The Big Four, A Hercule Poirot Novel by Agatha Christie

 The Book

    This book is an amalgamation of four short stories Agatha Christie wrote and had published in the mid 1920s. This book presents us with four brief stories, each intersecting with the titular criminal organization, The Big Four. We see Hastings return from his successful ranch in Argentina where he and Cinderella have been living. He takes up with Poirot, just like old times. When the Big Four tries to get Poirot out of the way, loyal friend that he is, Hastings remains in Europe to help his friend. Along the way we get four puzzles, who killed the man who came to warn Poirot? Who is the French Woman? Who killed the chess player? How will Poirot lure Number Four to capture him. 

Unlike Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, Number Four is foiled and Poirot lives (although his fictional twin brother Achilles does not.) We are glad to know, there will be another Poirot story soon.

My Thoughts

    I tend to agree with the people who feel this is one of Christie's weakest novels. It was written during the period of time after her disappearance, and there is every reason to believe she spent at least 18 months struggling with what we would now call a bout of depression after the death of her mother and the break up of her marriage. It is rumored that her brother-in-law helped her write this book. That would be the brother of her philandering husband and not her sister's husband. She needed the money, and so this book was born. I think had the depression not interrupted this series of stories, the Big Four and Number Four might have grown into a more series long character, a la Moriarty.

    That said, Christie books written under duress and rushed to print do in fact suck. And while this one was way more readable than The Secret of Chimneys, it is not a good book. I flew through reading it, mostly because I was bored by it and it was a short book. The plot is all over the place, and I had a vague recollection of disliking the ITV adaptation when I saw it, which was somewhere over 20 years ago when I was newly married and watching them on A&E. I had no incentive to slow down and actually absorb it, and even writing up a synopsis, it feel ridiculous. I was happy to move on. 

How Much My Library Card Saved Me

    This book is not one of the cute leatherette editions. I do not know if my library has that version of this book in the collection, I didn't remember to check when I was checking out the book. This version is a small paperback, circa 1989 with two order forms in the back! Like many other books of this era, the spine says it cost $5.99. 

This Book                             $5.99

This Summer                    $360.99