Poirot Mysteries: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook

Oh, there you are Hastings. Where were you last time? You missed some wild stuff!

The Adventure of the Clapham Cook is your standard Poirot affair. Just more entertaining. It’s one of his better shorts by quite a bit.

The story… about Poirot looking for a cook.

While on the hunt for his next country-shaking case, Poirot is presented a rather mundane inquiry: to find a lady’s missing cook. After his pride is brought into question, our favorite detective happily accepts the challenge. But there may be more to this seemingly innocent case than meets the eye.

In terms of the actual mystery, this one isn’t all that impressive. The characters aren’t interesting, there’s no great big reveal, and no dramatic conclusion. It’s far from an interesting head-scratcher.

So, why do I like it? Simple. This is one of the few stories where Poirot actually gets mad. Not annoyed, not indignant. Actually, properly angry.

Which is really funny, given how he normally is.

Plus, this one is really simple and down to earth. No horrific murders, no dramatic thefts. Just a detective looking for a missing person. It’s simple and fun.

Up until the end, wherein it’s revealed that there was, in fact, a murder. Who was the victim? No one we knew or cared about. I guess Christie was contractually obligated to include a dead body.

This one was enjoyable. It may not have been a deep or compelling mystery, but it’s fun to see a different side of our favorite Belgian detective. Not to mention it’s a very short read. Check this one out.