Category: The Classics Club

The Complete Parker Pyne: Private Eye by Agatha Christie

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

The Complete Parker Pyne Private Eye by Agatha Christie is a collection of all 14 Parker Pyne short stories. It’s also the book that was my Classics Club spin read to be read by 29th March. I did finish reading it before that date but I’ve only just got round to writing about it today! I’ve been very slow about writing reviews this year as ‘real life’ has had to take precedence over writing – but not over reading!

Agatha Christie wrote in her Foreword to this book that age enjoyed writing these stories. The idea for them came when she was having lunch at a Corner House – Lyons Corner Houses were British tea shops and restaurants operating from 1909 to 1977 – when she overheard a conversation on statistics at a table behind her. She turned her head and saw ‘a bald head, glasses and a beaming smile’. And so Mr Parker Pyne came into her mind and she used him for a new series of short stories that she was considering writing.

She wrote many short stories and although I prefer her full length books I also enjoy her short stories. Some of these in this collection are very short and the whole book can be read quickly. I think they were all published in various magazines before they were collected in this book. And I see that some of them are available as individual stories in Kindle e-books.

They all follow the same theme – Mr Parker Pyne places an advert in The Times every morning:

A former civil servant he had set himself up as a private investigator. He describes himself as ‘a heart specialist’. He’s rather fat and unconventional, kind-hearted yet businesslike. He doesn’t work alone but employs his secretary, a Miss Lemon (was she also Hercule Poirot’s secretary, Miss Felicity Lemon in later books?), novelist Mrs Ariadne Oliver, who appeared in The Case of The Discontented Soldier, a handsome lounge lizard, Claude Luttrell and disguise artist Madeleine de Sara.

Mrs Ariadne Oliver is a writer of detective fiction who also assists Poirot. I think Agatha Christie enjoyed writing about her, using her to express her own thoughts about writing, about Poirot and playwrights adapting her plays. In this story she is described as the author of forty-six successful works of fiction, all best sellers both in England and America and translated into French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Finnish, Japanese and Abyssinian.

Some of the stories are about people who responded to the adverts bur some are about people he met whilst travelling in places abroad, told in The Gate of Baghdad, The House at Shiraz (then in Persia, now Iran) The Pearl of Price (Petra in Jordan), Death on the Nile – not the same as the novel, The Oracle at Delphi (Greece) and Problem at Pollensa Bay (in Majorca). In these stories he is on holiday and reluctant to accept cases, but acts as an adviser or an investigator. I think these stories are the most interesting ones in this collection because she draws on her own experience of life in the Middle East, which she wrote under her married name Agatha Christie Mallowan, in Come Tell Me How I Live: an Archaeological Memoir, in answer to her friends’ questions about what life was like when she accompanied Max on his excavations in Syria and Iraq in the 1930s.

Overall, I think some of these stories are rather slight, but they are entertaining and I do like Parker Pyne, himself.

Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

which for me is The Complete Parker Pyne Private Eye by Agatha Christie, a collection of all 14 Parker Pyne short stories. The challenge is to read and review it by 29th March, 2026.

A brand new omnibus that features the complete adventures of Agatha Christie’s loveable ‘heart specialist’ Mr Parker Pyne. ‘Are you happy? If not, consult Mr Parker Pyne, 17 Richmond Street. ‘ The above advert has appeared on countless occasions in the the personal column of The Times, courtesy of the hero of Agatha Christie’s numerous, romantically-inclined mysteries. Plump and bald, Christopher Pyne (although he is always referred to as J Parker Pyne) is a retired civil servant. Having worked as a government employee for 35 years, during which time he tirelessly compiled statistics, Pyne decides to set himself up as a ‘heart specialist’. Renting a London office and hiring the ferociously efficient Miss Felicity Lemon (who would go on to work for Mr Hercule Poirot!), Pyne sets about solving marital and romantic problems with the help of some extraordinary role-playing…

26 Questions in 2026 from The Classics Club

Published on by Margaret9 Comments

26 Questions in 2026 from The Classics Club 

When did you join The Classics Club? How many titles have you read for the club so far? Share a link to your latest classics club list. I joined the Classics Club in April 2013. I didn’t finish reading and reviewing the books until 2022! Here is my completed list. I am now on my second list , aiming to finish it in January 2027 and have read 30 of the books, making a total of 80 books. The books on both lists are all either physical books on my bookshelves or e-books on my Kindle. 

What classic are you planning to read next? Why? Is there a book first published in 1926 that you plan to read this year? It will probably be The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch. It’s been years since I read any of her books and I have a paperback copy lined up to start soon. I haven’t got a book first published in 1926 in mind to read this year.

Best book you’ve read so far with the club? Why? This is a hard question, too hard, there are so many!

Classic author who has the most works on your club list? Or, classic author you’ve read the most works by? Charles Dickens – 10 books

If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? Obviously this should be an author you haven’t yet read, since you can’t do this experiment on an author you’re already familiar with. 🙂 Or, which author’s work you are familiar with might it have been fun to approach this way? Evelyn Waugh. I read Officers and Gentlemen years ago, the second book in his Sword of Honour trilogy, so I’d like to read all three, but I’m not sure I want to read all his books in the order they were published.

First classic you ever read? I was about 12 when I first read Pride and Prejudice.

Favorite children’s classic? I can’t decide between What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge and Heidi by Johanna Spyri.

Which classic is your most memorable classic to date? Why? These are such hard questions. I think it could be The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck because it totally surprised me by how much I loved it. Cannery Row was the first of Steinbeck’s novels that I read and I thought then that Steinbeck’s style is perfect for me. With both books I felt that I was there in the thick of everything he described

Least favorite classic? Why? Washington Square by Henry James because it just didn’t catch my imagination and I found it tedious.

Favourite movie or TV adaption of a classic? I usually prefer a book to a movie or TV adaptation. But I did enjoy the 2005 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House with Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock and Charles Dance as lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn, which prompted me to read the book. I loved the book.

Favorite biography about a classic author you’ve read, or the biography on a classic author you most want to read, if any? I’ve read several biographies of classic authors so this is yet again a difficult question, but I’ve chosen Peter Ackroyd’s biography of William Shakespeare. I’m familiar with several plays, which helped enormously with reading Ackoyd’s biography as he has structured it mainly around the plays.  But above all, he has placed Shakespeare within his own time and place, whether it is Stratford or London or travelling around the countryside with the touring companies of players. Shakespeare spans the reigns of two monarchs, which saw great changes and Ackroyd conjures up vividly the social, religious and cultural scene. It’s a very readable book, full of detail.

Favourite classic author in translation? Do you have a favorite classics translator? What do you look for in a classic translations? I think my favourite classics author I’ve read in translation is Leo Tolstoy. I loved War and Peace so much that I forgot that I don’t like reading about battles and war.

Do you have a favorite classic poet/poem, playwright/play? Why do you love it? I don’t read a lot of poetry but I do like Robert Frost’s poems. When we used to live near enough to see plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford we went to several live performances including Twelfth Night, King Lear and The Tempest. I love to see plays rather than just reading them.

Which classic character most reminds you of yourself? Which classic character do you most wish you could be like? I’ve never really thought about this before and off the top of my head I can’t think of any characters who remind me of myself.

What is the oldest classic you have read or plan to read? Why? The oldest book I own is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, 161–180 CE. I’ve only read some of it.

If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you be happiest to see continued? I can’t think of one.

Favorite edition (or series) of a classic you own, or wished you owned, if any? I still have my mother’s copy of Pride and Prejudice which I treasure.

Do you reread classics? Why, or why not? Yes, Jane Austen’s books, Jane Eyre, The Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and Rebecca are some that come to mind.

Has there been a classic title you simply could not finish? The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

Has there been a classic title you expected to dislike and ended up loving? There aren’t any I expected to dislike, but there are some that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them – War and Peace, as said before, as I usually dislike reading about battles, but I loved it.

List five fellow Classic Clubbers whose blogs you frequent. What makes you love their blogs? There are more I could list – they all write such interesting and in-depth reviews.

  • Anne at My Head is Full of Books
  • FictionFan at FictionFan’s Book Reviews
  • Brona at Brona’s Books
  • Helen at She Reads Novels
  • Karen at BookerTalk

If you’ve ever participated in a readalong on a classic, tell us about the experience? If you’ve participated in more than one, what’s the very best experience? the best title you’ve completed? a fond memory? a good friend made? In 2022 when FictionFan mentioned she was intending to read Notre-Dame de Paris and hold a Review-Along on her blog that nudged me into reading it. I am glad I read it even if I couldn’t give it more than 3 stars – I  liked it, a good, enjoyable book. I also contributed to the Classics Club Jane Austen event last year. I really enjoyed reading the other members’ experiences in reading her books.

If you could appeal for a readalong with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why? Maybe Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens, or one of his others I’ve still not read.

What are your favourite bits about being a part of The Classics Club? The Spins – I look forward to them immensely.

What would like to see more of (or less of) on The Classics Club? Not sure about this.

Question you wish was on this questionnaire? (Ask and answer it!) How do you define a classic? What is the definition of a ‘modern’ classic? What is a ‘vintage ‘ classic? These all seem to me to be rather loose, vague terms, with no fixed timelines and criteria. Just who decides whether a book is/will be a classic? I don’t know the answers.

The Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

which for me is

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault

The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 21 December 2025.

Synopsis from Amazon

In the first novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic leader whose drive and ambition created a legend

Alexander’s beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother and father, Olympias and King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. Hephaistion’s love taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fuelled his aspirations. At age twelve, he killed his first man in battle; at sixteen, he became regent; at eighteen, commander of Macedon’s cavalry; and by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.

I read Mary Renault’s Theseus books, The Bull Must Die and The King from the Sea years ago and loved them, so I’m looking forward to reading Fire from Heaven and hoping I’ll love it too.

Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?

The Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret11 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 24 August 2025.

Synopsis from Amazon

Gripping, terrifying, an unputdownable read. Discover Graham Greene’s most iconic novel.

A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of Brighton. Seventeen-year-old Pinkie, malign and ruthless, has killed a man. Believing he can escape retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing Ida Arnold. Greene’s gripping thriller exposes a world of loneliness and fear, of life lived on the ‘dangerous edge of things.’

In this gripping, terrifying, and unputdownable read, discover Greene’s iconic tale of the razor-wielding Pinkie.

This has been on my Spin List for some while now, so it’s about time I read it.

“Why does this bleak, seething and anarchic novel still resonate? Its energy and power is that of the rebellious adolescent, foreshadowing the rise of the cult of youth in the latter part of the 20th century.”—The Guardian

Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?

The Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 11 April 2025.

Synopsis from Goodreads

As the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens’s most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums.


I first read Bleak House after watching the 2005 Andrew Davies’ adaptation of the novel on BBC1 with Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock and Charles Dance as lawyer, Mr Tulkinghorn, with many more well known actors in the cast. I’ve been meaning to re-read it sometime and so I am pleased to be reading it again.

Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?