Maria Packington's husband George is making a fool of himself over his young blonde secretary, Nancy. In her unhappiness, Maria turns to Mr. Parker Pyne for professional advice and assistance. Mr. Parker Pyne engages the services of the young and handsome Claude Luttrell, who helps Maria turn the tables on George. George had told Maria to take up a hobby - so she does - dancing the nights away at 'The Aphrodite', London's top nightclub, with Claude in attendance, and wearing a new, expensive and luxuriant wardrobe of beautiful evening gowns, fur wraps and accessories. Unexpectedly, Claude, the hardened lounge lizard, finds himself falling in love with the newly glamourous Maria Packington. A charming love story of an autumn romance from the pen of Agatha Christie.
While visiting Badgeworthy, the home of the Carslake family, Matthew Armitage experiences a strange and frightening vision in a mirror in his bedroom of a man with a scar strangling Sylvia Carslake. Time passes, the First World War takes place, and then finally Matthew marries Sylvia Carslake. However, suffering badly from shell-shock, he nearly destroys his own marriage through an Othello-like jealousy and possessiveness, which threatens to destroy both him and Sylvia, until one night Matthew's vision of the man with the scar comes back to haunt him.
Cast upon the world without a penny by his heartless Uncle William, young George Rowland decides to catch a train down to Rowland's Castle, a village which happens to bear his name. As George sits in the train at Waterloo Station, a young woman throws herself into his compartment, begging him to hide her from a mysterious enemy. George complies and finds himself mixed up in the affairs of the young and beautiful Grand Duchess Anastasia of Catonia. Entrusted with a small, sealed package George embarks on An Adventure, only to find true love and romance at the end of it, plus the forgiveness of an uncle who turns out to have a heart after all. A tale of young romantic adventure from the pen of Agatha Christie.
Is it possible for the dead to come back and possess the living? And is it possible to strangle oneself because of it? The fourth man in the railway compartment seems to think so, with his strange story about the doomed little chanteuse Annette and the love/hate relationship that she shares with the backward Felicie Bault.
Major John Wilbraham, newly retired from the British Army in Kenya and now living in the English country-side in a wisteria covered cottage with his faithful cocker spaniel finds life tame. Seeking adventure and romance, he consults Mr. Parker Pyne. Fairly soon the rather shy major meets the equally shy Freda Clegg. An adventure follows, involving buried treasure, maps written in Swahili, crooked lawyers, thugs, maidens in distress and imprisonment in a water filling cellar. All ends happily, mainly due to the imaginative prowess of that inimitable authoress, Mrs. Ariadne Oliver (Agatha Christie's alter ego). John Wilbraham and Freda Clegg soon find themselves not only embarking on a quest for buried treasure in Africa, but more importantly, each finds that they are in love with the other. Another charming love story of an autumn romance from the pen of Agatha Christie.
In her determination to start a new life with her husband Richard's business rival Vincent, Theo flees to Paris with Vincent. But bad news follows quickly - Richard's business has collapsed. Theo returns to find that Richard has been less than honest with her, and that more than his job is at stake.
While playing golf, young Jack Hartington hears a woman's voice crying ""Murder! Help! Murder!"" Racing in the direction of the voice, Jack comes upon Felise Marchaud, a young Frenchwoman living in a cottage nearby who is sceptical of his claims and who claims to have heard nothing. Several days later under almost identical conditions Jack hears the cry again, and then starts to doubt his sanity. Enlisting the aid of Dr. Lavington, a psychiatrist, and Felise, Jack finds that the supernatural events surrounding the cottage seem, by an odd coincidence, to have some connection with a blue jar purchased some months previously by his Uncle George. Jack is persuaded by his new friends to fetch the blue jar, which turns out to be Ming and priceless beyond value. A cautionary tale of youthful inexperience and naivety from the pen of Agatha Christie.
Dermot West is in love with Claire, the wife of his best friend, Jack Trent. After visiting them one night he has a premonition, what he terms 'the red signal', that there is danger in the air, that death walks abroad and there is nothing that he can do about it. When his uncle is subsequently murdered, Dermot is the chief suspect.
Jane Cleveland is out of work and owes rent on her London flat. When she is offered the role of 'double' to the Grand Duchess Olga, the adventurous Jane accepts with alacrity, especially as the financial renumeration for the role is lucrative. However, all is not as it seems ... Jane is thrown into a world of intrigue, double-dealing, jewel robberies, and deceit. It is perhaps as well that Jane's new boyfriend is attending Hendon Police College and has an observant and quick eye.
Romantic dreamer and aspiring stockbroker Edward Robinson is engaged to practical and prosaic Maud Lithinglow. When he wins five hundred pounds in a competition, he secretly purchases his heart's delight, a white Riley sportscar. At Christmas time he motors alone down to Brighton where he meets Lady Noreen Elliot, who is similarly engaged to an unadventurous partner. For one glorious, heady evening Edward mixes it with the Bright Young People, becoming involved in the theft of a priceless diamond necklace and dancing at The Cafe de Paris with Lady Noreen. In the course of one evening Edward becomes a man, instead of a mouse, and when morning arrives it is a different Edward who confronts Maud with his new car, expensive engagement ring and marriage plans.
