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Parker Pyne #11
The Oracle at Delphi
V tituln¨ª pov¨ªdce V¨§?t¨ªrna v Delf¨¢ch se pan¨ª Petersov¨¦ do ?ecka valn¨§ cestovat nechce, ale co by neud¨§lala pro sv¨¦ho milovan¨¦ho syna? Kdyby v?ak tu?ila, ?e pr¨¢v¨§ tam dojde k jeho ¨²nosu.
181 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1933
9 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,183?books71.4k?followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (n¨¦e Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
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§¡§Ô§Ñ§ä§Ñ §¬§â?§ã§ä? (Ukrainian)
¦¡¦Ã¦Ê?¦È¦Á ¦ª¦Ñ?¦Ò¦Ó¦É (Greek)
¥¢¥¬¥µ ¥¯¥ê¥¹¥Æ¥£ (Japanese)
°¢¼Îɯ¡¤¿ËÀòË¿µÙ (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (n¨¦e Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
§¡§Ô§Ñ§ä§Ñ §¬§â§Ú§ã§ä§Ú (Russian)
§¡§Ô§Ñ§ä§Ñ §¬§â?§ã§ä? (Ukrainian)
¦¡¦Ã¦Ê?¦È¦Á ¦ª¦Ñ?¦Ò¦Ó¦É (Greek)
¥¢¥¬¥µ ¥¯¥ê¥¹¥Æ¥£ (Japanese)
°¢¼Îɯ¡¤¿ËÀòË¿µÙ (Chinese)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 14, 2024
This is one of, if not the, best Parker Pyne short out there!
Picking up after the short story Death on the Nile, Pyne has made the decision to travel under an alias for the rest of his vacation so he could avoid getting drawn into cases.
And yet...
A well-off woman is traveling with her bookish son when suddenly he goes missing, and in his place is a ransom note.
Parker Pyne is forced to come out of incognito mode to save a doting mother from a very clever criminal.
It's the twist at the end that really helped stick the landing. I wasn't expecting it and it took the story from a 4 to a 5.
Recommended for fans of Christie!
Read this as part of the short story collection Parker Pyne Investigates.
Picking up after the short story Death on the Nile, Pyne has made the decision to travel under an alias for the rest of his vacation so he could avoid getting drawn into cases.
And yet...
A well-off woman is traveling with her bookish son when suddenly he goes missing, and in his place is a ransom note.
Parker Pyne is forced to come out of incognito mode to save a doting mother from a very clever criminal.
It's the twist at the end that really helped stick the landing. I wasn't expecting it and it took the story from a 4 to a 5.
Recommended for fans of Christie!
Read this as part of the short story collection Parker Pyne Investigates.
August 13, 2021
5 Stars. This required a second go-round. I loved it but wasn't sure what happened. "Explain that again?" It's the last stop on Pyne's middle-east holiday. No less than 3 weeks in the depression! With many interesting incidents. Let's see, he took the Orient Express from Lyon to Florence, and an Italian local to Brindisi. He left there on a liner to Beirut, Lebanon (I am using 21st century names) and then travelled 100Km to Damascus, Syria by unknown means. At that point he took a mini-bus to Bagdad, 830Km, which took a day and a half. From there he flew in a single engine plane to Tehran in Iran, about 800Km, likely stayed a day, and then went to Shiraz, Iran, 900Km southeast possibly by train. He then returns to Petra, Jordan by unknown means, followed by a flight to Aswan in Egypt and a boat trip down the Nile to Cairo, another 900Km. It seems likely that he takes a passenger ship to Athens with a short train / bus ride to nearby Delphi. From there back to London. All the while trying to avoid potential "Are You Happy?" clients. In Delphi he helps a concerned mother whose well-educated teenage son, Willard Peters, has been kidnapped. The best is last. Quite a trip. (August 2021)
May 13, 2021
Hands down the best Parker Pyne detective story. Did not guess the ending, and I had to reread it twice before I understood what had happened. Excellent short story that I'm 100% planning on rereading.
December 30, 2020
Definitely they saved the best for last!
May 10, 2021
Mr. Pyne is on vacation again and a woman is distressed to find that her son has gone missing. The next day, she receives a ransom note. Mr. Pyne overheard her and suggested his assistance. He could arrange to have her diamonds in her necklace replaced with paste which she could then surrender to the kidnappers in return for her son. But on the day of the exchange, another fellow traveler, Mr. Thompson, arrives at her door with a bag of diamonds and her son! It turns out that Mr. Thompson is the real Mr. Pyne, traveling under an assumed name, and the fake Mr. Pyne was the kidnapper who had also stolen her diamonds. A little too convoluted for my taste.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2013
Terrific!
October 16, 2016
This was a good one! Christie completely fooled me.
August 19, 2017
The most surprising story out of all he collection, yet it was dealt with rashness specially at the end. I lived and enjoyed the story even though I expected more of it.
April 28, 2023
WAIT WAIT WAIT i froze when i reached the last page like, did i get it right??? and then tried to rearrange the story once again. and no i didn't think this story was enough & ended here, there could be a longer version of it! ? plot twist
January 11, 2023
Very convincing reason why Parker Pyne had to do the work even though he was on vacation and he had sworn not to work. Excellent
May 2, 2017
My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, have read again.
March 23, 2019
Set in Greece, a kidnapping, the real-fake diamond swap, and someone impersonates Parker... Nice plot twist!
March 17, 2021
"Oracolul din Delphi" de Agatha Christie
4,8/5 ?
Pentru c? ?n paralel, una dintre c?r?ile citite este despre filosofie, mi-a atras aten?ia titlul acestei c?r?i. De fapt, a fost o carte de weekend, ?ns? nu prea am timp pentru recenzii ?n ultima perioad?.
Se cite?te u?or. Con?ine 11 povestiri scurte, unele chiar se repet? ?n cartea "13 probleme". Careva o au ca protagonist? pe Miss Marple, careva - pe Parker Pyne, careva - pe Hercule Poirot. Captivante? Cu siguran??.
Ideea majorit??ii relat?rilor este c? ?ntr-o infrac?iune e mult mai important s? se dovedeasc? nevinov??ia celor b?nui?i, dec?t s? se caute vinovatul. Ultimul ?i-a ales singur soarta, pe c?nd ceilal?i sunt implica?i f?r? voie ?i f?r? vreo b?nuial?, ?ns? umbra fraudei/crimei ar fi capabil? s? le transforme via?a ?ntr-un co?mar. Vor fi stigmatiza?i, evita?i, privi?i cu reticen?? ca suspec?i at?ta timp c?t nu li se va demonstra nevinov??ia.
Recomand!
4,8/5 ?
Pentru c? ?n paralel, una dintre c?r?ile citite este despre filosofie, mi-a atras aten?ia titlul acestei c?r?i. De fapt, a fost o carte de weekend, ?ns? nu prea am timp pentru recenzii ?n ultima perioad?.
Se cite?te u?or. Con?ine 11 povestiri scurte, unele chiar se repet? ?n cartea "13 probleme". Careva o au ca protagonist? pe Miss Marple, careva - pe Parker Pyne, careva - pe Hercule Poirot. Captivante? Cu siguran??.
Ideea majorit??ii relat?rilor este c? ?ntr-o infrac?iune e mult mai important s? se dovedeasc? nevinov??ia celor b?nui?i, dec?t s? se caute vinovatul. Ultimul ?i-a ales singur soarta, pe c?nd ceilal?i sunt implica?i f?r? voie ?i f?r? vreo b?nuial?, ?ns? umbra fraudei/crimei ar fi capabil? s? le transforme via?a ?ntr-un co?mar. Vor fi stigmatiza?i, evita?i, privi?i cu reticen?? ca suspec?i at?ta timp c?t nu li se va demonstra nevinov??ia.
Recomand!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2024
This was the tenth story in the Midsummer Mysteries collection of Agatha Christie¡¯s short stories. Once again, color me impressed at how Agatha Christie came up with such varied plots, and put just as much thought and effort into her short stories as her novels. I preferred the other Parker Pyne story in this collection (Death on the Nile) just a hair more, but this was another fun story for light summer reading.
March 12, 2025
Another entry of this interesting new series of Christie¡¯s, with Parker Pyne as the scientific student of human nature who creates situations to try to solve his clients¡¯ problems. Though this one felt more like a Poirot mystery, and a rather middling one.
August 24, 2023
Dit is een goeie PP
October 26, 2023
A son is abducted on holiday in Greece, the mother is sent a randsom letter and Pyne is called in to help. I¡¯ve given this a four star rating due to the surprise twist at the end.
August 28, 2024
4/5 stars!
My review here:
My review here:
September 15, 2024
Best story in the book
Cleverly done
Cleverly done
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