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Rating: 
Summary: A mix of fantasy/SF fiction and non-standard adventures
Review: A collection of 15 short stories, none of which feature any of Christie's recurring characters, not even the small fry like Ariadne Oliver. Although the code of ettiquette that she and her fellow writers such as Dorothy L. Sayers followed for mysteries forbade any supernatural elements, Christie could and did occasionally dabble in such stories outside the mystery format. Several of the stories here have such elements; specifically, those from _The Hound of Death and Other Stories_. Others are more conventional; several of these feature men who 'seize the golden ball of opportunity' and get something out of their adventures, if only some self-respect. They are sorted by the original publication dates in magazines or story collections."The Hound of Death", "The Gipsy", "The Lamp", "The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael", and "The Call of Wings" are all taken from an earlier collection, _The Hound of Death and Other Stories_ (see my review). Properly speaking, by the way, "The Strange Case of Sir Andrew Carmichael" is really "The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael" - it isn't often that the *title* of a story is the subject of a widespread printer's error. "The Girl in the Train", "Jane in Search of a Job", "The Manhood of Edward Robinson", "The Listerdale Mystery", "The Rajah's Emerald", "Swan Song", "A Fruitful Sunday" - taken from an earlier collection, _The Listerdale Mystery_ (see my review for details of each). "The Girl on the Train" is essentially similar to "The Golden Ball", although the settings differ. "Jane in Search of a Job" and "The Listerdale Mystery" each involve a woman - one young, one middle-aged - in desperate financial straits answering an advertisement that's too good to be true. "The Manhood of Edward Robinson" and "The Rajah's Emerald" each involve a young man with a girlfriend who's tiresome about money (one is bossy and prudent, the other likes to live higher than her boyfriend can afford) who accidentally gets hold of stolen gemstones and must think quickly to avoid wrongful arrest. "A Fruitful Sunday" starts out on a similar tack, but with a sympathetic girlfriend who *isn't* keen on giving the stones back. "Swan Song", the only story not featuring someone who's struggling, concerns a soprano with a fiendish 'temperament' and her final, definitive performance of _Tosca_. "Magnolia Blossom" (March 1926) Theodora Darrell and Vincent Easton had fallen in love under the branches of the magnolia tree at her home in London, and now, 2 weeks later, she's prepared to run away with him to his home in the Transvaal - until she sees a newspaper account of the collapse of her husband's firm. She can't leave, today of all days. Then Richard Darrell (who hasn't got a clue) asks her to persuade a man into giving her the evidence of his own criminal conduct: Vincent Easton. "The Golden Ball" (1934) Nothing to do with the fairy tale of the same name. George Dundas, like George Rowland (see above) has just been fired by his uncle, for taking an unscheduled day off in the middle of the week, and been read a lecture about 'seizing the golden ball of opportunity'. When he encounters society beauty Mary Montressor on the street outside the office, he's in a mood to take whatever adventure comes to him... "Next to a Dog" - Joyce, left widowed by a beloved husband whose only flaw was that he gambled, is too proud to sponge, but can't take just any kind of job, because she's still got someone to care for: her beloved, half-blind old terrier, Terry, a gift from her late husband. Governesses and companions can't have such dogs; what can she do to keep their heads above water?
Rating: 
Summary: For Christie fans, not mystery fans
Review: I agree with the other reviews--kind of simplistic and the plots are pretty tired. But if you LOVE Dame Agatha, then it's still worth reading just to get another glimpse of her characters and locales. I read fiction to "get away," and Agatha Christie's quaint, bygone era is my favorite place to go (with some entertaining mysteries thrown in as a bonus).
Rating:
Summary: For Christie fans, not mystery fans
Review: I agree with the other reviews--kind of simplistic and the plots are pretty tired. But if you LOVE Dame Agatha, then it's still worth reading just to get another glimpse of her characters and locales. I read fiction to "get away," and Agatha Christie's quaint, bygone era is my favorite place to go (with some entertaining mysteries thrown in as a bonus).
Rating: 
Summary: excellent
Review: Some of Agatha's most insightful, penetrating writing. The varying tales run the gamut from hilarious, playful, romantic to downright spooky in places. Plus two of them in particular are heart breaking. (I won't reveal which ones.) A really nice addition to her heavy collection, these pieces will stick with you long after you put them down. And yes: one of them even brought me to tears. Here's strong evidence Christie was more than just a one note author. The stories could very well be classified as literary gems.
Rating:
Summary: Rivision, revision, revision - 8 stories out of one
Review: The short stories in this collections all follow the same theme - penniless but good natured girl/guy is cast out into the world by death of family/meanspirited uncle/society but manages to find good fortune in 10 pages or less. There are a couple diamonds in the rough here (title story is one), but this book is more for a Christie collector, not for a mystery reader.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated, silly
Review: These stories hit the same basic theme over and over: good honest people down on their luck are miraculously rescued by a chance encounter with a wealthy benefactor. The phrase "there was nothing of the Socialist in him/her," a Christie favorite, recurs. The writing style may have passed for suave and worldly at one time, but now just seems silly. It reminds me of low-rent porn fiction. Not good at all.
Rating:
Summary: pure escapism
Review: This is early Christie and definitely a product of its time. Much more personal than her regular mystery stories, these exude '20s style and mysticism. The first half of the book seems devoted to young people and adventure, with a great deal of attention to the recurring motif of the car representing freedom and the jewels imbuing their wearers with special traits. In the second half, Christie delves deeper and deeper into the occult, going from Atlantis theories to reincarnation to "the gift" to metamorphosis to the ghostly sobbing of dead children. Even as I reject the pushiness of the occult aspects of these stories, I am thoroughly entertained by Christie's writing style. Her dialogue is simply enchanting, and even though I recognize the flaws in this collection, I find myself often drawn to re-reading it to escape into a whole different world.
Rating:
Summary: pure escapism
Review: This is early Christie and definitely a product of its time. Much more personal than her regular mystery stories, these exude '20s style and mysticism. The first half of the book seems devoted to young people and adventure, with a great deal of attention to the recurring motif of the car representing freedom and the jewels imbuing their wearers with special traits. In the second half, Christie delves deeper and deeper into the occult, going from Atlantis theories to reincarnation to "the gift" to metamorphosis to the ghostly sobbing of dead children. Even as I reject the pushiness of the occult aspects of these stories, I am thoroughly entertained by Christie's writing style. Her dialogue is simply enchanting, and even though I recognize the flaws in this collection, I find myself often drawn to re-reading it to escape into a whole different world.
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