collection:

‘The Tragedy at Marden Manor’ – a man dies of apparently natural causes but suspiciously just after he has insured his life for fifty thousand pounds to the befit of his young wife…
‘The Mystery of Hunter’s Lodge’ – a man is killed within a locked room where nobody could have entered of left…
‘The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel’ – a precious necklace is stolen from a locked box while under the watchful eye of a ladies maid who swears she is innocent of the theft – but who else could have taken it and how?

Murder in the Mews - Poirot Short Story Collection

Although you don’t get as many stories in this collection, I do believe you still get as much bang for your buck as these are for me the best short stories in terms of plot and characterisation.

Although a much smaller collection these stories are longer in length and give a lot more depth to the characters compared to some of the other short stories. Although three of the four stories are murder mysteries, ‘The Incredible Theft’ offers some variety whilst maintaining the classic country house mystery setting with a closed circle of suspects. If you’re a fan of the Poirot novels and are not sure if you want to read the short stories, these are a great set to start with. Each story is well written and my personal order of preference is:

Dead Man’s Mirror – Sir Gervase Chevenix-Gore is shot whilst the house party guests are dressing for dinner – plenty of suspects and a classic country house murder mystery.

Triangle at Rhodes – The beautiful man magnet Valentine Chantry is poisoned – was it by her husband or the jealous wife of the man she was apparently having an affair with?

Murder in the Mews – During the fireworks of Guy Fawkes night, no one notices the sound of a shot – but Mrs Barbara Allen has apparently shot herself during the displays – or did she?

The Incredible Theft – Papers of national importance go missing at a house party – a country house mystery for a theft rather than a murder.

The Labours of Hercules - Poirot Short Story Collection

The best 3 short stories from ‘The Labours of Hercules’ collection of Poirot short stories are:

The Cretan Bull
The Stymphalian Birds
The Eurymanthian Board

The next collection to consider is ‘The Labours of Hercules’. As you can imagine, Agatha Christie took her inspiration from the Classical stories of Hercules to form the basis of this series of short stories. Although in some cases the parallels can be a bit tenuous there are some really good stories in this series such as

The Cretan Bull, The Stymphalian Birds and the Eurymanthian Boar however others are not to the same standard such as The Arcadian Deer and The Horses of Diomedes. The collection was never each individually filmed for the ITV TV hour long episodes but the episode in season 13 of the same title is an adaptation of the following five Poirot short stories:

‘The Erymanthian Boar’ which forms the basis of the major plot taking place in a Swiss mountain-top hotel were Poirot searches for Marrascaud.
‘The Arcadian Deer’ in which Poirot is asked to find the maid of a Russian ballerina.
‘The Stymphalean Birds’i the story of a woman in an abusive marriage seeking help
‘The Girdle of Hippolyta’ about stolen paintings.
‘The Capture of Cerberus’ features the Countess Vera Rossakoff who also appears in ‘The Big Four’ (novel not TV adaptation’ and double clue to name a couple.

Poirot's Early Cases - Poirot Short Story Collection

Poirot's Early Cases

The Affair at the Victory Ball – season 3
The Adventure of the Clapham Cook – season 1
The Cornish Mystery – season 2
The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly – season 1
The Double Clue – season 3
The King of Clubs – season 1
The Lemesurier Inheritance
The Lost Mine – season 2
The Plymouth Express – season 3
The Chocolate Box – season 5
The Submarine Plans
The Third Floor Flat – season 1
Double Sin – season 2
The Market Basing Mystery
Wasps' Nest – season 3
The Veiled Lady – season 2
Problem at Sea – season 1
How Does Your Garden Grow? – season 3

Of the short stories in this collection there are some really great mysteries

The Affair at the Victory Ball
The Lemesurier Inheritance
The Market Basing Mystery
How Does Your Garden Grow. Problem at Sea is another popular story too.

I would avoid ‘The Lost Mine’ – the references to the Chinese have not ‘aged well’ shall we say? but over all these are a good collection and the television adaptations stay closely to the original plots written by Agatha Christie.

Short Story Duplications and Similarities

If you have read much of Agatha Christie’s other works you may recognise similarities between some characters or plots, some of the biggest ones are as follows:

Murder in the Mews and The Market Basing Mystery have similar plot devices – I would opt for Murder in the Mews to read first as it has better characterisation.
The characters of Valentine Chantry in ‘Triangle at Rhodes’ and Arlena Marshall in ‘Evil Under the Sun’ as simialr but both are worth reading.
Dead Man’s Mirror and Second Gong are pretty much the same, Second Gong is found in later short story collections.
The Incredible Theft and The Submarine Plans are pretty identical in plot.
How Does Your Garden Grow has a similar set up of the plot as Dumb Witness but otherwise the similarity ends there so both a worth a read.

Poirot Short Story Audio Books

Finally, if you are a huge fan of Agatha Christie and in particular Poirot, you can buy all the short stories in one collection and I recommend the audiobooks as great for listening to on a commute or for anyone who struggles with vision or dyslexia. For a full list of all the Agatha Christie audiobooks click here.

For the top 10 Poirot audiobooks click here