I read what I thought was a lot of Agatha Christie mysteries when I was a teenager, probably a few dozen, but that's only a fraction of her 66 novels and 14 short story collections published between 1921 and 1976, and I haven't read any of her non-fiction, poetry, or plays. I recently decided to delve back into her works, taking a chronological approach, so I began with this one, her first book and her first mystery featuring Poirot. My past reading of Christie was scattershot: basically as I came across her books in used or new book stores or the library. Reading them out of order didn't hamper me, but I thought it would be fun to read them as she created them this time. I thoroughly enjoyed this one as it introduced Poirot for the first time as a Belgian refugee from the Nazis in WWII and his friend Hastings, a wounded veteran from the same conflict. I like the way Poirot roots around for the solution to every puzzle, sometimes being led astray but always finding his way back to the truth, often inspired by a stray comment from Hastings. And Hastings always takes the wrong lesson from every clue, but his goodness of heart makes him unable to be suspicious of a friend. Very enjoyable!
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