"Agatha Christie's imaginative crime novels and thrillers made her a household name from the 1920s through to her last books in the early 1970s. Best known as the creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Agatha tirelessly provided her publisher with at least one book every year, and twenty of her contemporary crime novels were to feature neither Poirot nor Marple. Instead a wide range of ingenious plots would be played out by a selection of amateur sleuths, professional detectives, young adventuresses or unwary bystanders caught up in unforeseen events. Designed to be read individually or as a set, this collection provides a window on a changing world through five decades of investigation." "The volume's four stories are: Endless Night - a local curse casts a grim shadow over a young man's ambition to build a house on a lonely plot of land; By the Pricking of My Thumbs - an old woman's ramblings about something buried behind a fireplace leads two ageing detectives into real danger; Passenger to Frankfurt - a mystery woman's warning that someone is trying to kill her sets a diplomat up against an invisible enemy; and Postern of Fate - a message hidden inside an old book could be the key to solving a nasty case of poisoning many years ago."--BOOK JACKET.