Poirot in short story format is curiously unsatisfying. The plots and the twists are perfectly decent but since Christie’s book’s aren’t generally epics anyway these stories just seem to lack the characterisation and the eventfulness of her books.

There are a couple of complete duds here (The Veiled Lady was awful in my ever so humble opinion) and a couple of absolute gems (I liked The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim best: a good twist that wouldn’t have been sustainable in a longer work) but most of this collection are of the take it or leave it variety and if you were asking me for advice I’d say leave it.