I was at the library when I came across The Big Four and thought “hold on, an Hercule Poirot mystery that I’ve never read?”. I’m used to not having read Miss Marple, given that I focused on the Poirot mysteries when I was younger, so it was a shock to see a Poirot book that I’ve never seen (especially from the library, where I get 90% of my Christies).

The fifth book in the Poirot series, The Big Four has the slightly fantastical premise of Hercule Poirot and Hastings facing off against four criminal masterminds – a Chinese “brain”, a French scientist, a wealthy American, and a murderous fourth. The stakes grow higher and higher, as the combined resources of the four criminals threaten the life of everyone around Poirot.

I saw that this was one of the early Poirot novels and it definitely feels like an early work. Apparently it started as a series of stories, which explains why the novel is essentially a collection of short stories strung together with an overarching plot. The plot does get exciting, especially towards the end, but it does feel a bit more disjointed than usual and Christie even strains one of the rules of detective fiction by invoking the concept of a twin.

As someone who’s ethnic Chinese, I suppose I should talk about the portrayal of the Chinese here. When I heard one of the four criminals was a Chinese, I mentally prepared myself for some unflattering descriptions but… honestly I didn’t think there was much wrong. There is some dialogue that sounds very stereotypical but I also know a lot of people who speak English as a second language and Chinese as a first and that doesn’t sound too far off. Would the way they speak be considered racist in a different context? Maybe, but since we’re talking about adult immigrants who are doing blue-collared work, I wouldn’t expect them to speak like a typical Englishman. And honestly, the smartest person in the book is Chinese (or a Belge, depending on you’re Poirot) which I found was interesting; I really wish we knew more about this Chinese mastermind.

Overall, The Big Four is a choppy early novel from Agatha Christie. If you’re new to Christie’s mysteries, I wouldn’t suggest this because the quality is not as good as her finest works but if you’ve more or less made your way through her oeuvre and want something else to read, this is something you could pick up.