.
Un grupo de viajeros se ve atrapado en el Orient Express en medio de una tormenta de nieve. Entre ellos pronto se descubre un cadáver. El asesino está entre los presentes. Al detective más famoso de la historia le corresponde averiguar quién ha cometido el crimen.

Un trozo de tela de color verde una mancha todavía húmeda en la alfombra de la habitación del crimen una caja vacía de polvos de bromuro un pedazo de papel a medio quemar... Ésas son apenas las pistas de que dispondrá Hércules Poirot para aclarar el asesinato de la señora Inglethorp rica magnánima y bondadosa dama a la que según parece alguien le sirvió una taza de café con estricnina.

Inventor Sir Claude Amory feels a bitter taste in the mouth, when the new formula for explosive material stolen by someone in the household.
In order to quickly remedy the situation, Sir Claude locks the door and turns off the light, giving the thief a chance to return the formula without being detected. But darkness brings death and Hercule Poirot has to untangle family strife, love and suspicious visitors tangle in order to clarify the murderer and prevent disaster.

A Poirot le resulta muy sospechoso que el cliente de un restaurante que desde hace diez años acude a cenar todos los martes y jueves y siempre pide lo mismo cambie sus costumbres de repente y se presente un lunes y pida de postre
. Sus sospechas se confirman cuando se entera de la muerte del extraño cliente.
Como en
, la canción infantil que da título al siguiente relato, al asesinato de una mujer le sigue una segunda muerte en la casa de huéspedes donde un implacable asesino busca a las demás víctimas de su venganza.
El presente volumen se completa con una selección de apasionantes relatos breves de la prolífica autora británica.
(Los relatos del presente volumen pertenecen a la obra
)

An outbreak of kleptomania at a student hostel was not normally the sort of crime that aroused Hercule Poirot’s interest. But when he saw the list of stolen and vandalized items – including a stethoscope, some old flannel trousers, a box of chocolates, a slashed rucksack and a diamond ring found in a bowl of soup – he congratulated the warden, Mrs Hubbard, on a ‘unique and beautiful problem’. The list made absolutely no sense at all. But, reasoned Poirot, if this was merely a petty thief at work, why was everyone at the hostel so frightened?

Dieciséis años atrás, Caroline Crale fue condenada por asesinar a su esposo, el pintor Amyas Crale, cuando éste estaba a punto de abandonarla por una mujer más joven. Tras morir en prisión, Caroline dejó una carta a su hija de cinco años, Carla, reafirmando su inocencia. Ahora Carla sabe que necesita la ayuda del mejor detective del mundo para volver al pasado y hallar al verdadero asesino, honrando así la memoria de su madre.
Hércules Poirot someterá a sus peculiares interrogatorios a cinco sospechosos: a Elsa Greer, la última amante del difunto; a Angela, la hermanastra de Caroline; a la señorita Williams, la institutriz; y a los hermanos Blake, uno de ellos agente de bolsa y el otro aficionado a la botánica. Todos cuentan con una coartada sólida, pero uno de ellos miente. ¿Quién será el asesino?

El avión-correo Prometheus despega del aeropuerto de Le Bourget en París, camino de Craydon, con 14 personas a bordo. Al llegar a su destino, una pasajera es encontrada muerta. La única señal de violencia es un pequeño pinchazo en el cuello. A sus pies se halla un dardo envenenado

: El capitán Hastings, amigo y colaborador de Hércules Poirot, narra en forma de crónica la compleja trama que se desarrolla en torno al asesinato en Francia de Paul Renauld, un millonario de oscuro pasado. Poirot, a quien la víctima había solicitado ayuda por sentirse gravemente amenazada, no llega a tiempo de evitar el crimen y decide colaborar en la investigación del caso, tarea en la que consigue demostrar la superioridad de sus métodos sobre los del comisario Giruald, de la Sûreté de París.
: Una bellísima heredera se libra milagrosamente de morir a manos de un misterioso asesino y le pide a Poirot que abra una investigación. Mientras éste trata de averiguar cuál de los sospechosos es el criminal, las tentativas de asesinato se multiplican y se produce una muerte. Poirot ve cómo sus hipótesis se desmoronan una a una y las pistas se enmarañan. Pero el célebre detective belga jamás se da por vencido.
: Es cierto que Lord Edgware era un hombre muy raro, pero eso no significaba que debía ser asesinado. Aunque su segunda mujer, la hermosa actriz Jane Wilkinson, quería divorciarse para volverse a casar, su hija le odiaba y su heredero había sido expulsado de casa... Y para complicarle más el caso a Hércules Poirot, la noche del crimen una mujer estaba en dos lugares al mismo tiempo.

Three young women share a London flat. The first is a coolly efficient secretary. The second is an artist. The third interrupts Hercule Poirot’s breakfast confessing that she is a murderer—and then promptly disappears.
Slowly, Poirot learns of the rumors surrounding the mysterious third girl, her family, and her disappearance. Yet hard evidence is needed before the great detective can pronounce her guilty, innocent, or insane.

The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A gun lay on the floor near his right hand. What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morely have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or lov

Sheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs. Pebmarsh, the blind owner of No. 19, denies all knowledge of ringing Sheila's secretarial agency and asking for her by name -- yet someone did. Nor does she own that many clocks. And neither woman seems to know the victim. Colin Lamb, a young intelligence specialist working a case of his own at the nearby naval yard, happens to be on the scene at the time of Sheila Webb's ghastly discovery. Lamb knows of only one man who can properly investigate a crime as bizarre and baffling as what happened inside No. 19 -- his friend and mentor, Hercule Poirot.

After Richard Abernethie’s funeral, his will is read out to his family. His sister, Cora, shocks everyone by saying ‘He was murdered, wasn’t he?’
When Cora is murdered in her bed the very next day, herextraordinary remark suddenly seems very important.
Every member of the Abernethie family has something to gainfrom both murders. Hercule Poirot arrives to solve the mystery
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins has adapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These carefully adapted versions are shorter with the language targeted at upper-intermediate learners (CEF level B2).
Each reader includes:
• A CD with a reading of the adapted story
• Helpful notes on characters
• Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot
• A glossary of the more difficult words

Reclusive tycoon Sir Oswald Coote and his melancholy wife, Lady Coote, have hit upon the ideal plan to spice up their quiet lives. They'll host a lavish weekend party at Chimneys. their isolated estate, and invite only "bright young things." But the festive mood is clouded by doom. A practical joke involving seven clocks and a sleeping guest has ended in accidental death--and cause for alarm. For the guests may not be all that they appear. And as whispers of a strange club called Seven Dials echo through the halls of Chimneys, all hands will be pointing to murder...

An English country house at Christmas time should be the perfect place to get away from it all - but nothing is ever simple for Hercule Poirot, as he finds not one but five baffling cases to solve.
First comes a sinister warning on his pillow to avoid the plum pudding...then the discovery of a corpse in a chest...next, an overheard quarrel that leads to murder...the strange case of a dead man's eating habits...and the puzzle of a victim who dreams of his own suicide.
Add an extra bonus - Miss Marple investigates Greenshaw's Folly.

Em uma noite de setembro, o milionário Roger Ackroyd é encontrado morto, esfaqueado com uma adaga tunisiana – objeto raro de sua coleção particular – no quarto da mansão Fernly Park na pacata vila de King’s Abbott. A morte do fidalgo industrial é a terceira de uma misteriosa sequência de crimes, iniciada com a de Ashley Ferrars, que pode ter sido causada ou por uma ingestão acidental de soníferos ou envenenamento articulado por sua esposa – esta, aliás, completa a sequência de mortes, num provável suicídio.
Os três crimes em série chamam a atenção da velha Caroline Sheppard, irmã do dr. Sheppard, médico da cidade e narrador da história. Suspeitando de que haja uma relação entre as mortes, dada a proximidade de miss Ferrars com o também viúvo Roger Ackroyd, Caroline pede a ajuda do então aposentado detetive belga Hercule Poirot, que passava suas merecidas férias na vila.
Ameaças, chantagens, vícios, heranças, obsessões amorosas e uma carta reveladora deixada por miss Ferrars compõem o cenário desta surpreendente trama, cujo transcorrer elenca novos suspeitos a todo instante, exigindo a habitual perspicácia do detetive Poirot em seu retorno ao mundo das investigações. O assassinato de Roger Ackroyd é um dos mais famosos romances policiais da rainha do crime.

For an instant the two trains ran together, going in the same direction side by side. In that frozen moment, Elspeth, riding in the one train, witnessed a murder in the other. Helplessly, she stared out her carriage window as a man remorselessly tightened his grip around a woman’s throat. The body crumpled. Then the other train drew away.
Who, apart from Miss Marple, would take her story seriously? After all, there were no suspects, no other witnesses... and no corpse. Not the police.
Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "4:50 from Paddington." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."

It was an open and shut case. All the evidence said Caroline Crale poisoned her philandering husband, a brilliant painter. She was quickly and easily convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Now, sixteen years later, in a posthumous letter, Mrs. Crale has assured her grown daughter that she was innocent. But instead of setting the young woman's mind at ease, the letter only raises disquieting questions. Did Caroline indeed write the truth? And if she didn't kill her husband, who did?
To find out, the Crale’s daughter asks Hercule Poirot to reopen the case. His investigation takes him deep into the conflicting memories and motivations of the five other people who were with the Crales on the fatal day. With his keen understanding of human psychology, he manages to discover the surprising truth behind the artist's death.

One minute, silly Heather Badcock had been gabbing on to her movie idol, the glamorous Marina Gregg. The next, Heather suffered a massive seizure. It turned out to be a deadly poison. But for whom was it really intended?
Marina’s frozen expression suggested she had witnessed something horrific. While others searched for material evidence, Jane Marple conducted a very different investigation – into human nature.
Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel, "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."

It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing evening dress and heavy make-up, which is now smeared across her cheeks.
But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?
The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple to solve the mystery… before tongues start to wag.
Librarian's note: this entry is for the novel "The Body in the Library." Collections and other Miss Marple stories are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The series includes 12 novels and 20 short stories. Entries for the short stories can be found by searching Goodreads for: "a Miss Marple Short Story."

It seems that no matter how hard he tries, Poirot never quite gets a holiday. This story sees him in Devon, Agatha Christie’s home county, and, of course, among the scantily clad sunbathers, a murdered woman is found.
It was not unusual to find the beautiful bronzed body of the sun-loving Arlena Stuart stretched out on a beach, face down. Only, on this occasion, there was no sun… she had been strangled. Ever since Arlena’s arrival at the resort, Hercule Poirot had detected sexual tension in the seaside air. But could this apparent ‘crime of passion’ have been something more evil and premeditated altogether?