The Adventure Of The Christmas Pudding

Exactly 74 years ago to the day from this date Collins Crime Club published

In her foreword to this delightful first entrée Dame Agatha speaks of her own joyful childhood memories, acknowledging their part in the celebration which brought an adamantly reluctant Hercule Poirot into the party through the diplomatic persuasion of Mr Jesmond acting on behalf of the Commonwealth. “If one wanted to sum up Mr. Jesmond in a word, the word would have been discretion. Everything about Mr. Jesmond was discreet. His well-cut but inconspicuous clothes, his pleasant, well-bred voice which rarely soared out of an agreeable monotone, his light-brown hair just thinning a little at the temples, his pale serious face. It seemed to Hercule Poirot that he had known not one but a dozen Mr. Jesmonds in his time, all using sooner or later the same phrase – “a position of the utmost delicacy.” ” is an example of the writer’s skill in penning a complete portrait with few phrases. Each of the personalities in the tale are equally well presented – with insight, sensitivity, humour, and knowledge of people from all walks of life.

In her well-crafted style Christie presents the characters attending the Christmas and Boxing Day events, the possible crime, the suspected perpetrators, and the perspicacious Poirot.

We have an excellent description of the dinner and its traditions; a nice confusion over which puddings to serve when; a practical joke which backfires; a touch of mystery; and a few surprises.

The jacket of this first edition owes to its cellophane wrapper its rather more pristine condition than that of the ex-library edition pages. One of the collection bequeathed to me by my Auntie Ivy, I suspect she bought this as discontinued, for it bears the turned down corners produced by multiple readers not using bookmarks and

various stains I would prefer to imagine as those of the eponymous puddings, which, of course put me in mind of my own book featured in

Chocolate Surprise Pudding

The two now much older grandchildren who cooked the pudding mentioned above are currently fully occupied on their own matters, preventing them from joining my daughter Louisa on her own visit today when she will stay for two nights.

Louisa suffered much delay on her journey from Nottingham. ETA is now 8.30 p.m.

When she arrives we will all dine on succulent roast lamb; mint sauce; boiled new potatoes; soft spinach; firm broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and tasty gravy, with which I will drink Paarl Shiraz 2023.

53 comments

  2. Fun coincidence, Derrick. I was in a bookstore and was tempted by Hercules Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie. Now I wish I had gotten it. Sounds like a lovely upcoming visit. Enjoy that delicious sounding dinner.

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      1. I see, thats around a two-hour drive I suppose. Thanks, Derrick. There is so many things I want to see and do in the UK.

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  9. My preferred detective was the denizen of 21B, Baker Street, but I’ve plunged myself into the stories of HP time and again and quite enjoyed the atmosphere and suspense. My kids who are now mature enough though took to the magical world of the modern HP, although I was the culprit who introduced them to the world of wizardry. Doyle and Christie joined the league of the Victorian novelists, and the post-Victorian lot, to make me long for the bygone era in a faraway place which was never mine and yet so familiar!

    Today’s entry was a surprise, therefore. Hope you enjoy time with your daughter.

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  14. I thought I knew all the Agatha Christie books, but I’ve not heard of this one. I hope you have a lovely few days with Louisa.

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  15. Good morning from Sierre, Switzerland! I really enjoyed your book review this morning, Derrick. Cheers to you & Jackie! We are here to visit with our DeDe and her family and to meet our newest great-grandchild.

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  21. I enjoyed your review, Derrick. I have not read any of her books but have seen a few movies based on them.

    Enjoy your visit with Louisa, Derrick and Jackie. The dinner sounds wonderful!

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  24. I’ll be looking for this one. My wife (Wendy) introduced me to Agatha Christie in 1972. By the time we married, she had accumulated, I don’t know, forty or fifty of AG’s novels. Read them all; acquired more. Read them, too; sometimes more than once. Saw all the movies; have most of them on DVD. Have the whole David Suchet BBC Poirot series on DVD; also Miss Marple (made several ‘made for TV’ movies in the ’70s and ’80s). A week or so ago, I came across a ‘Commemorative Edition’ of The Mysterious Affair at Styles at our local 2nd Chance Bookstore.

    So. I am an AG fan, for real. Also enjoy Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L. Sayers (and honestly a long list of other mystery writers…)

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