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Rating: 
Summary: Satisfying Short Sagas of Surprise and Suspense
Review: Anyone familiar with the 1957 Billy Wilder film "Witness for the Prosecution" knows the plot of the title story. The short story, however, is told from an entirely different vantage point. The change in focus doesn't rob the story of any of its sting, and the product is every bit as entertaining as the excellent movie.Christie tells the remaining stories in a taut, fast-paced, and satisfying manner, and more than once brings the story to a quite unexpected climax.
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying Short Sagas of Surprise and Suspense
Review: Anyone familiar with the 1957 Billy Wilder film "Witness for the Prosecution" knows the plot of the title story. The short story, however, is told from an entirely different vantage point. The change in focus doesn't rob the story of any of its sting, and the product is every bit as entertaining as the excellent movie. Christie tells the remaining stories in a taut, fast-paced, and satisfying manner, and more than once brings the story to a quite unexpected climax.
Rating:
Summary: I WAS THRILLED TO FIND THIS BOOK
Review: As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release (and a creative writing professor at various California State Universities), I was thrilled to find this book. As with most mystery authors, I cut my teeth reading Agatha Christie's books. She invented the modern cozy, and these stories display Ms. Christie at the top of her talents. If you like mystery short stories, these classics are for you.
Rating:
Summary: I WAS THRILLED TO FIND THIS BOOK
Review: As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release (and a creative writing professor at various California State Universities), I was thrilled to find this book. As with most mystery authors, I cut my teeth reading Agatha Christie's books. She invented the modern cozy, and these stories display Ms. Christie at the top of her talents. If you like mystery short stories, these classics are for you.
Rating: 
Summary: 11 short stories without Poirot or Marple
Review: Each story herein, except "The Second Gong", has also appeared in either _The Hound of Death_ or _The Listerdale Mystery_. Some of the stories are fantasy fiction rather than mysteries, but don't be *too* quick to assign supernatural causes to anything. "Accident" (1929) - Evans (formerly Inspector Evans of the CID) recognizes in the six-years-married Merrowdenes the notorious Mrs. Anthony, acquitted of poisoning her first husband - judged to have died of an accidental overdose of arsenic. As a girl, her stepfather accidentally fell to his death from a cliff during a walk. Not looking good for *Mr.* Merrowdene... "The Fourth Man" (December 1925) As a supernatural story, best appreciated in Christie's fantasy-dominated collection _The Hound of Death_. Three ever-so-superior professional men - minister, physician, and lawyer - begin discussing a famous multiple personality case during a night train journey. Even though they're missing a fourth point of view - that of the man in the street - they ignore the fourth man in their compartment... "The Mystery of the Blue Jar" (1933) Jack Hartington lives for golf; since he's 24 and has to earn a living, he lives near a golf course where he can practice every morning before work. Then screams no one else hears begin coming from a cottage near the course, every morning at the same time - and whatever's going on centers around the image of a woman holding a blue jar. "The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl" a.k.a. "Mr. Eastwood's Adventure" (August 1924) Anthony Eastwood is stuck, trying to create a plot for the title "The Mystery of the Second Cucumber", when a mysterious phone call with 1 word - 'cucumber' - entangles him in a *real* mystery. "Philomel Cottage" (November 1924) Businesslike Alix King expected to marry Dick Windyford, fellow clerk, when they could afford it - but he was too proud to propose when she got a windfall inheritance. Then Gerald Martin swept her off her feet in a whirlwind courtship - a perfect stranger. But like Bluebeard's wives, Alix gets curious about his past... "The Red Signal" (June 1924) Sir Alington West, a distinguished alienist, has no time for ESP. His nephew Dermot has had a few 'red signals' in his life, but as his uncle points out, he'd seen signs of impending mortal peril and just hadn't consciously put them together. But why should he have it during a party - when the only danger is his hidden love for his best friend's wife? "The Second Gong" - An early version of "Dead Man's Mirror", written first but published later. I recommend the expanded rewrite in the _Dead Man's Mirror_ collection. "Sing a Song of Sixpence" (1934) Elderly Sir Edward Palliser, K.C., never expected to see Magdalen Vaughn again after a shipboard romance - let alone to be taken up on his offer to help if she ever needed it! Her family sponged off Great-aunt Lily Crabtree, who has been brutally murdered - and they're the chief suspects. "S.O.S." (February 1926) The Dinsmead family - pompous father, worn-down mother, and 3 grown children - moved to a lonely country home rather abruptly upon Mr. Dinsmead's retirement from the building trade. They're all unhappy, except the father, who seems to have something up his sleeve. Then a stranger (parapsychologist Mortimer Cleveland), stranded for the night by a flat tire, finds a mysterious message written in the dust beside his bed... "Where There's a Will" a.k.a. "Wireless" (1926) Mary Harter's physician, in the style of the old school, was far more blunt about the seriousness of her heart condition to her nephew than to her. Charles, making a parade of his superior knowledge of modern technology, wheedles her into getting not only an elevator, but a radio...which seems to justify all her misgivings about these electrical contraptions when it begins relaying messages from her late husband, saying that he's coming for her... "The Witness for the Prosecution" (1933) Unlike the Billy Wilder film version, here the viewpoint character and chief investigator is the prisoner's solicitor, Mayherne; the K.C. conducting the court case isn't even named. The information brought out during testimony in the film mostly appears during Vole's interview with Mayherne. The adaptation was faithful, except that here Vole's first meeting with Emily French is more dramatic, and her fluffy-headed eccentric image wasn't translated to film. The ending of the story, though, isn't as trite the movie's.
Rating:
Summary: Surprise endings, Hauntings, and a Bumbling writer
Review: Most of the stories in this book are tight, well written, and present the reader with enough twist and turns to keep the pages turning. "The Witness for the Procecution", with the ultimate surprise ending, will always be a mystery-o-phile's favorite - and humor lovers will enjoy the "Mystery of the Spanish Shawl". Poriot fans will probably recognize the revamped "Second Gong" but it doesn't take away from the gems in this collection. All in all this is a must have for all mystery readers.
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