Agatha Christie Bibliography
In addition to her novels, Christie published 150 short stories in her career. Almost all of these were written for publication in fiction magazines with over half of them first appearing in the 1920s. They were then published in book form in various collections, some of which were identical in the UK and US (e.g. The Labours of Hercules) and others where publication took place in one market but not the other.
Twelve of the stories which were published in The Sketch magazine in 1924 under the sub-heading of The Man who was No. 4 were joined in one continuous narrative in the novel The Big Four in 1927. Four other stories, "The Submarine Plans" (1923), "Christmas Adventure" (1923), "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest" (1932) and "The Second Gong" (1932), were expanded into longer narratives by Christie (respectively The Incredible Theft, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, The Mystery of the Spanish Chest and Dead Man's Mirror, although the shorter versions of all four have also been published in the UK).
Only one short story remains unpublished in the UK in book form: "Three Blind Mice" (1948), on which Christie placed a moratorium whilst the stage play based on the story, The Mousetrap, was still running in the West End. Prior to this the story was published in four installments in the weekly magazine Woman's Own in the issues dated December 31, 1948 to January 21, 1949 with illustrations by K. J. Petts.
In the US, the story "Christmas Adventure" can be found in both The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories (1997) as well as in the collection Double Sin (1961) under the title "The Theft of the Royal Ruby".
The main collections in both markets are:
- 1922 Poirot Investigates (Eleven short stories in the UK, fourteen in the US)
- 1929 Partners in Crime (Fifteen short stories; featuring Tommy and Tuppence)
- 1930 The Mysterious Mr. Quin (Twelve short stories; introducing Mr. Harley Quin)
- 1932 The Thirteen Problems (Thirteen short stories; featuring Miss Marple. Published as The Tuesday Club Murders in the US.)
- 1933 The Hound of Death (Twelve short stories –UK only)
- 1934 The Listerdale Mystery (Twelve short stories –UK version, US version published in 2010 in eBook format only)
- 1934 Parker Pyne Investigates (Twelve short stories; introducing Parker Pyne and Ariadne Oliver. Published as Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective in the US.)
- 1937 Murder in the Mews (Four novella-length stories; featuring Hercule Poirot. Published as Dead Man's Mirror in the US, but without The Incredible Theft.)
- 1939 The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (Nine short stories –US only)
- 1947 The Labours of Hercules (Twelve short stories; featuring Hercule Poirot)
- 1948 The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (Eleven short stories –US only)
- 1950 Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (Nine short stories –US only)
- 1951 The Under Dog and Other Stories (Nine short stories –US only)
- 1960 The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Six short stories –UK version, US version published in 2004)
- 1961 Double Sin and Other Stories (Eight short stories –US only)
- 1971 The Golden Ball and Other Stories (Fifteen short stories –US only)
- 1974 Poirot's Early Cases (Eighteen short stories. Published as Hercule Poirot's Early Cases in the US.)
- 1979 Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories (Eight short stories –UK and Commonwealth Countries only)
- 1984 Hercule Poirot's Casebook (Fifty short stories: fourteen from Poirot Investigates, all twelve from The Labours of Hercules, eight from The Under Dog and Other Stories, five from The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories, all four from Murder in the Mews, four from Double Sin and Other Stories, and three from Three Blind Mice and Other Stories)
- 1991 Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (Eight short stories –UK and Commonwealth Countries only)
- 1997 The Harlequin Tea Set (Nine short stories –US only)
- 1997 While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (Nine short stories –UK and Commonwealth Countries only)
In addition, various collections have been published over the years which re-print short stories which have previously appeared in other collections - e.g. Surprise, Surprise! (1965 in the US). On occasion, besides the reprinted material these collections have sometimes contained the first book printing of an individual story - e.g. The Market Basing Mystery in the UK version of Thirteen for Luck! (1966) which later appeared in the same market in Poirot's Early Cases.
Read more about Agatha Christie Bibliography: Romance Novels Written Under The Pen Name Mary Westmacott, Plays, Radio Plays, Television Plays, Nonfiction, Other Published Works, Co-authored Works
Famous quotes containing the words agatha christie and/or christie:
“I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly you find—at the age of fifty, say—that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about.... It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.”
—Agatha Christie (1891–1976)
“[My father] was a lazy man. It was the days of independent incomes, and if you had an independent income you didn’t work. You weren’t expected to. I strongly suspect that my father would not have been particularly good at working anyway. He left our house in Torquay every morning and went to his club. He returned, in a cab, for lunch, and in the afternoon went back to the club, played whist all afternoon, and returned to the house in time to dress for dinner.”
—Agatha Christie (1891–1976)