The Jewel Robbery At The Grand Metropolitan by Agatha Christie, 1923
The magic trick:
Wasting little time establishing setting or anything outside the mystery at hand
These Poirot stories pack a lot of plot into a small page-count, so it makes sense that they get things started quickly.
On page one here, Hastings suggests a seaside vacation for he and Poirot. They go. It’s nice. But then…
Well, it is a murder mystery after all, and the action strikes fast.
None of this will strike the reader as particularly original or surprising as story setups go. But that doesn’t make it any less effective as a comfortable, quick way into the mystery.
And that’s quite a trick on Christie’s part.
The selection:
“Poirot,” I said, “a change of air would do you good.”
“You think so, mon ami?”
“I am sure of it.”
“Eh—eh?” said my friend, smiling. “It is all arranged, then?”
“You will come?”
“Where do you propose to take me?”
“Brighton. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine in the City put me on to a very good thing, and—well, I have money to burn, as the saying goes. I think a weekend at the Grand Metropolitan would do us all the good in the world.”
“Thank you, I accept most gratefully. You have the good heart to think of an old man. And the good heart, it is in the end worth all the little grey cells. Yes, yes, I who speak to you am in danger of forgetting that sometimes.”
I did not quite relish the implication. I fancy that Poirot is sometimes a little inclined to underestimate my mental capacities. But his pleasure was so evident that I put my slight annoyance aside.
“Then, that’s all right,” I said hastily.
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