There was an abundance of Agatha Christie books at the library and since the choice was overwhelming, I decided to get a collection of short stories (rather than a collection of novels). Plus, I love tea so the word “tea set” appealed immensely to me.

The Harlequin Tea Set is a collection of nine short stories by Agatha Christie. A few deal with crime but all of them deal with emotions. And to be honest, they pack a punch. I don’t know if it’s my current frame or mind or if Christie just took all the emotion she normally spreads out across a novel and packed them into each story but these were intense.

In the collection, we have:

• The Edge: Exploring the genesis of crime and how jealousy can manifest itself in the most self-righteous of ways
• The House of Dreams: A tragic love triangle involving madness (and I don’t even like this trope)
• Within a Wall: Another love triangle, this one looks at the connection between art and love. An artist has a wife that he adores and a friend that infuriates him – but has he identified the right emotion?
• The Mystery of the Spanish Chest: A Hercule Poirot mystery, this one has Poirot investigating the murder of a man found dead in a chest. Was it the wife’s potential lover or is there another solution?
• The Harlequin Tea Set: The most dream-like but also vivid of the stories, Mr Satterthwaite goes to tea with an old friend. Is there a murder about to happen and what does the tea set have to do with all of it.

Plus another four stories, which were enjoyable but didn’t rise to the levels of these five.

While I normally find short story collections to be uneven, I really enjoyed all the stories in The Harlequin Tea Set. One unexpected effect of this collection is that it made me want to read more stories involving Mr Satterthwaite and Mr Quin! I guess I know what I’ll be keeping an eye out for next time I can go to the library.