Captain Hastings invites Hercule Poirot to Brighton and the Grand Metropolitan Hotel for a weekend. While talking to a wealthy stockbroker and his wife, Mrs. Opalsen, she insists on showing Poirot a pearl necklace only for it to have been stolen. Poirot is asked by Mrs Opalsen to discover her necklace.
An enjoyable short story mystery ( )

Hercule Poirot is invited to the Grand Metropolitan Hotel in Brighton by Captain Hastings. While they are there Poirot meets a lady whose necklace is later stolen. It's up to Hercule Poirot to solve the crime.

A very enjoyable and clever little mystery! ( )

Detective Hercule Poirot is with his friend Captain Arthur Hastings at the Grand Metropolitan Hotel when a wealthy matron's pearls go missing in The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan by author Agatha Christie.

I've read very little of Christie's work (so far, at least) and haven't done so since my adolescence. But I was in the mood for a good old-fashioned mystery, and though I do read murder mysteries from time to time, I more often look for mysteries that aren't about murder.

And since I didn't have much time, it was the perfect occasion for an entertaining short story.

No, I'd not read anything about Poirot and Hastings before, but that didn't make this any less enjoyable. The robbery case has just the number of twists to keep it interesting and all of the cleverness and the quirky-and-proper kind of humor I was hoping to find here.

I'm sure I'll be reading more about Hercule Poirot, likely sooner than later. ( )

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings are on holiday at the opulent Grand Metropolitan Hotel in Brighton, where they meet the wife of a wealthy stockbroker. As they discuss the jewels worn by Mrs. Opalsen, the great detective relates his experiences in cases which have concerned some of the best-known jewels in the world. Excited by his anecdotes, the wealthy matron eagerly offers to show him a very expensive pearl necklace, but when she goes to retrieve it, she discovers that it has been stolen...

My Review: Another 99¢ Kindle Single and fifth season episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot.

The story is a simpler version of the same basic caper tale the episode tells. The pearls are part of a costume drama produced by the amusingly named Opalsons, a theatrical couple on their uppers and using the famous Russian pearls to promote their crap show.

The theft is tempting Poirot to forget the doctor's orders that he take it easy at the seaside. He's stressed and needs time off. And now there's a tis-was over incredibly valuable pearls stolen from under the nose of the ladies' maid after the opening of the crummy play that Opalson used Poirot to help promote? Ha! Game on.

What a lark, and how different from the story. I think the criminals are the same in both versions. I truly enjoyed the enriched tale in the episode. Fun!


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