Third Girl [Mass Market Paperback]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

A desperate woman seeks the aid of Hercule Poirot in a matter of life and death. A near-lethal dose of poison, a blood-stained knife, a revolver, and a family who aren't what they seem all figure in an extraordinary case that takes the celebrated Belgian detective from a village estate to the bohemian streets of London.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'First Class Christie' Sunday Telegraph 'Mesmerising ingenuity' Financial Times --This text refers to the Unknown Binding edition.

About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. --This text refers to the Unknown Binding edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (Mm) (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061003824
• ISBN-13: 978-0061003820
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #549,762 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WILL SOMEONE LET THE WOMAN SPEAK?, May 24, 2008

By 

allitwantedbythunder - See all my reviews

This review is from: Third Girl (Agatha Christie Collection S.) (Hardcover)

Whose work are we actually reading at this point? There were major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There were further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the recent Signet, Berkley, and Leventhal and Black editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. Here the publishers at Collins, dissatisfied with their own earlier efforts, put still more distance between author and public with a "New Ed" edition. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Christie Gives Us A Mystery Set In Modern London, June 15, 2001

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Third Girl (Mass Market Paperback)

This book, first published in 1966, gives us a very different look at London than the wonderful novels Christie wrote in the 40's did. Poirot amongst the swinging Bohemians? Well, it happens. Christie and Poirot both changed with the times and the result is interesting, although probably not her best work.

The term "third girl" refers to a way of leasing flats, very similar to the term "roommates" in the US. One girl rents a flat, then advertises for a second and third girl to share accommodations and expenses.

Ariadne Oliver once more assists Poirot in this tale of impersonation, drugs, smuggling, forgery, blackmail, and a young girl who can't remember committing a murder.

This is a great commentary on English life in the sixties and, as always, excellent plotting and character development in the Christie tradition.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great Agatha Christie book!, July 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Third Girl (Mass Market Paperback)

Another classic by Agatha Christie. The setting is very much 60's-ish, but I've never minded that Agatha's books are set solidly in the era they are written in.

Only bad part, it can be a bit hard to keep all the characters straight. But without many characters, it wouldn't be much of a mystery would it? Agatha does a good job of reviewing the clues in the book through, preventing you from having to keep track of them in a notebook.