short stories

Review: The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories

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Cover image of "The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories" by Agatha Christie

The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories

The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories, Agatha Christie. William Morrow (ISBN: 9780062094391) 2012 (first published in 1997).

Summary: Nine early short stories, including a Poirot and the title story, an encounter with Harley Quin.

In addition to her longer novels, Agatha Christie published a number of short stories, often in various periodicals. In recent years publishers have compiled these into various collections. This one was first published in 1997. It consists of a number of her very early works. I’ll give you a brief plot synopsis of each and conclude with my thoughts on the collection.

The Harlequin Tea Set. In this title story, Mr. Satterthwaite’s car breaks down in a small village. While waiting for the repairs, he decides to stop in at the Harlequin Cafe. It puts him in mind of an old friend, Mr. Harley Quin. Whenever he turns up, Mr. Quin’s words would trigger decisions and actions that would prove helpful to others. But e hadn’t seen him in some time. Then who should turn up?

The Edge. Claire Halliwell is a single woman in a small town who devotes herself to her dog and to parish life. At one time, she had fallen in love with Gerald Lee, who married Vivien instead. And then Claire catches Vivien in an affair and faces the choice of what to do with that knowledge.

The Actress. Jake Levitt, a seedy journalist, stops by the theare to see a performance of the famous actress, Olga Stormer. He recognizes her as Nancy Taylor and threatens to tell her story. Only he doesn’t recognize who he is dealing with…

While the Light Lasts. George and Deidre Crozier are driving to a plantation in Rhodesia. This was were her husband Tim had died, and the journey recalls many touching memories…and then an encounter with someone she knew.

The House of Dreams. John Segrave dreams of a House. The next day he meets Allegra Kerr. He believes she is that House. But she will not encourage his affections and will not marry. What is the ark thing he saw looking out from the House in another dream? And what did it mean?

The Lonely God. Frank Oliver has returned to London, alone. One day, he visits the British Museum and spies “a lonely god” on a shelf with which he identifies. He returns often, and then encounters a woman, also drawn to this god.

Manx Gold. Fenella and Juan are cousins betrothed to marry. Their beloved and eccentric Uncle Myles dies. He had found a treasure rumored to be hidden on the island. He sets up a competition for his four living relations but gives Juan and Fenella an extra day before the others arrive to search. There are four chests, and the clues to the location of each are not released until the previous one is found.

Within a Wall. Alan Everard is a rising artist. He is married to a socialite, Isobel Loring and they have a daughter, Winnie. As a crowning work, he sets out to paint a portrait of his wife. Technically, it is brilliant, but there is no life in it. By contrast, a discarded sketch, found by a Miss Lempiere, portrays Winnie’s godmother, Jane Haworth, and is full of life.

The Mystery of the Spanish Chest. This is the one Poirot in the collection. Poirot notes a newspaper story on the Spanish Chest Mystery. The mystery is how, during a party with six people at the home of Major Rich, the body of Mr. Clayton ended up stuffed in the chest, discover the next day when a servant spotted a pool of blood beneath it. He asks his secretary to collect all the details of the case. Shortly after, his friend, Lady Chatterton invites him to her house and introduces Poirot to Mrs. Clayton, the widow. It turns out, Major Rich was her lover and she wants Poirot to prove he wasn’t the murderer, even though it was in his house and his chest.

Of all of these, “The Harlequin Tea Set” and “The Mystery of the Spanish Chest” were my favorites. The others reveal Christie’s early efforts as a writer. All are diverting stories, to be sure. Several involve lovers triangles. However, I suspect they will be of greatest interest to Christie fans, like me. Others might just say, “Meh!”

Review: The Idol House of Astarte

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Cover image of "The Idol House of Astarte" by Agatha Christie

The Idol House of Astarte (Miss Marple short stories), Agatha Christie. Open Road Integrated Media (ISBN: 9781504082297) 2024 (originally published in 1928, 1932).

Summary: Miss Marple solves a murder occurring before witnesses with no obvious assailant and no weapon found.

The Tuesday Night Club was Miss Marple’s idea of entertaining hospitality. Invite a group of guest over to share mysterious occurrences which Miss Marple would attempt to resolve. None were as unusual as the one related by Dr. Pender, the local clergy.

Years before, he was the guest at a weekend party held at the estate of an old college friend, Sir Richard Haydon. The estate is named Silent Grove for a grove of trees leading to a clearing with a summer house Sir Richard has named the Idol House of Astarte. The guests, in addition to Dr. Pender, are Sir Richard’s cousin Elliot, the beautiful Diana Ashley, to whom Sir Richard is attracted, and a Dr. Symonds.

The Idol House intrigues Diana, and she proposes, in effect, an orgy. Dr. Pender, understandably helps nix this idea and instead, they hold a much tamer costume party. During the party, Diana disappears. The guests search for her, passing through the ominous Silent Grove. They find her at the Idol House. She is wearing the dress of a priestess of Astarte. She dances before the house. A spirit seemingly has taken possession of her! She warns others away but Sir Richard approaches, then falls to the ground. Elliot rushes over, finding him dead, stabbed in the heart. But a search yield’s no weapon. And no one was around Sir Richard when he fell.

Then the police investigate, but the death proves a mystery to them. Dr. Pender even believed it may have been supernatural forces at work. But not Miss Marple! She identifies the murderer who, in fact Dr. Pender knew. The murderer subsequently confessed to Dr. Pender shortly before dying.

Christie does all this in a 25 page short story. Christie first published the story in a mystery magazine in 1928. Later, it was part of a collection, The Thirteen Problems, stories told by different members of the Tuesday Night Club. It makes a great standalone as well as a teaser to get one to buy the whole collection!

Review: Hangman’s Holiday

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Cover image "Hangman's Holiday" by Dorothy L. Sayers

Hangman’s Holiday (Lord Peter Wimsey, 9), Dorothy L. Sayers. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781453262535) 2012 (first published in 1933).

Summary: Mysteries in short story form featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and wine merchant Montague Egg plus two other tales.

Sometimes there is something uniquely satisfying about reading a mystery in one sitting. If this is you, Hangman’s Holiday is just the thing. In this collection, Dorothy L. Sayers includes four stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, another six with the peripatetic wine merchant, Montague Egg, and two other stories.

The Lord Peter stories open the collection with a man troubled by a doppelganger and a condition in which all his organs are in reverse position. The next story takes place in Basque Spain in which Wimsey becomes involved in saving a woman thought to be bewitched. The third story occurs at a masquerade ball where quests dress as one of the face cards in a deck of playing cards. One of the guests is found strangled and Wimsey finds the killer by noticing a trick of the light. The last story involves a missing string of pearls and their similarity to the berries of mistletoe.

Montague Egg is a traveling wine purveyor. The first mystery is on its face an account of a customer poisoned by one of his wines. He solves the mystery and identifies the killer by a count of empties and a change of manners. In the second, Egg happens to be at a shabby pub when news comes of a murder in the vicinity. Egg’s familiarity with the practices of a profession come in handy in identifying the murderer among them. The in the third story, one of Egg’s sales calls turns into a murder investigation when he finds his prospective customer dead with his head bashed in. Clocks and automotive garages figure in this one.

“One Too Many” turns on Egg’s knowledge of train tickets, helping catch an absconding banker. Then Egg helps track down who killed an Oxford Master. In this case the man who cried ‘Wolf” too many times was the real murderer. Finally, Egg helps an impoverished child sell her pet only to have it return. When he tracks down the new owner, he discovers murder.

The first of the other stories concerns a man who believes a serial killer is trying to kill him. The last story focuses on a character who kills his blackmailer, only to discover he has a new one.

My favorites were Wimsey in Basque country and Egg solving the case of the poisoned wine. It’s been several years since I’ve read any Sayers and these stories reminded me how much I enjoyed her. And I loved the character of Montague Egg!

Review: A Rare Benedictine

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Cover image of "A Rare Benedictine" by Ellis Peters

A Rare Benedictine, Ellis Peters. Open Road Media (ISBN: 9781497671676), 2014 (first published in 1988).

Summary: Three short stories set prior to the Chronicles, explaining how Cadfael became a monk and his early adventures.

At the beginning of the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, he is already a Benedictine monk of some years. We learn of his crusading and sea-faring past. But we are without a clue as to how he became a monk. In the Introduction to A Rare Benedictine, Ellis Peters explains that she decided not to write a novel going back to his crusading days, as it would interrupt the chronological flow of The Chronicles. But she eventually did write a short story recounting the story of Cadfael’s entry into the monastic life. That story, and two others that precede in time the first of The Chronicles, make up A Rare Benedictine.

A Light on the Road to Woodstock

Cadfael, one of the fighting men of Roger Maduit, has returned to England with the triumphant King Henry after years abroad, and most recently in securing Normandy for the King. He’s completed his service to Roger, but has no plan for what comes next. When Roger asks him to escort him to Woodstock for a trial over claims made by the Abbey at Shrewsbury to land Roger holds, Cadfael agrees. As it turns out, the case is shaky at best for Roger. In a plot of which Cadfael has no part, Roger sends men to waylay the Abbey’s representative until the trial is over. If he doesn’t appear before the king, the land by default goes to Roger.

The plot succeeds, but there is also an attempt on Roger’s life. Cadfael saves him. When the king does not show up, Rogers plans unravel. The ship sinks that is carrying all the king’s heirs. The delay affords Cadfael the chance to retrace the steps of the assassins. Not only will he find Brother Heribert in the process, but a plot that goes to the heart of Roger’s house. Having heard earlier of the Benedictines from Roger’s clerk, and that they do not bear arms, Cadfael, both weary of arms and disgusted by intrigue, leaves his sword at the altar….

The Price of Light

Hamo FitzHamon has reached the age where his loose life is catching up with him and he realizes the day he will face his maker is approaching. To improve his chances and secure some effectual Benedictine prayers, he donates an ornate pair of candlesticks for the church altar, along with funds to keep them lit. But two things happen when FitzHamon and his household come to deliver the gift.

First, his wife asks for a sleeping draft from Cadfael. But it is not for herself but her husband, so she can slip away for a tryst with one of her husband’s servants, which Cadfael overhears. Then, the candlesticks disappear from the altar. Cadfael finds them in a sack of lavender in his workshop. And he identifies the thief as one of the maids, Elfgiva. She has good reason. Her fiance, Alard, had agreed to make the candlesticks in exchange for his freedom. Hamo FitzHamon reneged, and Alard escaped. As we have often seen in other stories, Cadfael quietly works to set things to rights, helping reunite the separated lovers in the process.

Eye Witness

It’s time to collect the Abbey’s annual rents. While a young apprentice clerk fills in for Brother Ambrose, William Rede collects the rents. Madog, the boatman is the next to see him as he pulls him out of the Severn. Someone knocked him unconscious and threw him into the river to drown. His assailant robbed him of the purse with the rents.

But Cadfael figures out that there was a vantage point from which the crime could have been witnessed. He discretely puts about this fact about with the hopes of springing a trap to catch the thief.

The stories all seem to turn on the human follies that trip up wrongdoers. And we see Cadfael’s shrewd use of folly against the perpetrators to bring about just ends. Strikingly, there are no murders, although two murders are attempted.

While we learn of how Cadfael becomes a monk, I still had one question. Where did he learn his herb lore? Wikipedia indicates that it was from the Middle East, and that is plausible, but I cannot remember it being mentioned, and Wikipedia cites no reference. What is clear is that this shrewd, yet holy, monk will be a force to be reckoned with in the Abbey at Shrewsbury.

Review: The Star Diaries

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Cover image of "The Star Diaries" by Stanislaw Lem

The Star Diaries: Further Reminiscences of Ijon Tichy, Stanislaw Lem. Harper Voyager (ISBN: 9780544079939), 2012 (First published in 1971).

Summary: Ijon Tichy’s voyages across the galaxy, satirical short pieces of science fiction by Polish writer Stanislaw Lem.

This is science fiction satire that makes that strains every idea of what is plausible in space travel. Ijon Tichy hops into his rocket and takes off on voyages across the galaxy like we might hop into a car for a spontaneous road trip. And predictably, he sometimes runs out of fuel, bringing further mishaps. The Star Diaries is a collection of short pieces Polish science fiction writer began writing in the 1950’s and added to for this 1971 publication. These are accounts of twelve of at least twenty-eight voyages by our intrepid space traveler.

In each voyage, Tichy gets in and out of difficulties, often in the most improbable ways. For example, in the first story, his rocket develops rudder problems that he needs a spare hand to fix. No problem! Just head into a space vortex and create a double of oneself. Of course, there are unforeseen problems and soon he has a ship full of doubles. Eventually he gets the rudder fixed and the doubles sent back to their own proper time. But not without a certain amount of hilarity.

In other voyages he represents earth’s petition to join a galactic United Nations, a study in bureaucratic tomfoolery. On another planet, he disguises himself as a robot to end a robot tyranny. Squamp-hunting is the focus of another voyage. Lem explores time travel and its problems by a 2166 version of himself visiting the future to persuade him to take his own place and sort out the space-time continuum. Tichy and his time alter ego end up stuck in a time loop. His trip to Dichotica represents a version of an encounter with transhumanists, with much philosophical folderol. His next voyage explores the pitfalls of extra-terrestrial proselytizing. And on a space constrained planet, people are often reduced to their atoms, and then recomposed from stored patterns (I wonder if this is where Star Trek got the idea for transporters!).

What’s really going on here? Is Lem just pulling our leg and having fun? Or is he playing a more clever game of getting his writing past Communist Party censors in Cold War Poland? Many think the latter, which I’m inclined to think credible. He portrays robotic tyrannies and states devoted to evolving their own super-species, and pokes fun at scientific and bureaucratic tensions. Meanwhile, part of the fun is the wordplay in which he creates whole paragraphs of made up words of semi-serious import. He also seems to delight in keeping the reader off balance, alternating between ridiculous satire and philosophical explorations, often in the same story! I also like to think that Lem saw himself in the venturous, resourceful, and intrepid Ijon Tichy.

Reading him, it is fun to imagine a meeting between him and Douglas Adams. Perhaps in another timeline….

Review: Sillies, Fancies, & Trifles

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Cover image of "Sillies, Fancies, & Trifles by Peter Kostoglou

Sillies, Fancies, & Trifles, Peter Kostoglou. Resource Publications (ISBN: 9798385207695), 2024.

Summary: A collection of seven short stories, all with an element of the fantastic, inviting us into the mystery of beauty, the deep joy in the world, and the power of love.

I likely would never have heard of this book were it not for the initiative of a first-time Australian author who reached half way around the world and politely inquired if I would review his book. I am so glad he did, because I was introduced to seven short stories that reminded me of a wonderful collection of George MacDonald short stories published in two volumes by Eerdmans, The Gifts of the Child Christ. I’ve read nothing like it since, until this collection.

“Onawish” opens the collection and begins with the scene of a boy’s birthday party, a boy so eager to eat the cake that he is befuddled with “onawish” or “honorwish” until he finds himself transported to find himself plopped headfirst into a giant cake. Through a series of adventures, he discovers the deep pain his father bears, and a deepened love.

“The Conference of the Trees” follows the courses of two trees from before the “Days of Man,” Shema and Iver who, in seeking to discover what “treeness” is, take very different paths.

“The Boy and His Rod” traces the story of Daniel, given a rod formed of a serpent of great power by a voice in a burning bush, that he might act in the name of the voice to make a great nation. It’s a story of how power may tempt, even the power to do something that seems good.

In “Hanz,” Antigone, skipping through her garden, stumbles, falls, and finds herself in a strange conversation with a gnome in Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Phoebe, in “The Antiquated Mirror” loves being “Queen” over her younger sister until their fights get her sent to her room where she glimpses herself, approaches an antique mirror, and finds herself trapped in it while an evil “twin” escapes into her household.

“The Man Who Lived in Darkness” was a personal favorite. A father and daughter are estranged as her father chooses a dark, anti-social and depressing life until her daughter wants to meet her grandfather.

In “Lilies of the Vale” a man tries to “Draw Love,” plucks a lily for a girl he loves, and learns a lesson from lilies of what it means to love.

This last makes explicit what runs through these stories, the lessons of what it means to love in our flawed yet beautiful world and how that fits into a larger way of love, an idea explained in a final word. Peter Kostoglou’s stories carry the echoes of this love, inviting to tune our ears, to quiet ourselves to listen, to look with greater attentiveness at the everyday ordinaries in which extraordinary love is hidden.

I hope this is the first of many such collections from this author. These silly, fanciful, and trifling tales are only so in appearance while carrying profound ideas that capture the imagination and delve the recesses of our hearts.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.