The King of Clubs, Agatha Christie
The King of Clubs, Agatha Christie
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The King of Clubs
A Hercule Poirot Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: David Suchet

Unabridged: 1 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 12/26/2012


Synopsis

Hercule Poirot is asked by Prince Paul of Maurania to solve the murder of Henry Reedburn, which has greatly distressed the Prince's fiancée, the famous dancer Valerie Saintclair. The only other witnesses seem to be a family of four who were playing bridge near an open window when she staggered in, crying ""Murder!""

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

Goodreads review by Anne on April 18, 2025

The King of Clubs is one of those fun Poirot shorties wherehe discovers what really happened, but the police never do. A family is playing Bridge together when a famous dancer, Valerie Saintclair, dramatically bursts through the door and collapses after saying, Murder! Apparently, she was supposed......more

Goodreads review by Julie on January 19, 2020

The King of Clubs is the third Hercule Poirot short story. It was first published in the UK on March 21, 1923 as "The Adventure of the King of Clubs'' in the magazine The Sketch. It made its way across the pond to America in November 1923 where it was printed in The Blue Magazine. Hercule Poirot read......more

Goodreads review by itsdanixx on September 23, 2019

Interesting cast of characters, but for some reason it failed to hold my attention quite as much as her other stories.......more

Goodreads review by Razvan on October 01, 2023

Published for the first time in 1923, the story is average, as usual. The King of Clubs is a thin clue, the plot isn't the most exciting one, there is only one bright idea: that involving the slippers. PS: Interesting what small country could be hidden under the name of Maurania.........more

Goodreads review by Jim on May 21, 2020

This is a short story that is a murder mystery. In this one, a dancer stumbles into a room where she cries "Murder". She has discovered that a famous producer has been murdered and Hercule Poirot is on the case to discover who the actual murderer is. I just started reading books from this series and......more