The Big Four, Agatha Christie
The Big Four, Agatha Christie
5 Rating(s)
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The Big Four
A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Unabridged: 5 hr 33 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/03/2012

Synopsis

Famed private eye Hercule Poirot tackles international intrigue and espionage in this classic Agatha Christie mystery.Framed in the doorway of Hercule Poirot's bedroom stands an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man stares for a moment, then he sways and falls. Who is he? Is he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what is the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper? Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life—and that of his ""twin brother""—to uncover the truth.

About Agatha Christie

What a daunting task to write about the most famous mystery writer, Agatha Christie. She was born in 1890 in England, where she was home schooled by her American father. It was an unusual way to be educated for the times. Her father did not want her to begin learning to read until age eight, but out of boredom, she taught herself to read by age five.

In his research, Curran found a plethora of information about Agatha. He outlines many of those interesting facts. Since there are so many, just a few will be mentioned here. Agatha could have been an excellent performer as a pianist, but she was much too shy to perform. She once had three plays running simultaneously in London. She traveled around the world in 1922, which would have been quite a feat back then. Agatha loved dogs. She has a rose named after her. She never did drink alcohol nor smoked. Her last public appearance was in 1974, at the premier of the movie, Murder on the Orient Express. Agatha Christie's name has appeared every day for 53 years in every newspaper with a West End London theatre listing. Her favorite flower was Lily of the Valley. The information about this illustrious author goes on and on. It is a great asset to readers that author John Curran wrote the definitive book about an iconic author. One other interesting fact was that Agatha met Archie Christie in 1912, married on Christmas Eve 1914, spending their honeymoon at The Grand Hotel in Torquay, but Archie returned to France on Dec 27th due to the War. Agatha and Archie fid not really experience married life until he was posted at the London War Office. Agatha has been quoted as saying only then did she feel that her married life truly began.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Elizabeth L on 2007-04-23 17:01:26

Hugh Fraser (Capt. Hastings on Poirot TV series), is awesome! He has a real gift for voices, including that of Hercule Poirot. So this part of the story was very entertaining. This book could have used some editing when it was published. It is not interesting and very confusing. I had stopped reading Agatha Christie books. With the service of Booksfree.com, I am trying to enjoy Mrs. Christie's published work.

Goodreads review by John on August 25, 2011

This is a weird one. Apparently (I looked this up, because the book was so weird) Christie wrote a series of short stories about Poirot for some magazine and these stories were mashed together into this book. You can sort of tell that something like this is up, because the mashing didn't work all th......more

Goodreads review by Jaline on August 15, 2019

Written in 1927, Hercule Poirot and Mr. Hastings pursue the existence of “The Big Four” – a Chinese man, an American man, a Frenchwoman, and an Englishman known as “the Destroyer” – in a quest to sideline their leadership in a conspiracy of global control. Papers are discovered that refer to ”. .......more

Goodreads review by Bionic Jean on January 24, 2025

About half way through this novel, I began to wonder just why there were so many characters. Agatha Christie often tried to bemuse her readers, by having a largish cast of characters to provide plenty of red herrings, but in this one, she really seemed to have taken this to the limit. It seemed as i......more

Goodreads review by Flo on August 12, 2024

[3.8⭐] 𝙇𝙤𝙨 𝙘𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙤 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙨 es una novela detectivesca escrita por Agatha Christie en 1927. La historia está narrada desde el punto de vista de Hastings, quien relata cómo Poirot intenta desmantelar la organización secreta de "Los cuatro grandes". Este libro me impactó profundamente; se diferencia por......more

Goodreads review by Anne on June 25, 2024

This one reads more like a spoof of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes than Christie's Poirot. The Big Four is a sinister group of evil Moirartyesque masterminds who are poised to take over the world, and only Poirot is clever enough to stop them because no one else is even aware of their existence. Silly Scotl......more

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