![](https://image.librarything.com/pics/fugue21/magnifier-left.png)
![](https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/8b/37/8b37e1d755fd8c9597667777667433041414141_v5.jpg)
Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural (1929)by Agatha Christie
![]() Books Read in 2021 (4,558) No current Talk conversations about this book. This volume collects twenty Agatha Christie's short stories with supernatural themes. Most have been published in other collections (Twelve from "The Hound of Death", there's an excellent bibliography with publication history for each story at the end of the book). I skipped over the more familiar ones, many of which I've read recently. The highlight for me is the superb "The Wife of the Kenite" which was first published in Australia in "The Home magazine in September 1922 and which did not appear in print again until it was collected in "Bodies in the Library" in 2018. This isn't a particularly supernatural story but a slow burn tale of horror and revenge. If you have an extensive Christie collection you may not wish to purchase this volume as it will duplicate much of what you hold but if you don't have a copy of "The Hound of Death", this is well worth the purchase price. Weirdly the other reviews here are only of the titular short story "The Last Séance", not of this excellent collection. ( ![]() The Last Seance: Tales of the Supernatural contains three Hercule Poirot stories, two Miss Marple stories and fifteen miscellaneous spooky stories. My favourites were the miscellaneous stories; Wireless, The Wife of the Kenite and The Mystery of the Blue Jar. My least favourites were miscellaneous stories; The Call of Wings and The Hound of Death. The overall collection rating is 3 stars. Individual ratings and reviews below. MISC: THE LAST SEANCE: ** A medium is looking forward to retiring after her final client; a mother. This was alright. Pretty obvious where it was going. MISC: IN A GLASS DARKLY: ** A man sees a spooky premonition of the death of his friend's sister by her fiance - both of whom he hasn't yet met. It was okay. Nothing special. Kinda creepy. MISC: S.O.S.: *** A man's car breaks down and he takes shelter with a family nearby who seem to have secrets. This was strange. The atmosphere was creepy. There was a bit of mystery which was alright. 3 stars. POIROT: THE ADVENTURE OF THE EGYPTIAN TOMB: *** Poirot and Hastings travel to Egypt to investigate a curse. This was alright. Poirot's complaining about sand and heat and his limp moustache was pretty funny. And his pleasure that despite all of that his little grey cells functioned. 3 stars. MISC: THE FOURTH MAN: *** Four men on a train discuss multiple personality disorder. This was alright. I guessed where it was going. Didn't really like it much though. 3 stars. MARPLE 1.2: THE IDOL HOUSE OF ASTARTE ** I didn't like this one much. Dr Pender recounts a house party he attended in his youth where his host was stabbed to death - even though no one was near him. I did like that Miss Marple is showing everyone up though. 2 stars. MISC: THE GIPSY: *** A gypsy continually predicts doom for a young man. I enjoyed this one although Dickie sounds like a bit of a moron. I mean maybe start listening to the lady? I liked the ending though. 3 stars. MISC: PHILOMEL COTTAGE: *** A woman comes into money and instead of marrying her crush, she meets and marries a man she's known for a week. I don't know that I really got this. It started out well and was interesting and then the ending kind of baffled me. MISC: THE LAMP: ** A woman buys a haunted house to live in with her son and her father. This started out alright but what a depressing ending. 2 stars. POIROT: THE DREAM: *** A billionaire has a recurring dream of his death and then is found dead the exact same way. Poirot is called to consult. I guessed parts of this which always increases my esteem of a short story. I love that all the police are getting behind the idea that any death which includes Poirot in any way must be murder. “So that there is every reason to suppose that Mr. Farley committed suicide.” Inspector Barnett smiled a little. “There would have been no doubt at all but for one point.” “And that?” “The letter written to you.” Poirot smiled too. “I see! Where Hercule Poirot is concerned—immediately the suspicion of murder arises!” “Precisely,” said the inspector dryly. (p. 628) 3 stars. MISC: WIRELESS: ***** A nephew convinces his aunt to buy a radio. But she soon starts hearing the voice of her dead husband speaking to her, telling her he's coming for her. I enjoyed this one. The spooky atmosphere of the voice was good. And I loved the conclusion. He felt that Somebody had been playing with him—playing with him like a cat with a mouse. Somebody must be laughing . . . Christie, Agatha. The Last Seance (p. 188). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. Well I certainly am. MISC: THE WIFE OF THE KENITE: ***** A German agitator tries to find his way out Africa. The main guy Herr Conrad Schaefer is horrible. I liked Henshel's wife although I dislike the fact that she doesn't have an actual name. Especially since Henshel doesn't even really make much of an appearance. MISC: THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE JAR: ***** A young man thinks he's going mad when he continues to hear a woman yelling murder every morning while golfing; a woman no one else can hear. This was funny. MISC: THE STRANGE CASE OF SIR ARTHUR CARMICHAEL: ** A doctor is asked to investigate a case of memory loss that seems to have a supernatural twist. This was okay. Somewhat creepy. 2 stars. MARPLE: 1.7: THE BLUE GERANIUM **** Miss Marple is invited by Sir Henry to dinner with Colonel Bantry and his wife. Having heard of Miss Marple's problem solving abilities, Colonel Bantry relates his ghost story - the murder of the wife of a friend. I liked this one. Like most of the Miss Marple stories, I guessed parts and completely missed others. I more or less figured out that MISC: THE CALL OF WINGS: * A man struggles with his spiritual self worth. This was terrible. 1 star. POIROT: THE FLOCK OF GERYON: *** Miss Carnaby (from the Nemean Lion) joins forces with Poirot to investigate a religious cult her friend has joined. I enjoyed this one. Miss Carnaby was funny. “Oh, M. Poirot, I’m so worried.” Poirot said kindly: “What is it?” “Do you know, M. Poirot, I’m afraid—I really am afraid—that I must be a hardened criminal—if I may use such a term. Ideas come to me!” “What kind of ideas?” “The most extraordinary ideas! For instance, yesterday, a really most practical scheme for robbing a post office came into my head. I wasn’t thinking about it—it just came! And another very ingenious way for evading custom duties . . . I feel convinced—quite convinced—that it would work.” “It probably would,” said Poirot drily. “That is the danger of your ideas.” (p. 805) MISC: THE RED SIGNAL: *** A medium warns the men at a dinner party not to go home. This one was good. The ending was surprising, didn't see it coming. I liked. 3 stars. MISC: THE DRESSMAKER'S DOLL: *** A dressmaking shop finds themselves home to a doll they didn't buy and weren't gifted. This was creepy and perfectly understandable. Some dolls are super creepy. Porcelain dolls for instance with the eyes. Ugh. 3 stars. MISC: THE HOUND OF DEATH: * A doctor investigates a nun who he believes as supernatural powers. This was weird. I didn't like it. 1 star. Dame Agatha Christie has been dubbed the Queen of Crime. Rarely has an appellative been better chosen. In a long and prolific career she published 66 mystery novels and 14 short story collections, creating in the process two of the most idiosyncratic sleuths in English literature – the misleadingly understated Miss Marple and the eccentric and foppish Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. She was also a multi-record-breaker – being, allegedly, the world’s best selling writer as well as the author of the longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap. But, perhaps what is even more notable is that in her case quantity never led to the sacrifice of quality. Her work is consistently well-crafted and satisfying. A lesser-known fact about Christie is her interest in the paranormal. This inspired several short stories, especially in the early part of her career. Most of her pieces of speculative fiction were published in The Hounds of Death and Other Stories, first published in the UK in 1933. These short stories (except for Witness for the Prosecution) together with other works dealing with the otherworldly, have now been issued as part of the Collins Chillers series, under the title The Last Séance: Tales of the Supernatural. This is the most comprehensive collection to date of Agatha Christie’s supernatural oeuvre. They show an aspect of the Dame’s writings which is worth exploring and unexpectedly reveal her to be a worthy figure at the fringe (if not exactly the mainstream) of the English Gothic and horror tradition. Perhaps my last statement deserves some clarification. In my view, the quintessential English form of supernatural fiction is the ghost story. Interestingly, though, only one of the stories (The Lamp) comes close to the typical haunted house tale. Christie seems more concerned with what might be termed “parapsychological” phenomena – mysteries which lie at the fluid boundaries between the scientific, the psychological and the (as yet?) unexplained. Premonitions, prophetic dreams, split personalities, strange coincidences … these are more likely to appear as subjects in Christie stories than your usual unrequited ghost. Some stories also nod towards Eastern/Egyptian Gothic – most notably The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb (featuring Poirot sweating it out at an archeological dig in Egypt), The Idol House of Astarte (which sees Christie venturing in almost folk horror territory) and The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael (a tale of dark Oriental witchcraft). It’s worth pointing out that in several of the stories, the supernatural element is merely a front for very human, criminal behaviour. Of course, this fits into another long-standing strand of Gothic fiction – the so-called “rational Gothic” which runs from Ann Radcliffe to Scooby-Doo via The Hound of the Baskervilles. I must admit I found these tales of “smoke and mirrors” somewhat disappointing as horror fiction, albeit perfectly satisfying from a purely narrative perspective. What is notable in Christie’s brand of supernatural fiction is that she eschews the atmospheric scene-setting which are the stock-in-trade of the genre and she achieves most of her effect through tight plotting, unexpected twists and judicious control of the narrative. These are, of course, skills which served Christie well in her long career as crime writer. However, to me, the more unsettling stories in this collection are those which are clear examples of weird fiction. The opening (title) piece – The Last Séance – is a case in point, its gory denouement hitting the reader like a punch in the gut. Other notably dark stories include the apocalyptic, “cosmic horror” tale The Hound of Death and, perhaps, the most nightmarish of all, The Dressmaker’s Doll. Who knows – perhaps if Christie’s career had panned out otherwise, she would now be known as the Queen of Horror. https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-last-seance-tales-of-supernatural... I love Agatha Christie and read almost everything by her except her short stories. I had not read most of these before. Its a decent story book. Some are good, some are just ok. I think this is why it took me so long to finish. None of the stories really ‘stick’ with you if you know what I mean. There are only a few that I can recall without reading a little as the titles don’t seem register. If you like old fashioned mysteries or supernatural stories give it a read. Agatha Christie is, for good reason, known as the Queen of Crime. However, it is less well known that she was interested in the paranormal. The Last Seance gathers together several of her paranormal tales guaranteed to give shivers to any reader. Like in any collection, I liked some stories better than others. One of my favourites is the titular tale in which a seance goes horribly wrong. But perhaps my favourite tale is The Dressmaker’s Doll. I mean, dolls are creepy on their own but Christie takes it to a whole ‘nother level of nightmare. Overall, a great collection, perfect for Halloween but I wouldn’t recommend reading it alone especially in the dark. Thanks to Edelweiss+ and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review no reviews | add a review
Contains
Fiction.
Mystery.
Historical Fiction.
HTML: From the Queen of Suspense, an all-new collection of her spookiest and most sinister stories, including an Agatha Christie story never before published in the USA, The Wife of Kenite! "Reading a perfectly plotted Agatha Christie is like crunching into a perfect apple: that pure, crisp, absolute satisfaction."??Tana French, New York Times Bestselling Author The Last Séance gathers twenty stories, some featuring Christie's beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, in one haunting compendium that explores all things occult and paranormal, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fa No library descriptions found.
|
Popular covers
![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |