The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories [9 stories]
One story of the supernatural and one case for elderly Miss Jane Marple, two for problem-solver Mr Parker Pyne, and five for the magnificently-mustached Hercule Poirot. 1: "The Regatta Mystery"--When the American Mr Leathern's gauche daughter Eve bets she can magic away her host Mr Pointz's precious diamond, the plasticine supposed to be holding the gem in place of a paste copy is empty; guest Evan Llewellyn, suspected for having tossed a coin out to a newspaper seller (especially by the lovely divorcee Mrs Rustington), consults Parker Pyne. 2: "The Mystery of the Bagdad [sic] Chest"--Hastings narrates. Poirot is consulted by the lovely widow Marguerita Clayton, whose jealous husband was found stabbed inside a trunk at the home of their close friend Major Rich, who hosted a dancing and poker party. 3: "How Does Your Garden Grow?"--In Rosebank, Miss Barrowby (73) dies from strychnine in her usual cachet (rice paper of powder taken quickly with water, one of which is found under the mattress of her Russian nurse-companion Katrina) before Poirot arrives in answer to a letter from Miss Barrowby asking--without explaining anything--for confidentiality. He finds she has left most of her money to Katrina, and very little to her niece and her husband, the Delfontaines. 4: "Problem at Pollensa Bay"--On holiday in Majorca, Mrs Chester asks Mr PP to free her son Basil from his engagement to modern Betty, then--worse!--the exotic vamp Dolores. 5: "Yellow Iris"--Invited by mystery woman's voice to a restaurant dinner for the same party that had gathered four years earlier when Iris Russell took poison, Poirot sees her soon-to-inherit sister Pauline expire in same way. 6: "Miss Marple Tells a Story"--Miss Marple's solicitor, Mr Petherick, was convinced Mr Rhodes was innocent of stabbing his wife (who pretended to get threatening letters) in an hotel, and he brings the case to Miss M. 7: "The Dream"--In his secretary Cornworthy's room, the eccentric, myopic recluse Benedict Farley consults Poirot about recurring gun/suicide nightmare but the detective is puzzled by Farley's misreading of papers and his refusing to show Poirot the office with the gun, and with his overall lack of a powerful personality. 8: "In a Glass Darkly"--The narrator falls for his best friend Neil's sister Sylvia, but when he has a vision in a mirror of a man with a scar down left cheek strangling her he warns her off her fiance Crawley, who is scarred on his left cheek. After a gunshot below his right ear he marries her, but later jealously starts to strangle her in the room of his vision. 9: "Problem at Sea"--On a sea cruise, submissive Colonel Clapperton entertains the passengers with card tricks. Later he goes ashore without his nagging wife Adeline, who speaks to him through a locked door and later is found stabbed. Poirot hears he was music hall player, and finds a prescription for medicine for a weak heart.