Parker Pyne Investigates: A Short Story Collection

Parker Pyne Investigates: A Short Story Collection (1934) Agatha Christie

“The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife” was first published as “The Woman Concerned” in Woman’s Pictorial, 8 October 1932.
“The Case of the Discontented Soldier” was first published in the USA as “The Soldier Who Wanted Danger” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, then as “Adventure—By Request” in Woman’s Pictorial, 15 October 1932.
“The Case of the Distressed Lady” was first published in the USA as “The Pretty Girl Who Wanted a Ring” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, then as “Faked!” in Woman’s Pictorial, 22 October 1932.
“The Case of the Discontented Husband” was first published in the USA as “The Husband Who Wanted to Keep His Wife” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, and then as “His Lady’s Affair” in Woman’s Pictorial, 29 October 1932.
“The Case of the City Clerk” was first published in the USA as “The Clerk Who Wanted Excitement” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932, and then as “The £10 Adventure” in Strand Magazine, November 1932.
“The Case of the Rich Woman” was the first Parker Pyne story, published in the USA as “The Rich Woman Who Wanted Only to Be Happy” in Cosmopolitan, August 1932.
“Have You Got Everything You Want?” was first published in the USA in Cosmopolitan, April 1933, and then as “On the Orient Express” in Nash’s Pall Mall, June 1933.
“The Gate of Baghdad” was first published as “At the Gate of Baghdad” in Nash’s Pall Mall, June 1933.
“The House at Shiraz” was first published in the USA in Cosmopolitan, April 1933, and then as “In the House at Shiraz” in Nash’s Pall Mall, June 1933.
“The Pearl of Price” was first published as “The Pearl” in Nash’s Pall Mall, July 1933.
“Death on the Nile” was first published in the USA in Cosmopolitan, April 1933, and then in Nash’s Pall Mall, July 1933.
“The Oracle at Delphi” was first published in the USA in Cosmopolitan, April 1933, and then in Nash’s Pall Mall, July 1933.
“Problem at Pollensa Bay” was first published in Strand Magazine, November 1935, and then in the USA as “Siren Business” in Liberty, 5 September 1936.
“The Regatta Mystery” was first published as “Poirot and the Regatta Mystery” in the USA in the Chicago Tribune, 3 May 1936, and then in Strand Magazine, June 1936. It first appeared in its current form in the American book The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories, published by Dodd, Mead, June 1939.

I read several of the latter stories in different anthologies, but the oldest stories were unfamiliar to me.

And I am not sad about that.

I’ve listed the original publication dates of the stories, to remind me that these were written 90 years ago, and things were different. But there were something things that were rough reading.

“The Case of the Discontented Soldier”

“I can assure you. Major Wilbraham, that ninety-six percent of retired empire builders— as I call them— are unhappy.

Empire builders.

“The Case of the Discontented Husband”

“There is a bare possibility that your wife may be so overwhelmingly in love with this other man that nothing you could say or do will affect her, but I consider that unlikely. She has probably been driven into this affair through boredom— boredom with the atmosphere of uncritical devotion and absolute fidelity with which you have most unwisely surrounded her.

What? I mean… WHAT?

“Have You Got Everything You Want?”

“Your wife, Mr. Jeffries, is a charming, innocent, high-minded girl, and the only way she is going to get any kick out of her life with you is to believe that she has reformed a rake.”

Edward Jeffries was staring at him, openmouthed.

“I mean what I say,” said Mr. Parker Pyne. “At the present moment your wife is in love with you, but I see signs that she may not remain so if you continue to present to her a picture of such goodness and rectitude that it is almost synonymous with dullness.”

What? The ACTUAL. Fuck?

“I never want to look at any other woman but Elsie,” said Mr. Jeffries simply.

“Splendid, my boy,” said Mr. Parker Pyne. “But I shouldn’t let her know that if I were you. No woman likes to feel she’s taken on too soft a job.”

Are you SERIOUS?

“The Pearl of Price”

Miss Carol Blundell— pretty, spoiled, and extremely sure of herself as the only woman among half a dozen men.

How is this one of the less offensive sentences?

I shan’t be reading this again.

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Rating: 4/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels » »
• « « An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination