Poirot infringe la ley / The Hound of Death: Agatha Christie’s Tales of the Supernatural and the Unexplained
A good-looking house at a very low price catches the eye of someone who decides to move in, despite the dark legends of ghosts. The death of a child from neglect and starvation, years before, is the main reason it has stood empty until now. So begins one of the stories in Poirot infringe la ley, a Spanish collection of twelve tales by Agatha Christie.
Author: Agatha Christie (1890–1976)
Spanish collection: Poirot infringe la ley (12 stories)
English collection linked: The Hound of Death (1933), Kindle edition
Scope: Short stories of the supernatural and the macabre
Amazon: www.amazon.es/dp/B0046RE5D6 (ASIN B0046RE5D6)
Stories of the Supernatural
The terrible story of a murder disguised by the death of a cat; a paranormal tale that seems to have no rational explanation; and many other mysteries. The Spanish volume contains twelve stories: "Poirot infringe la ley", "Double Sin", "Wasps’ Nest", "The Double Clue", "Sanctuary", "The Hound of Death", "The Gipsy", "The Lamp", "The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael", "The Call of Wings", "The Last Séance" and "The Dressmaker’s Doll", with cases for both Poirot and Miss Marple.
Where to Find Them in English
There is no English book with exactly this selection, which was put together by the Spanish publisher. Half of the stories, the supernatural ones ("The Hound of Death", "The Gipsy", "The Lamp", "Sir Arthur Carmichael", "The Call of Wings" and "The Last Séance"), come from The Hound of Death, the collection linked here, which also includes the famous "Witness for the Prosecution". The Poirot stories are collected in Poirot’s Early Cases, and the Miss Marple ones in Miss Marple’s Final Cases.
Christie and the Supernatural
Christie is famous for her rational detectives, so it surprises many readers that she was fascinated by the uncanny. Seances, premonitions, haunted houses and strange powers appear throughout her early work, from the mysterious Harley Quin stories to the table-turning that opens The Sittaford Mystery. The Hound of Death gathers her most openly supernatural tales, in which, unlike in her detective fiction, the explanation is not always a human one.
The Original Collection
The Hound of Death was published in Britain in 1933. Besides the eerie stories in this Spanish selection, it contains some remarkable pieces of crime fiction, including "The Witness for the Prosecution", which Christie later turned into a hugely successful play, filmed by Billy Wilder in 1957. Other stories in the book, such as "The Red Signal" and "The Mystery of the Blue Jar", hover in the borderland between psychology and the paranormal.
The Poirot Stories
The other half of the Spanish volume comes from Christie’s detective fiction, with cases for Poirot such as "Double Sin", "Wasps’ Nest" and "The Double Clue", which in English are found in later collections like Poirot’s Early Cases. Putting them side by side with the supernatural tales creates an interesting contrast: in one half the world is ruled by logic and the little grey cells, in the other something darker slips through.
Tip
The supernatural stories are best read one at a time, ideally late at night. Their effect depends on atmosphere, and reading several in a row dilutes it.
Readers who enjoy this side of Christie should look out for The Mysterious Mr Quin, a collection in which a strange, almost magical figure appears and disappears, helping the elderly Mr Satterthwaite understand the hidden tragedies around him. It is one of the most unusual books she ever wrote, and was one of her own favourites.
Why Read It
It shows a less familiar side of Christie: eerie, sometimes genuinely frightening stories where the explanation is not always rational. Perfect for a dark evening.
As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases.
Part of the reading recommendations featured on books.sapiensverbum.com.
