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Title: The Under Dog

Subtitle: A Hercule Poirot Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 4 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-26-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 37 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Pretty Lily Margrave is not convinced that Hercule Poirot is needed in the matter of Sir Atwell's murder. At the request of her employer, Lady Atwell, she has already recounted what happened 10 days ago in the Tower Room, and the victim's nephew has been charged with the murder. Nevertheless, Lady Atwell brings Poirot up to the great house, Mon Repos, to see if he can find out anything.

While at first the family is struck by Poirot's ardent endeavor to uncover what befell Sir Atwell, his insistence on looking into every nook and cranny becomes too much for some to bear. A scrap of material, the contents of a tiny box, and his singular ingenuity lead the detective to uncover who is behind this violent act.

Members Reviews:

This is a good one!

Good story, good Poirot, well read by Hugh Fraser. It was a good length, too.

Enjoyable as usual with Christie's work

Perfect narrator. He gets me through many of my chores. Something calming, classy, in his voice. Of course, difficult to go wrong with an Agatha Christie story. Perfect combination!

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Title: The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl

Subtitle: A Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-26-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Mystery writer Anthony Eastwood is lured to the crime scene of a faked murder, where two individuals masquerading as police officers arrest him and charge him with murder. As the phony police officers escort Mr. Eastwood home, the true goal of the masquerade becomes apparent.

Members Reviews:

The mystery of the Spanish shawl

A different but good story. Nothing better than a short mystery written by a master story teller. Can't wait for the next one.

typically agatha!

Great shot read..I love reading all of Agatha Christ is books .one can never go wrong with the great mysteries she writes!

never been released

I never knew she did short stories. You can read five or six in mo time. Loved it to the end

Anything by Christie is worth five stars

I think my title says it all. Anything she wrote is worth reading. But I'd rather have a full length book than a short story.

Good

Love the ending. I didn't expect it. I've downloaded most of the Kindle Agatha Christie stories and read them before bed to calm my mind. I tell my son each time I finish one, "You'd like this story."

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Title: The Blue Cross

Subtitle: A Father Brown Mystery

Author: Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Narrator: David Ian Davies

Format: Unabridged

Length: 50 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-20-12

Publisher: One Voice Recordings

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Aristide Valentin, the chief of the Paris police, arrives from Holland by boat at the English port of Harwich. He is pursuing an infamous thief and con man named Flambeau, to whom Parisian reporters attribute numerous mysterious and unsolved crimes committed in the French capital.

Members Reviews:

love the shows on TV but did not like the book

could not get into this book. It was not near as good as the TV program. Think I will stick with them instead of the books

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Title: The Harlequin Tea Set

Subtitle: A Harley Quin Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 1 hr and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-18-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 28 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Waiting for his car to be fixed, Mr. Satterthwaite sits in a tea shop called the Harlequin cafe, thinking of his friend Harley Quin, whom he hasnt seen in many years. Then, in a burst of sunshine, the very same Mr. Quin walks through the door, along with his diligent dog, Hermes. Satterthwaite is telling him the very long history of the family he is off to visit, when their conversation is interrupted by the abrupt entrance of a member of that very same family, intent upon replacing her harlequin cups.

Satterthwaite desperately asks Quin to accompany him on his trip, but the ever-enigmatic Quin simply leaves his friend with one word, "Daltonism". What does that word mean, and what is the significance of Quin turning up at the tea shop on that day?

Members Reviews:

One of my favourites....

This is definitely one of my favourite short stories by Agatha Christie. Honestly, I wish that they had The Harlequin Tea Set and Other Stories collection for Kindle, but I can wait for it to happen. The story is the perfect length for a leisurely lunch read.

And just a note: Yes this is a short story. It says so on the cover, and all of the Agatha Christie Kindle books with similar style covers are also short stories. But that doesn't mean that it isn't worth a dollar. If you are unhappy with it for that reason though, get a refund!

The Charleston tea set

Another great story by a master story teller. Thanks so much Dame Christie for providing a good escape from every day life.

Times passed

It was interesting to observe how the story unfolded.

It kept me in suspense.

I found it quite interesting.:

The ending was mysterious.

A very pleasant read for quiet afternoons

This is a set of short-stories by The Dame. They were a very pleasant read--just dip into during a quiet moment or on your Kindle when waiting at the doctor's office or anywhere. I find I no longer curse the train crossing hold up on the way to work now that I have my Kindle.

A great read

I love Christie, and she came through in great style here. If you like mysteries you should like this one. No Miss Marple or H. Poirot here.

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Title: The Million Dollar Bond Robbery

Subtitle: A Hercule Poirot Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-18-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 11 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

A young banker is suspected of stealing one million dollars in Liberty Bonds on a transatlantic journey to New York, and appeals to Hercule Poirot to clear his name. Poirot learns the identities of the three people who hold keys to the locked trunk, but it won't be as easy to identify the true thief.

Members Reviews:

Zippy

Classic Poirot. Locked room impossible crime...falsely accused young man...collecting the facts...and Poirot cracks the case with the 'little grey cells'

A zippy, breezy read.

Classic Christie!

Whether short story or short novel, Agatha Christie reigns as the mistress of mystery. Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells foil a clever robber in this satisfying tale.

better than the movie

The ending was the same but in the movie that added a gambling issue. It was better without that. Great teaf

Five Stars

Love Poirot!!! and Miss Marple

A fun short story!

Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings have another mystery on their hands when they have to solve the puzzle of a missing million dollar bond that has been stolen on it's journey to New York.

I like the short stories because there a lot of them, which means a lot more Agatha Christie for me to enjoy, and also because I usually have more success solving these than I do the full-length novels. In the case of The Million Dollar Bond Robbery I did guess the mystery before Captain Hastings. However I suspect Hercule Poirot had this one solved before he even heard of it!

My favourite line from this story: "Good Lord, Poirot! Do you know, I'd give a considerable sum of money to see you make a thorough ass of yourself - just for once." I love the relationship between Poirot and Hastings.

This was another good Agatha Christie short story. If you haven't read a Agatha Christie novel yet, I recommend picking up one of her many short stories.

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Title: The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger

Subtitle: A Tommy & Tuppence Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 24 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford wait anxiously for a letter from Russia that may contain information of international importance hidden beneath the stamp. The letter is anticipated by more than just the Beresfords, and they must fight to keep the information from getting into the wrong hands.

Members Reviews:

Love Tommy & Tuppence

Love Tommy & Tuppence

The adventure of the sinister stranger

A very good Tommy and Tuppence story. Always entertaining and a great short story. Thanks so much for another story.

IS IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A CHRISTIE THATS NOT GREAT

Attention to detail is amazing, fast paced and a very good read

Two intrepid sleuths

Two dear characters young and loyal to their country. Loving each other and adventure they solve another mystery for queen and country.

More good characters.

I enjoy all Agatha Christie's characters and really like this couple. Their stories are usually exciting.

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Title: Finessing the King

Subtitle: A Tommy & Tuppence Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 22 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

A personal advertisement written in code attracts the attention of Tuppence Beresford. When Tuppence suspects that the code involves the Three Arts Ball, she persuades Tommy to attend dressed in costume. Tuppence's suspicions prove to be correct when a murder takes place, but as all of the guests are dressed in masquerade, identifying the killer may be more difficult than first thought....

Members Reviews:

Sucks!

Downloaded multiple times and story barely begins and cuts off to standard Audible closing. Have tried to tell Audible and got no resolution. As I said, sucks.

Incomplete story DO NOT BUY UNTIL THEY FIX

The audio version does not contain the entire short story. I have not had this problem with the other Agatha Christie short stories I bought from Audible.

Very Disappointed

This book wasnt for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This is a good story this version does not make for a good story. This version is not the entire story and in fact, stops right after the murder. What a waste!

Has Finessing the King turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, this has not turned me off of this genre but it makes me wonder if the other Agatha Christie short stories I own are only part of the story.

What does Hugh Fraser bring to the story that you wouldnt experience if you just read the book?

The dictation is perfect and Fraser does an amazing job narrating.

What character would you cut from Finessing the King?

This is a Tommy and Tuppence mystery but this narrated version stops as soon as the body is discovered.

Any additional comments?

This is not the entire storyline and is very disappointing when you purchase it to listen to as a distractor while working.

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Title: The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim

Subtitle: A Hercule Poirot Short Story

Author: Agatha Christie

Narrator: Hugh Fraser

Format: Unabridged

Length: 33 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-11-12

Publisher: HarperAudio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 27 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Mr. Davenheim, a wealthy financier, leaves his home to mail a letter, then fails to return. The story fills the newspapers and intrigues Hercule Poirot, who challenges Inspector Japp with the claim that he can solve the case before the police, and without leaving his flat.

Members Reviews:

Gotta love Poirot

Hastings and Poirot are on the case to find a wealthy financier by the name of Mr. Davenheim. Poirot's friend, Inspector Japp makes a bet that Poirot can't solve the case. but like all the other books, Poirot always solves the case. This is another good short story by Agatha Christie.

Not bad at all for a short story

One of the better twists that I've seen in a short story. Very enjoyable. Most of Agatha Christie's books are very good, but this one was slightly better-than-average

Great Reading

The story kept moving but not to fast that you couldn't follow it. Cast of characters were great. Of course, M. Periot was the star. But the ending caught me by surprise. I never expected it. One of the best Agatha Christie books, and I've read most of them.

The disappearance of Mr Davenheim

As always enjoyed this short story. Amazing how modern they thought they were in 1923. Thanks again for a good story.

Poirot does it again

A delightful little tale of misdirection and mistaken identity that only M. Poirot can sort out with his little grey cells! Fun read, full of surprises.

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Title: She Loves Me Not

Subtitle: New and Selected Stories

Author: Ron Hansen

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-19-12

Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Ron Hansen has long been a master of the short form. His stories have been called "beautifully crafted" (The New York Times), "unforgettable" (San Francisco Chronicle), and "diverse and expansive" (The Washington Post). Ranging over subjects as diverse as Oscar Wilde, murder, dementia, and romance, this collection shows Ron Hansen at his storytelling best. Most of these pieces are set in the present with the balance set in the historical past. Surprising in its variety, She Loves Me Not shows Hansen at the height of his powers.

Members Reviews:

Intersections of Autobiographies

If I could be a writer I'd want to be Ron Hansen. It's not about the action with him. It's about what events and actions mean in the lives of his characters. It's about significance.

This book is a collection of Hansen's short stories, some republished from an earlier collection, Nebraska, and some newly published. Although I had read Nebraska years ago, I didn't mind at all re-reading those republished stories. Hansen is a writer who bears reading over and over. One in particular, Wickedness, is a story that still haunts me with its depictions of lives lost in a sudden freeze during a Nebraska winter. The depictions have the feel of reality, so much so that I left the story believing, rightly or wrongly, that it wasn't fiction -- if fiction, it's the kind of fiction that merits the over-used "truer than fact" label.

Some of these stories strike what to me is a different tone for Hansen -- a farcical tone I haven't appreciated in him before. The title story, She Loves Me Not, is an example, with characters and events spiraling away at a right angle from anything "normal".

I think what makes these stories, and Hansen's writing in general, so engrossing is his ability to disclose the depth of every human life in them. It's as if every character is experienced in the first person. He is telling the autobiographies of each character, and the story is their intersection.

If you haven't read any of Hansen's novels or short stories, this is not a bad place to start. It contains some samples of his historical fiction, in the tough portrayals of life in Nebraska, drawn out in larger form in novels like Desperadoes and The Assassination of Jesse James. It also contains those character studies of desperate or doomed characters, as in A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion. If you read these stories, you'll want to move on to those longer, fuller novels as well.

Nebraska Notions

Writing elegant textured sentences, Ron Hansen evokes tantalizing scenes and colorful characters but mainly the vast mysteries of the human condition.

He starts with two tales from 1880s Nebraska. WILDE IN OMAHA introduces the reader to the cutting wit of Oscar Wilde, who entertains prominent citizens at a dinner and presentation. Wilde's witticisms never cease: "A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally." "I really must quit now. I'll empty myself of all thought and opinion and find I've become electable." On January 12, 1888, a once-in-a-century blizzard struck Nebraska, pure WICKEDNESS.

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Title: Red Butte Showdown

Subtitle: May There Be a Road, Part 3

Author: Louis L'Amour

Narrator: John Bedford Lloyd

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-23-12

Publisher: Random House Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories & Anthologies

Publisher's Summary:

Red Butte Showdown: Selected Unabridged Stories from May There Be a Road includes four unforgettable adventures - "Red Butte Showdown", "Friend of a Hero", "Wings Over Brazil", and "The Ghost Fighter" - all previously uncollected stories, now offered for the first time together.

In the title story, the sudden arrival of a frightened, fatherless boy at Gunthorp's cabin turns into a struggle to keep a seemingly useless piece of land out of the hands of a crooked rancher and return it to its rightful heirs. "Friend of a Hero" is the story of a detective who is willing to believe a woman's unproven story about her brother's death in order to find the painful truth in the seamy underbelly of a small town. Ponga Jim Mayo has found trouble again in "Wings Over Brazil." When his ship, the Semiramis, is stolen, he stumbles onto the plot for a Nazi takeover of Brazil. In "The Ghost Fighter", a look-alike takes the champ's place in the ring, but when the scam is exposed, it's every man for himself, and the winner gets the world heavyweight title!

Ranging from the coasts of Brazil to the very heartland of America, Red Butte Showdown: Selected Unabridged Stories from May There Be a Road exhibits the unbridled passion and the sheer genius of a true master working at the peak of his creative power.

Members Reviews:

A Taste Of L"Amour's Versatility

A taste of L'Amour's versatility:

RED BUTTE SHOWDOWN - About the old west!

A FRIEND OF A HERO = Modern-day crime story!

WINGS OVER BRAZIL - Captian Pango Jim Mayo, during WWll

THE GHOST FIGHT - Story about a ghost boxer!

Well performed by John Bedford Lloyd: