Parker Pyne Investigates is a collection of short stories featuring the offbeat problem solver Parker Pyne.

 Blurb: The forlorn, the anxious and the puzzled have all beaten a path to Parker Pyne’s office where, armed with just an intuitive knowledge of human nature and a small retinue of talented employees, he turns their fantasies into reality – for a modest fee, payable in advance.

Here’s my take on the book, story by story.

The Case of the Middle-aged Wife: An entertaining read which offers a delightful and lateral view of romance and marriage.

The Case of the Discontented Soldier: Very imaginative with a twist at the end.

The Case of the Distressed Lady: Quite a good twist but not entirely unexpected.

The Case of the Discontented Husband: Left me laughing.

The Case of the City Clerk: Again a lateral view of life. 

The Case of the Rich Woman: More than a twist, this offers you a lens to look at life and happiness in a broader perspective.

Have You Got Everything You Want?: With this story, the direction of the book veers from human puzzles to the more gruesome world of crime. You remain curious till the end.

The Gate of Baghdad: The descriptions are vivid and the twist is believable.  

The House at Shiraz: Good twist but saw it coming.

The Pearl of Price: Entertaining read.

Death on the Nile: I found this the weakest of stories. The motive for the murder was not very satisfactory.

The Oracle at Delphi: Good twist at the end. Enjoyed reading.

All in all, a superb repertoire of mysteries which will keep you hooked to reading. The tone of the book changes midway and I felt it would have been better to have kept the funny stories separate from the crime ones, but still the book doesn’t disappoint at all. Another Christie entertainer.