Double Sin and Other Stories features four Hercule Poirot stories, two Miss Marple and two miscellaneous stories. My favourite was the Poirot, The Theft of the Royal Ruby. My least favourite was the Poirot, Wasps' Nest. The overall collection rating is 3 stars. Individual ratings and reviews below.

POIROT: DOUBLE SIN: ***
POIROT: WASPS' NEST: *
POIROT: THE THEFT OF THE ROYAL RUBY: *****
MISC: THE DRESSMAKER'S DOLL: ***
MARPLE: 14.19: GREENSHAW'S FOLLY ***
POIROT: THE DOUBLE CLUE: ***
MISC: THE LAST SEANCE: **
MARPLE: 14.20: SANCTUARY ***

POIROT: DOUBLE SIN: ***

Poirot and Hastings meet a young girl who is on her way to sell some paintings for her aunt and decide to help when they find the paintings stolen. This was alright. I didn't like it that much. 3 stars.

POIROT: WASPS' NEST: *

Instead of investigating death, Poirot is out to prevent one. This story was bizarre. The guy is dying so he plans to commit suicide and set his friend up for his death. I didn't love it. 1 star.

POIROT: THE THEFT OF THE ROYAL RUBY: *****

I loved this one. It was almost as good as The Missing Will. A Prince comes to town and gets conned into handing over a precious royal ruby to his "date". Poirot is reluctant when he finds taking the case would mean a proper English Christmas in the country - a big English manor with snow means cold and Poirot is all nosiree. But he's convinced when he learns that the manor has oil fired central heating, a splendid hot water system and radiators in every bedroom. This is an expanded version of Christmas Adventure.

I enjoyed this a lot for being such a short story. Mrs Lacey/Em was awesome. Her granddaughter, Sarah is infatuated with a man named Desmond Lee-Wortley. Her grandfather is appalled and wants to do everything to break them up but Em convinces him to invite Desmond for Christmas and watch everything fall apart on its own. It was fantastic.

“That’s my doing,” said Mrs. Lacey. “Horace was all for forbidding her to see him and all that. Of course, in Horace’s day, the father or guardian would have called round at the young man’s lodgings with a horse whip! Horace was all for forbidding the fellow the house, and forbidding the girl to see him. I told him that was quite the wrong attitude to take. ‘No,’ I said. ‘Ask him down here. We’ll have him down for Christmas with the family party.’ Of course, my husband said I was mad! But I said, ‘At any rate, dear, let’s try it. Let her see him in our atmosphere and our house and we’ll be very nice to him and very polite, and perhaps then he’ll seem less interesting to her’!” “I think, as they say, you have something there, Madame,” said Poirot. (p. 303)

But it wasn't just that little bit of wisdom. I loved the children deciding to plan a murder to entertain Poirot. And Poirot twisting it to make them think she's really dead to trick Desmond into getting out of dodge with a fake ruby. It was freaking awesome. It was just brilliant. It was very amusing.

I didn't get the ending though. Or at least I hope I didn't.

A pair of arms slipped round his shoulders unexpectedly. “If you will stand just under the mistletoe—” said Bridget. Hercule Poirot enjoyed it. He enjoyed it very much. He said to himself that he had had a very good Christmas. (p. 330)

Did she kiss him? What the hell isn't he like 70ish and she's like what barely 20? Ugh. 5 stars.

MISC: THE DRESSMAKER'S DOLL: ***

A dressmaking shop finds themselves home to a doll they didn't buy and weren't gifted. This was creepy and perfectly understandable. Some dolls are super creepy. Porcelain dolls for instance with the eyes. Ugh. 3 stars.

MARPLE: 14.19: GREENSHAW'S FOLLY ***

Raymond gets the family caught up in murder when he takes his friend out to Greenshaw's Folly and witnesses the old lady's will, before recommending his wife's niece for a job.

This one was alright. I enjoyed Raymond's thoughts on his Aunt.

“If you want to discuss murder,” said Raymond, “you must talk to my Aunt Jane.” “Your Aunt Jane? Do you mean Miss Marple?” He felt a little at a loss. The charming old-world lady to whom he had been introduced the night before seemed the last person to be mentioned in connection with murder. “Oh, yes,” said Raymond. “Murder is a speciality of hers.”

Christie, Agatha. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (Miss Marple Mysteries) (p. 323). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

The mystery was interesting but convoluted. I liked that it was Miss Marple to the rescue again though. 3 stars.

POIROT: THE DOUBLE CLUE: ***

Poirot is hired by a man who hosted a dinner party and had his jewels stolen. He doesn't want to think one of his guests (and friends) could have done it but - one of his guests (and friends) did. I liked this one. It wasn't fantastic but it was a fun read. 3 stars.

MISC: THE LAST SEANCE: **

A medium is looking forward to retiring after her final client; a mother. This was alright. Pretty obvious where it was going. The fiancee was kind of dumb for not seeing it. Grieving mother's aren't exactly logical. 2 stars.

MARPLE: 14.20: SANCTUARY ***

Bunch Harmon is replacing the flowers in the church when she discovers a dying man whose last request is for sanctuary. The man's relatives come to take care of his affairs but seem to be more interested in his coat than grief. But never fear, Miss Marple is on the case.

I enjoyed the subterfuge in this one. Marple suggesting Bunch was followed and using Gladys to divert suspicion and providing decoy suitcases and getting the cops all in on it. It was funny. 3.5 stars. ( )

4/8/22

The wonderful thing about short stories is that they're finishable in a couple of minutes and you don't usually wake up at 2am wondering who did the horrible deed.

The terrible thing about short stories is that they are often combined in hodge-podge collections and overlap between various published works. Therefore you are buying or borrowing a completely new book but it might really only contain 7 pages of new story. Such a gamble. ( )

NA

Short stories with Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple.