Being a big fan of Agatha Christie (even my cats are called Tommy & Tuppence!), I expected to enjoy this collection. However, I'm afraid I found it a little disappointing. While some of the stories were near to her usual standard, it seemed to me that some of the others had only been included as padding.
The stories contained in this collection are:-
The House of Dreams - a mild horror story
The Actress - a story about blackmail and revenge
The Edge - a story about twisted love and guilt
Christmas Adventure - a Poirot story about a stolen gem
The Lonely God - a romance
Manx Gold - a treasure hunt round the Isle of Man
Within a Wall - destructive love
The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest - another Poirot, this time a murder mystery
While the Light Lasts - tragic love with an African setting
The collection as a whole is of interest in showing Christie's development and her forays into romance and horror writing, but none of the stories could be classed as great and some, particularly Manx Gold, are quite poor. I would be sorry if any newcomers to Christie's work were to judge her on the basis of this collection. Much better to read one of the well-known novels instead - I would recommend
Death on the Nile for Poirot,
The Moving Finger for Miss Marple or get to know the real Tommy & Tuppence in
The Secret Adversary.
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