Agatha Christie: The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Collins 1960

Agatha Christie® Poirot® Marple® The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding™

Copyright © 1960 Agatha Christie Limited. All rights reserved.

www.agathachristie.com

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2016

Title lettering by Ghost Design

Cover photographs © Ray Spence/Arcangel Images (hat), Shutterstock.com(wallpaper)

Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008164980

Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780007422111

Version: 2017-04-12

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Copyright Table of Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Foreword The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding The Mystery of the Spanish Chest The Under Dog Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds The Dream Greenshaw’s Folly Also by Agatha Christie About the Publisher Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by Collins 1960 Agatha Christie® Poirot® Marple® The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding™ Copyright © 1960 Agatha Christie Limited. All rights reserved. www.agathachristie.com Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2016 Title lettering by Ghost Design Cover photographs © Ray Spence/Arcangel Images (hat), Shutterstock.com (wallpaper) Agatha Christie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008164980 Ebook Edition © September 2016 ISBN: 9780007422111 Version: 2017-04-12

Foreword FOREWORD This book of Christmas fare may be described as ‘The Chef’s Selection’. I am the Chef! There are two main courses: ‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ and ‘The Mystery of the Spanish Chest’; a selection of Entrées: ‘Greenshaw’s Folly’, ‘The Dream’ and ‘The Under Dog’, and a Sorbet: ‘Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds’. ‘The Mystery of the Spanish Chest’ may be described as a Hercule Poirot Special. It is a case in which he considers he was at his best! Miss Marple, in her turn, has always been pleased with her perspicuity in ‘Greenshaw’s Folly’. ‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ is an indulgence of my own, since it recalls to me, very pleasurably, the Christmases of my youth. After my father’s death, my mother and I always spent Christmas with my brother-in-law’s family in the north of England—and what superb Christmases they were for a child to remember! Abney Hall had everything! The garden boasted a waterfall, a stream, and a tunnel under the drive! The Christmas fare was of gargantuan proportions. I was a skinny child, appearing delicate, but actually of robust health and perpetually hungry! The boys of the family and I used to vie with each other as to who could eat most on Christmas Day. Oyster Soup and Turbot went down without undue zest, but then came Roast Turkey, Boiled Turkey and an enormous Sirloin of Beef. The boys and I had two helpings of all three! We then had Plum Pudding, Mince-pies, Trifle and every kind of dessert. During the afternoon we ate chocolates solidly. We neither felt, nor were, sick! How lovely to be eleven years old and greedy! What a day of delight from ‘Stockings’ in bed in the morning, Church and all the Christmas hymns, Christmas dinner, Presents, and the final Lighting of the Christmas Tree! And how deep my gratitude to the kind and hospitable hostess who must have worked so hard to make Christmas Day a wonderful memory to me still in my old age. So let me dedicate this book to the memory of Abney Hall—its kindness and its hospitality. And a happy Christmas to all who read this book.

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

The Mystery of the Spanish Chest

The Under Dog

Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds

The Dream

Greenshaw’s Folly

Also by Agatha Christie

About the Publisher

This book of Christmas fare may be described as ‘The Chef’s Selection’. I am the Chef!

There are two main courses: ‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ and ‘The Mystery of the Spanish Chest’; a selection of Entrées: ‘Greenshaw’s Folly’, ‘The Dream’ and ‘The Under Dog’, and a Sorbet: ‘Four-and-Twenty Blackbirds’.

‘The Mystery of the Spanish Chest’ may be described as a Hercule Poirot Special. It is a case in which he considers he was at his best! Miss Marple, in her turn, has always been pleased with her perspicuity in ‘Greenshaw’s Folly’.

‘The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding’ is an indulgence of my own, since it recalls to me, very pleasurably, the Christmases of my youth. After my father’s death, my mother and I always spent Christmas with my brother-in-law’s family in the north of England—and what superb Christmases they were for a child to remember! Abney Hall had everything! The garden boasted a waterfall, a stream, and a tunnel under the drive! The Christmas fare was of gargantuan proportions. I was a skinny child, appearing delicate, but actually of robust health and perpetually hungry! The boys of the family and I used to vie with each other as to who could eat most on Christmas Day. Oyster Soup and Turbot went down without undue zest, but then came Roast Turkey, Boiled Turkey and an enormous Sirloin of Beef. The boys and I had two helpings of all three! We then had Plum Pudding, Mince-pies, Trifle and every kind of dessert. During the afternoon we ate chocolates solidly. We neither felt, nor were, sick! How lovely to be eleven years old and greedy!