A few moments of awkwardness, but overall these stories have aged pretty well…
As I mentioned in my earlier review of a recently re-issued Agatha Christie book, it feels presumptuous for me to be reviewing anything Christie wrote. But at the same time, receiving a review copy of Dover’s new e-edition of Poirot Investigates did give me an excuse to re-read a bunch of Hercule Poirot short stories that I first read a few decades ago, and see how I felt about them now. And, simply put, most have weathered the test of time fairly well, although, since they were first written in the 1920s, they now feel like unintentional historical mysteries, rather than the contemporary stories they were originally intended to be. Still, all the familiar elements are there to be enjoyed: Poirot’s little grey cells do the work, Captain Hastings and Inspector Japp are the perfect foils, and the mysteries are (mostly) suitably puzzling, until Poirot reveals all.
There is, however, some awkwardness for today’s readers in some of the cases – mores have simply changed in the century (!!!) since they were written. Changed enough in fact, that Dover has an explicit warning in the introduction that some of the stories contain “racial and cultural references of the era in which [they] were written and may be deemed offensive by today’s standards”. So you may wish to factor this into your decision as to whether to read Poirot Investigates.
As with most short story collections, whether old or new, some of the stories are more enjoyable than others. And occasionally, the short format itself seemed to get in the way – or perhaps it’s that I tend to prefer full-length books, which offer more of an opportunity to develop both plot and characters. Overall, though, so long as I kept the time when they were written in mind, I enjoyed my re-read, and found it fun to have a fresh visit with Poirot, Hastings, Japp and others. I think others will too, especially those who are fond of Golden Age mysteries. And finally, my thanks to Dover Mystery Classics and NetGalley for the review copy!
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