One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

First published 1940 and by Fontana Books in 1959. This is the second impression, printed June 1961.

Hercule Poirot was just like all od us when it comes to a visit to the dentist. He hated it.
When he left Mr. Morley's surgery the world seemed good. He would not be seeing Morley again for six months,
That afternoon he saw him again - Dead.
In spite of the removal of his two chief suspects Poirot continues to delve below the surface of appearances and uncovers a cunning pploy strewn with traps and false scents.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Why Didn't They Ask Evans was first published in 1934. It was first issued in Fontana Books in 1956, and further impressions printed in 1957 and 1958, This copy is the fourth impression, published in 1959.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans? This question is the last utterance of the mysterious person who is found dying amid the dunes on a famous golf links. With that clue to work upon, the exciting search for the perpetrator of the crime begins, and the significance of that curious question proves an ingenious brain teaser.

The Hollow

The Hollow was first published in 1946 and first issued in Fontana Books in 1955. Further impressions were printed in 1956, 1957 amd 1958. This copy is the fifth impression in Fontana Books, published in 1961.

'The woman holding the revolver stirred for the first time. She looked around at them all. When she spoke, her voice held what seemed to be pure bewilderment. "John's dead," she said. "John's dead".'

The Hollow was first performed as a play in 1951 at the Fortune Theatre.

Sparkling Cyanide

First published in 1945 and this copy first issued by Fontana Books in 1960.

Six people sit round a table laid for seven. Six nervous people waiting in fear for something to happen. Each one vividly remembered the scene at that same table exactly one year previously - the night the seventh had sprawled dead on the table...

Taken at the Flood

First published 1948. This is the first issue by Fontana, published 1961.

Gordon Cloade was killed in an air-raid. Having made no will his vast fortune passed to his wife Rosaleen.
But five other people had been promised a share in that fortune - five people who desperately needed the money. Now it could only become theirs if Rosaleen died,
Five people had a motive for murdering Rosaleen. Death came, but it was not Rosaleen who died.

Ten Little Niggers

First published in 1939, and this copy is the first issue in Fontana books, dated 1963.

10 people are invited to a fabulous mansion on Nigger Island off the coast of Devon. Though they all have something in their past which they wish to hide, they arrive hopefully and cheerfully on a glorious summer evening...But soon a series of extraordinary events take place...the island is suddenly bathed in a most sinister light...panic grips the visitors one by one.

Lord Edgware Dies

First published in 1933, and first issued in Fontana Books in 1954. It was also issued in 1956 and 1958, and this copy is the fourth impression published June 1960.

More than one person would liked to have seen Lord Edgware out of the way - including his wife whom he had repeatedly refused to divorce. But was it really she who committed the murder? Poirot probes industriously into the psychology of his suspects and effects a startling denouement.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead

First published in 1952, and first issued by Fontana Books in 1955. It was issued again in 1956, 1957 and 1958. This copy is the fifth impression, issued in 1959.

Mrs. McGinty was dead. She was hit on the back of the head with some sharp, heavy implement and her pitifully small savings were taken. Her lodger was hard up and had lost his job; his coat sleeve had blood on it. In die course he was arrested and tried, found guilty and condemned to death. Yet Superintendant Spence of the Kilchester Police, who had been instrumental in bringing about James Bentley's conviction, did not believe the man was guilty - and for no tangible reason other than he did not think Bently to be the type. Rather shamefacedly he took his problem to his old friend Hercule Poirot.

Murder is Easy

First published in 1959, and this is the first issue by Fontana Books from 1960.

Murder is easy...
...so long as no one suspects you and the person in question is the last person one would suspect.
Surely you won't let Agatha Christie diddle you again - it would be again wouldn't it?

Peril at End House

Firsy published in 1932 by Collins for the Crime Club. This copy is the first issue by Fontana Books, from 1961.

An unknown agent was methodically planning her death
the heavy picture that fell across her bed
the rock that landed at her feet
the car brakes that failed
Now a bullet that missed her head by inches

Sad Cypress

First published in 1933 and by Fontana Books in 1959. This copy is the second impression dated July 1961.

Eleanor flushed: " Will you ask me - again - did I kill Mary Gerard?"
Poirot rose to his feet. He said quickly: " I shall ask you - nothing. There are some things I do not want to know..."
But even Hercule Porot sometimes deceived himself. He did want to know - badly.

Appointment with Death

Appointment with Death was first published by Collins Crime Club in 1938. This copy was the first issue by Fontana Books, published in 1960.

"You do see don't you, that she's got to be killed?"

Hercule Poirot thought to himself 'I should know that voice again...

He was to have good reason to remember it. Within days, a murder had taken place.

4.50 From Paddington

4.50 from Paddington was first published by Collins for the Crime Club in 1957. This copy was the first issue by Fontana Books in 1960.
It was published in America as 'What Mrs. Gillicuddy Saw!'

A Pocket Full of Rye

A Pocket Full of Rye was first published in 1953. Fontana fisrt issued it in 1958, and this copy is the third impression, published December 1959.

"An unusual sound pentrated through the almost sound-proof door if Mr. Fortescue's office. Muffled, it was yet fully recognisable, a strangled agonised cry...."
Even as Miss Grosvenor, Mr. Fortescue's secretary, came up to him, his body was convulsed in a painful spasmodic movement.
Words came out in jerky gasps.
"Tea - what the hell - you put in the tea - get help quick get a doctor - "

Cat Among the Pigeons

Cat Among the Pigeons was first published in 1959. This copy was the first issue by Fontana Books in 1962.

How did England's most exclusive girl's school harbour this criminal?
Was it pupil or teacher?

Death in the Clouds

Death in the Clouds was first published in 1935. Fontana first published it in 1957 (although my copy states 1657!). This copy was the third fontana issue, published in November 1959.

The Paris plane rolled to a stop. The passengers stood in the aisle, waiting for the door to be opened. From the windows they could see their friends and relatives waiting for them. But they were in for a ride surprise, for the door was opened, not to admit a smiling stewardness who would conduct them to the Customs department, but a grim faces inspector, accompanied by a uniformed policeman.
The bewildered passengers found themselves being led to a small private room, and unpleasant interrogation - for high over the channel a murder, quick and mysterious, had been committed.

Evil Under the Sun

Evil Under the Sun was first published in 1941, and first issued by Fontana Books in 1957. This copy is the third impression, published in August 1960.

Five people watched Arlena Marshall go down to the beach - five people and Hercule Poirot.

She was tall and slender. Her hair was a flaming auburn, curling richly and intimately against her neck. She wore a simple backless white bathing dress and every inch of her exposed body was tanned a beautiful even bronze.

She was superb, triumphantly vital - but two days later she was murdered!

Five Little Pigs

Five Little Pigs was first published in 1943. It was first issued by Fontana Books in 1959. This copy was the third impression, published in August 1962.

After sixteen years everyone still believed Caroline Crale guilty of killing her husband. All except her daughter Carla Lemarchant. At her request Hercule Poirot seeks to discover the truth from the five witnesses at the trials. Five different pictures of Caroline Crale emerge, each one a vastly different woman. Which was the true Caroline Crale?

(this copy wrote Crale as Crane on the back cover, but I corrected it for writing on here!)

Hercule Poirot's Christmas

Hercule Poirot's Christmas was first published in 1938 by Collins Crime Club. The first issue by Fontana was in 1957 and this copy was the third impression, published in July 1960.

"Yet who would have thought the old man
to have to much blood in him?"

Hickory Dickory Dock

Hickory Dickory Dock was first published by Collins Crime Club in 1955. This copy is the first impression by Fontana, published in 1958.

Curious things are happening in a student's hostel.
Various ill-assorted objects disappear - a powder compact, bath salts, an electric light bulb. A rucksack is slashed, a silk scarf is wantonly cut up.
Hercule Poirot visits the hostel. He observes the occupants closely - Colin McNabb, the flaming, redheaded medical student; dark, clever Valerie Hobhouse who works in a beauty parlous, and all the others. At first their relationships and characters, though intricate seem innocent, but Poirot is uneasy. Gradually his worst fears are confirmed, a murder is commited and one after another all sorts of ugly details come to light.