Search results for ""author agatha christie""

A strange house A ghost from the past As soon as she moves into Hillside, Gwenda knows there’s something strange about this house. A sealed room. A hidden door. The apparition of a young woman being strangled. But strangest of all – this all seems quite familiar. As her friend Jane Marple investigates, the answer seems to lie in a crime committed nearly twenty years ago. The killer may have gotten away with murder. But Miss Marple is never far behind. Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’Tana French ‘Miss Marple is spry, shrewd and compassionate.’ Sunday Telegraph

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A Caribbean resort Strangers thrown together Is there evil in paradise? Major Palgrave enjoys an audience, and, in Miss Marple, he discovers a captive audience too polite to walk away. But midway through recounting the tale of a multiple murder, he stops suddenly when something, or someone, catches his eye. Then, when he’s found dead the following day, Miss Marple suspects that someone wanted to silence the talkative major. Permanently. Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘There’s no such thing as a disappointing Agatha Christie: there are only good ones and better ones.’Naomi Alderman ‘Livelieness . . . infectious zest . . . as good as anything Miss Christie has done.’ Observer

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. 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: Audio 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 Victoria Jones is a young English woman who is looking for love. She follows her new love interest to Baghdad, but she has no idea what adventure is waiting for her there. A very important international meeting is planned in Baghdad, but a secret organisation wants to sabotage it. Meanwhile, when a man dies in Victoria’s hotel room, he whispers three words to her: ‘… Lucifer … Basrah … Lefarge …’ What do these words mean? And what does it have to do with the meeting?

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. 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: Audio 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 Recently, there have been some strange things happening at Styles, a large country house in Essex. Evelyn Howard, a loyal friend to the family for years, left the house after an argument with Mrs Inglethorp. Mrs Inglethorp is then suddenly taken ill and dies. Has she been poisoned? It is up to the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, to find out what happened.

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A shocking crime A mansion filled with suspects Ruth Van Rydock can’t shake the feeling that something terrible is going to happen to her sister at Stonygates house. Her old school friend Jane Marple decides it’s time to pay a visit. But this grand Victorian mansion isn’t just a family home – it’s also a correctional facility for wayward young men. And when something terrible does indeed happen, Miss Marple must face her most eccentric cast of suspects yet. Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘If a genius is someone who leaves the field they work in totally different from how they found it, then we should certainly remember Agatha Christie as a genius.’Stephen Fry ‘No one on either side of the Atlantic does it better.’ New York Times

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An all-new collection of autumn-themed mysteries from the master of the genre. Autumn is the season of misty mornings and cosy nights in, but as the leaves begin to fall the nights get longer and the shadows grow darker… Secluded cottages, eerie manors and ghostly hauntings and cursed tombs abound in this collection of 12 supernatural mysteries and murderous plots featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Agatha Christie’s other favourite detectives. INCLUDES THE STORIES:Murder in the MewsThe Case of the Rich WomanWhile the Light LastsTriangle at RhodesDeath by DrowningThe Bird with the Broken WingThe Lemesurier InheritanceThe House of Lurking DeathTape-Measure MurderThe Voice in the DarkFour-and-Twenty BlackbirdsWitness for the Prosecution

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners.Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins hasadapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These readers have beencarefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at thecorrect level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 4 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level4 is equivalent to CEF level B2 with a word count of 20,000 – 26,000 words. Each book includes:• Full reading of the adapted version available for free online• Helpful notes on characters• Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot• A glossary of the more difficult words When famous actress Marina Gregg buys Gossington Hall, she wastes no time in introducing herself and her husband to their new neighbours by throwing a charity fête. Everyone is enjoying seeing around the beautiful house and gardens, until tragedy strikes – Heather Badcock has been poisoned. But who would want to kill Heather? And how, in the middle of a busy party, did they do it?

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners.Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time and in any language. Now Collins hasadapted her famous detective novels for English language learners. These readers have beencarefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at thecorrect level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 4 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level4 is equivalent to CEF level B2 with a word count of 20,000 – 26,000 words. Each book includes:• Full reading of the adapted version available for free online• Helpful notes on characters• Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot• A glossary of the more difficult words Ten strangers are invited to a tiny island, each for a very different reason. Over dinner on the first night, a recorded message accuses each of the guests of a serious crime, all of which they deny. Then, by the end of that evening, one of the group is dead. A storm rises – now no one can come or go from the island. Then another dies, and another.The killer has to be one of them – but which one?

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. 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 readers have been carefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at the correct level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 5 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level 5 is equivalent to CEF level B2+ with a word count of 22,000 – 30,000 words. Each book includes:• Full reading of the adapted version available for free online• Helpful notes on characters• Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot• A glossary of the more difficult words• Free online resources for students and teachers atwww.collinselt.com/readers The plot:Mrs Boynton, a cruel and hated woman, is found dead in the ancient city of Petra. Was it just a weak heart and too much sun that killed her, or has one of Mrs Boynton’s many victims found revenge?By chance, the great detective Hercule Poirot has some useful information, but is it enough to find the killer? He has 24 hours to solve the case. About Collins ELT Readers Collins ELT Readers are divided into 7 levels:Level 1 – elementary (A2)Level 2 – pre-intermediate (A2-B1)Level 3 – intermediate (B1)Level 4 – upper- intermediate (B2)Level 5 – upper-intermediate+(B2+)Level 6 – advanced (C1)Level 7 – advanced + (C2)Each level is carefully graded to ensure that the learner both enjoys and benefits from their reading experience.

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. 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 readers have been carefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at the correct level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 5 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level 5 is equivalent to CEF level B2+ with a word count of 22,000 – 30,000 words. Each book includes:• Full reading of the adapted version available for free online• Helpful notes on characters• Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot• A glossary of the more difficult words• Free online resources for students and teachers atwww.collinselt.com/readers The plot:When Colonel Protheroe is found murdered in the vicar’s study, it seems that almost everyone in the village of St Mary Mead had a motive to kill him.This is the first case for Agatha Christie’s legendary female detective, Miss Marple. She needs to use all her powers of observation and deduction to solve the mystery. About Collins ELT Readers Collins ELT Readers are divided into 7 levels:Level 1 – elementary (A2)Level 2 – pre-intermediate (A2-B1)Level 3 – intermediate (B1)Level 4 – upper- intermediate (B2)Level 5 – upper-intermediate+(B2+)Level 6 – advanced (C1)Level 7 – advanced + (C2) Each level is carefully graded to ensure that the learner both enjoys and benefits from their reading experience.

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Collins brings the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie, to English language learners. 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 readers have been carefully adapted using the Collins COBUILD grading scheme to ensure that the language is at the correct level for an intermediate learner. This book is Level 5 in the Collins ELT Readers series. Level 5 is equivalent to CEF level B2+ with a word count of 22,000 – 30,000 words. Each book includes:• Full reading of the adapted version available for free online• Helpful notes on characters• Cultural and historical notes relevant to the plot• A glossary of the more difficult words• Free online resources for students and teachers atwww.collinselt.com/readers The plot:Hercule Poirot, the famous detective, is on holiday in the south of England when he meets a lady called Nick Buckley. Nick has had a lot of mysterious ‘accidents’. First, her car brakes failed. Then, a large rock just missed her when she was walking, and later, a painting almost fell on her while she was asleep. Finally, Poirot finds a bullet hole in her hat! Nick is in danger and needs Poirot’s help. Can he find the guilty person before Nick is harmed? About Collins ELT Readers Collins ELT Readers are divided into 7 levels:Level 1 – elementary (A2)Level 2 – pre-intermediate (A2-B1)Level 3 – intermediate (B1)Level 4 – upper- intermediate (B2)Level 5 – upper-intermediate+(B2+)Level 6 – advanced (C1)Level 7 – advanced + (C2) Each level is carefully graded to ensure that the learner both enjoys and benefits from their reading experience.

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A collection of macabre mysteries, including the superlative story The Witness for the Prosecution… Twelve unexplained phenomena with no apparent earthly explanation… A dog-shaped gunpowder mark; an omen from ‘the other side’; a haunted house; a chilling seance; a case of split personalities; a recurring nightmare; an eerie wireless message; an elderly lady’s hold over a young man; a disembodied cry of ‘murder’; a young man’s sudden amnesia; a levitation experience; a mysterious SOS. To discover the answers, delve into the supernatural storytelling of Agatha Christie.

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Agatha Christie’s ingenious murder mystery thriller, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Luke Fitzwilliam could not believe Miss Pinkerton’s wild allegation that a multiple murderer was at work in the quiet English village of Wychwood – or her speculation that the local doctor was next in line. But within hours, Miss Pinkerton had been killed in a hit-and-run car accident. Mere coincidence? Luke was inclined to think so – until he read in The Times of the unexpected demise of Dr Humbleby…

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Stabbed in the backA pieced of lead piping nearbyIt should be a simple case… Poirot is summoned to France, but arrives too late to save his client, whose body now lies face down in a shallow grave on a golf course. Why is the dead man wearing his son’s overcoat? And who was the intended recipient of the love-letter in the pocket? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse…

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Agatha Christie’s complete Tommy and Tuppence short story collection, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Tommy and Tuppence Beresford were restless for adventure, so when they were asked to take over Blunt’s International Detective Agency, they leapt at the chance. After their triumphant recovery of a pink pearl, intriguing cases kept on coming their way: a stabbing on Sunningdale golf course; cryptic messages in the personal columns of newspapers; and even a box of poisoned chocolates.

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Unpublished for 90 years, Agatha Christie’s extensive and evocative letters and photographs from her year-long round-the-world trip to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America as part of the British trade mission for the famous 1924 Empire Exhibition. In 1922 Agatha Christie set sail on a 10-month voyage around the British Empire with her husband as part of a trade mission to promote the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition. Leaving her two-year-old daughter behind with her sister, Agatha set sail at the end of January and did not return until December, but she kept up a detailed weekly correspondence with her mother, describing in detail the exotic places and people she encountered as the mission travelled through South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Canada. The extensive and previously unpublished letters are accompanied by hundreds of photos taken on her portable camera as well as some of the original letters, postcards, newspaper cuttings and memorabilia collected by Agatha on her trip. Edited and introduced by Agatha Christie’s grandson, Matthew Prichard, this unique travelogue reveals a new side to Agatha Christie, demonstrating how her appetite for exotic plots and locations for her books began with this eye-opening trip, which took place just after only her second novel had been published (the first leg of the tour to South Africa is very clearly the inspiration for the book she wrote immediately afterwards, The Man in the Brown Suit). The letters are full of tales of seasickness and sunburn, motor trips and surf boarding, and encounters with welcoming locals and overbearing Colonials. The Grand Tour is a book steeped in history, sure to fascinate anyone interested in the lost world of the 1920s. Coming from the pen of Britain’s biggest literary export and the world’s most widely translated author, it is also a fitting tribute to Agatha Christie and is sure to fascinate her legions of worldwide fans.

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Agatha Christie’s seasonal mystery thriller, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture, followed by a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed. But when Hercule Poirot, who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas, offers to assist, he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man…

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A country houseA murderA Belgian detective After the Great War, life can never be the same again. Captain Arthur Hastings is invited to Styles To recuperate from injuries sustained at the Front. It is the last place he expects to encounter murder. Fortunately he knows a former detective, a Belgian refugee, who happens to be staying nearby . . . Here, for the first time, meet Agatha Christie’s legendary creation: Hercule Poirot

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From the Queen of Crime, the first time all of her spookiest and most macabre stories have been collected in one volume. ‘From behind the curtains there still sounded the terrible high long-drawn scream – such a scream as Raoul had never heard. It died away with a horrible kind of gurgle. Then there came the thud of a body falling…’ For lovers of the supernatural and the macabre comes this collection of ghostly and chilling tales from Agatha Christie. Acknowledged the world over as the undisputed Queen of Crime, in fact she dabbled in her early writing career with mysteries of a more unearthly kind – stories featuring fantastic psychic visions, spectres looming in the shadows, encounters with deities, eerie messages from the Other Side, even a man who switches bodies with a cat… This haunting compendium gathers together all of Christie’s spookiest and most macabre short stories, some featuring her timeless detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Finally together in one volume, it shines a light on the darker side of Agatha Christie, one that she herself relished, identifying ten of them as ‘my own favourite stories written soon after The Mysterious Affair at Styles, some before that’. Contains 20 stories:The Last Séance • In a Glass Darkly • The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb • SOS • The Fourth Man • The Idol House of Astarte • The Gipsy • Philomel Cottage • The Dream • The Lamp • Wireless • The Mystery of the Blue Jar • The Blue Geranium • The Wife of the Kenite • The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael • The Call of Wings • The Red Signal • The Flock of Geryon • The Dressmaker’s Doll • The Hound of Death ‘Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction.’TANA FRENCH

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Agatha Christie’s masterpiece, and the best-selling murder mystery book of all time, celebrates its 80th birthday with this gorgeous hardback Special Edition. ‘We’re not going to leave the island. None of us will ever leave. It’s the end, you see – the end of everything…’ 1939. Europe teeters on the brink of war. Ten strangers are invited to Soldier Island, an isolated rock near the Devon coast. Cut off from the mainland, with their generous hosts Mr and Mrs U.N. Owen mysteriously absent, they are each accused of a terrible crime. When one of the party dies suddenly they realise they may be harbouring a murderer among their number. The 10 strangers include a reckless playboy, a troubled Harley Street doctor, a formidable judge, an uncouth detective, an unscrupulous mercenary, a God-fearing spinster, two restless servants, a highly decorated general and an anxious secretary. One by one they are picked off. Who will survive? And who is the killer? Copies of an ominous nursery rhyme hang in each room, the murders mimicking the awful fates of its ‘Ten Little Soldier Boys’.

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A malicious letter A tragic death A village filled with suspects Nothing ever happens in the sleepy village of Lymstock. Until letters accusing the villagers of unspeakable acts start to appear. They try to dismiss them as a cruel hoax, but then one of the recipients is found dead. The letter next to her body reads simply, ‘I can’t go on’. As fear spreads among the villagers, Jane Marple must uncover who is writing these letters – before anyone else is hurt. Never underestimate Miss Marple ‘Miss Marple is one of the most subversive, the most original, most distinctive characters in fiction. Often underestimated and overlooked, she always triumphs in the end.’Kate Mosse ‘Beyond all doubt the puzzle in The Moving Finger is fit for experts.’ The Times

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Agatha Christie’s disturbing 1960s mystery thriller, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Gipsy’s Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers it stirred a child-like fantasy. There, amongst the dark fir trees, he planned to build a house, find a girl and live happily ever after. Yet, as he left the village, a shadow of menace hung over the land. For this was the place where accidents happened. Perhaps Michael should have heeded the locals’ warnings: ‘There’s no luck for them as meddles with Gipsy’s Acre.’ Michael Rogers is a man who is about to learn the true meaning of the old saying ‘In my end is my beginning…’

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Agatha Christie’s seasonal Poirot and Marple short story collection in a new hardback special edition. First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding… then the discovery of a corpse in a chest… next, an overheard quarrel that led to murder… the strange case of the dead man who altered his eating habits… and the puzzle of the victim who dreamt his own suicide. What links these five baffling cases? The little grey cells of Monsieur Hercule Poirot! Contains the stories:• The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding• The Mystery of the Spanish Chest• Four-And-Twenty Blackbirds• The Under Dog• The Dream

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Hercule Poirot is determined to solve an old husband and wife double murder that is still an open verdict… Hercule Poirot stood on the cliff-top. Here, many years earlier, there had been a tragic accident. This was followed by the grisly discovery of two more bodies – a husband and wife – shot dead. But who had killed whom? Was it a suicide pact? A crime of passion? Or cold-blooded murder? Poirot delves back into the past and discovers that ‘old sin leave long shadows’.

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A dentist lies murdered at his Harley Street practice… The dentist was found with a blackened hole below his right temple. A pistol lay on the floor near his outflung right hand. Later, one of his patients was found dead from a lethal dose of local anaesthetic. A clear case of murder and suicide. But why would a dentist commit a crime in the middle of a busy day of appointments? A shoe buckle holds the key to the mystery. Now – in the words of the rhyme – can Poirot pick up the sticks and lay them straight?

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What secrets lie in the past? Fifteen years ago, during the Great War, Louise Leidner’s first husband was tried as a spy, sentenced to death, and then escaped, only to die in a train crash. So how is he sending her death threats from beyond the grave? Death threats upon which someone has followed through. Only the world’s greatest detective can uncover the truth.

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Car brakes failA boulder missesAccidents? Or not? On holiday in Cornwall, Poirot meets a pretty young woman with an unusual name, ‘Nick’ Buckley. Upon discovering a bullet-hole in Nick’s sun hat, the great detective decides the girl needs his protection. He also begins to unravel the mystery of a murder that hasn’t been committed. Yet.

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All 51 Hercule Poirot short stories presented in chonological order in a single volume – plus a bonus story not seen for more than 70 years. ‘My name is Hercule Poirot and I am probably the greatest detective in the world.’ The dapper, moustache-twirling little Belgian with the egg-shaped head, curious mannerisms and inordinate respect for his own ‘little grey cells’ has solved some of the most puzzling crimes of the century. Appearing in Agatha Christie’s very first novel in 1920 and her very last in 1975, Hercule Poirot became the most celebrated detective since Sherlock Holmes, appearing in 33 novels, a play, and these 51 short stories. Arranged in their original publication order, these short stories provide a feast for hardened Agatha Christie addicts as well as those who have grown to love the detective through his many film and television appearances. This new edition now also includes Poirot and the Regatta Mystery, an early version of an Agatha Christie story not published since 1936!

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Jerry y su hermana Joanna llegan a Lymstock, un pequeño pueblo en Inglaterra, para pasar una temporada. El entorno es idílico, los lugareños muy amables y la estancia se perfila relajada. Todo cambia cuando Joanna recibe un anónimo lleno de acusaciones, y lo que al principio parece una broma pronto se complica, al descubrir que prácticamente todos los vecinos han recibido mensajes similares. Tras la repentina muerte de la esposa de Richard Symmington, un famoso abogado del pueblo, se desata el terror y nadie parece ser capaz de dar una explicación. Pero Jerry Burton, convencido de que esta muerte guarda relación con mensajes sin autor, está dispuesto a encontrar al culpable, y para ello contará con la inestimable astucia de Miss Marple, que le ayudará a descubrir al responsable de estos anónimos.

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Un hotel alejado del caos de la ciudad es el sitio que ha escogido Hércules Poirot para relajarse. El ambiente es idílico hasta que aparece Arlena Stuart, la mujer de uno de los huéspedes. Joven, descaradamente bella, famosa actriz y con un talento especial para crear problemas por donde pasa, se convierte rápidamente en centro de críticas y celos por parte de las mujeres y en objeto de deseo de los hombres. Cuando Arlena aparece muerta, todos en el hotel parecen tener una buena coartada y las sospechas pronto recaen en Mr. Redfern, al que el resto de loshuéspedes consideran su amante. Hércules Poirot tendrá que echar mano de nuevo a su legendaria astucia para desentramar un crimen en el que las apariencias juegan un papel clave.

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El asesinato de Roger Ackroyd rompió todas las reglas de la novela policíaca y convirtió a Agatha Christie en un nombre reconocible.Roger Ackroyd sabe demasiado. Sabe que la mujer que ama envenenó a su brutal primer marido. También sospecha que alguien la ha estado chantajeando. Ahora, trágicamente, le llega la noticia de que se ha quitado la vida con una sobredosis de drogas.Pero el correo de la tarde trae a Roger una última y fatal información, que puede aportar alguna luz sobre la identidad del chantajista. Por desgracia, antes de que pueda terminar de leerla, es apuñalado por la espalda hasta morir.Si usted no sabe nada de este libro le damos dos consejos: no comentarlo con nadie, y leerlo a toda velocidad, ya que contiene una de las mayores sorpresas de la historia de la novela negra.

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La novela más popular del mítico detective Hércules Poirot.En un lugar aislado de la antigua Yugoslavia, en plena madrugada, una fuerte tormenta de nieve obstaculiza la línea férrea por donde circula el Orient Express. Procedente de la exótica Estambul, en él viaja el detective Hércules Poirot, que repentinamente se topa con uno de los casos más desconcertantes de su carrera: en el compartimiento vecino ha sido asesinado Samuel E. Ratchett mientras dormía, pese a que ningún indicio trasluce un móvil concreto. Poirot aprovechará la situación para indagar entre los ocupantes del vagón, que a todas luces deberían ser los únicos posibles autores del crimen.Una víctima, doce sospechosos y una mente privilegiada en busca de la verdad.

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Poirot se enfrenta a uno de los casos más desconcertantes de su carrera. Sir Charles Cartwright debería habérselo pensado dos veces antes de invitar a cenar a trece personas en su casa. La velada concluye con uno de los invitados muerto tras haber ingerido un cóctel en el que no se encuentra ningún rastro de veneno.

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