Agatha Christie : Poirot investigates

The very first collection of superb short stories featuring Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings…
First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond… then came the ‘suicide’ that was murder… the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat… a suspicious death in a locked gun-room… a million dollar bond robbery… the curse of a pharaoh’s tomb… a jewel robbery by the sea… the abduction of a Prime Minister… the disappearance of a banker… a phone call from a dying man… and, finally, the mystery of the missing will.
What links these fascinating cases ? Only the brilliant deductive powers of Hercule Poirot !
1. The Adventure of The Western Star
2. The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
3. The Adventure of The Cheap Flat
4. The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge
5. The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
6. The Adventure of The Egyptian Tomb
7. The Jewel Robbery at The Grand Metropolitan
8. The Kidnapped Prime Minister
9. The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim
10. The Adventure of The Italian Nobleman
11. The Case of The Missing Will
 

A very enjoyable re-read, I last read it when I was a teen. Of course, since it's a collection of short stories, some are better than others, but I really had a very good time.

Hey, there were ghosts, mummies, abductions, disappearances, blackmail, espionage, thefts, murders, black magic, take your pick ! 

It was a huge pleasure reading about Poirot and Hastins, who has "no so many gifts" as his. Since the last Poirot (I'm reading them all in chronological order, so that was The murder on the links), he has become quite famous :

"I am become the mode, the dernier cri ! One says to another : "Comment ? You have lost your gold pencil-case ? You must go to the little Belgian. He is too marvellous ! Everyone goes ! Courez !" And they arrive ! In flocks, mon ami ! With problems of the most foolish !" A bell rang below. " What did I tell you ?"

And Poirot solves everything, much to Hastings dismay and impatience :

"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. You're so confoundedly conceited !"

"Do not enrage yourself, Hastings. In verity, I observe that there are times when you almost detest me ! Alas, I suffer the penalties of greatness !"

What I had forgotten, but is also funny, are Poirot's allusions to Sherlock Holmes's methods :

[The good detective] must be full of energy. He must rush to and fro. He should prostrate himself on the dusty road and seek the marks of tyres through a little glass. He must gather up the cigarette-end, the fallen match ?".

Because obviously, Poirot only confides in his little grey cells, and rightly so, and would never dream of writing a treaty on cigarettes !