Love and hate, culminating is sweet revenge and, because this is Agatha Christie after all, murder.

The Hound of Death demonstrates Christie's ability to offer a vivid snapshot of a moment such that it feels that you a looking in on the lives of others.

There is nothing more comforting than a Miss Marple mystery

It is hard to speak of The Mysterious Mr Quin without employing the term ‘atmosphere’, and, as Mr Quin himself proclaims, ‘Atmosphere is always valuable’.

Just as this was the golden age of detective fiction, it was likewise the golden era of ‘classic sleuthing’, characterised by ‘handwritten notes, disguised identities, and long vigils from parked motorcars outside suspicious properties’.

Here we again enjoy the almost absurd success of various elaborate disguises: an imposter posing as the Prime Minister; a woman doubling as her own maid; a man living a double life as businessman and petty thief, his own wife seemingly unaware of the false beard he is sporting.