The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding was apparently inspired by Christie’s own memories of spending Christmas at Abney Hall, her sister’s home in Cheshire (presumably without the stolen jewels and murders).

And I loved the Lacey children who decide to present Poirot with a murder as a special Christmas treat! Although I felt that the title gave away part of the mystery – it’s obvious that the pudding is going to have some significance – there are still some twists before the full solution becomes clear.

However, unknown to the family, he has another motive for attending their Christmas celebrations – he is hoping to track down a precious ruby stolen from a foreign prince. In the title story, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, Poirot joins the Lacey family at their country house, supposedly to experience a ‘typical English Christmas’. This is a collection of six short stories and although only the first one contains precious jewels and has a festive theme, I thoroughly enjoyed reading all six of them!Īgatha Christie herself selected the stories for this collection and the first five in the book are Poirot mysteries.

I read that one a few years ago, so decided to try The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding instead. I would think it might be worthwhile to just see if there’s a kindle/ebook version of just the first story though if you’re looking to stay strictly Christmas ‘themed.The December prompt for Read Christie 2022 is ‘a story containing precious jewels’ and the book chosen for the group read is Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. The pacing is pretty quick it has to be considering this was a collection of short stories. I especially love watching people underestimate him, it’s always so much fun to then see their reactions when they realize Poirot knew all along. Either way I always enjoy the mystery of it all and watching Poirot work the cases. A couple also fell flat though so no five cups this time.Ī pleasant twist, not all were murder cases this time. But I did enjoy the first story and another coupe I definitely enjoyed. This one is a collection of short stories and I’ll say that the Christmas Pudding one is actually the first one, the rest aren’t Xmas related which was a bit of a disappointment. I find her books so much fun and easy to read. I’m a huge Christie fan and I think that probably reflects in the rating of the book. So…the mystery of it all is not a surprise for me but I still enjoy it or I wouldn’t keep rereading lol just like the other Christie Christmas. This is one of those books I reread every year/other year or so. 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.

The adventure of the christmas pudding