This collection of twelve spring-themed short stories by Agatha Christie is introduced by her own account of her first real experience of fear, aged six, while out primrosing with Nursie, and her description of a different figure, the image in her nightmares she calls The Gunman.
The Market Basing Mystery has Hercule Poirot on vacation with Japp and Hastings when they are called to an apparent suicide inside a locked room, except that it looks staged. Are the victim’s unsavoury visitors responsible?
The Case of the missing Lady has Tommy and Tuppence Blunt tracking down the missing fiancée of a polar explorer, to the grand house of a dubious doctor in a little village. Might she be suffering at his hands?
The Herb of Death has a gathering telling mysteries. One lady gives only the bare bones and questions from the rest reveal the detail, but only Jane Marple guesses the truth.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Hercule Poirot asks for Miss Lemon’s opinion about a request for help, but before he can decide, the woman suddenly dies. That intrigues him sufficiently to investigate, and a clue in the woman’s garden leads him to the murderer.
Swan Song: many years after the precipitating event, a demanding Italian prima donna with a Russian name gets her revenge.
Miss Marple Tells a Story: asked to consult on what is apparently a locked-room murder mystery, Jane Marple solves the crime at a far remove.
Have You Got Everything You Want? A young wife confesses her worries to a proclaimed fixit man on the Orient Express. And then her jewels are stolen…

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan: on vacation in Brighton, Hercule Poirot solves the impossible theft of a pearl necklace from a hotel room where the French maid maintains watch.
Ingots of Gold: Jane Marple’s nephew Raymond West recalls, some two years later, an unsolved incident on Cornwall’s wrecking coast in which he encounters a policeman looking into smuggled gold off a recent wreck. Inexplicably, Raymond’s host was kidnapped but later found unharmed. Miss Marple easily deduces the truth of the matter.
The Soul of the Croupier: an English gentleman on vacation in Monte Carlo watches the interplay between energetic young things and an ageing Countess. The action of the croupier at the roulette table reveals a tragic tale, but does it have a happy ending?

The Girl in the Train: a somewhat dissolute and (temporarily?) disinherited young man takes the train to a promising destination but is distracted by a young woman wanting to hide in his first-class carriage. He obliges, and intrigue in the form of a secret parcel, a surveillance mission, and false names culminates in an encounter with a police detective. Are things quite what they seem?
Greenshaw’s Folly: A will in favour of the housekeeper is witnessed by incidental visitors; a woman is killed by arrow; potential suspects have strong alibis. Miss Marple figures it out.
Both of her most well-known detectives, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot star in several of the stories. Tommy and Tuppence Blunt make an appearance, and there are several stand-alones, some of which feature Christie characters from other tales. There’s lots of variety, but the standard is high. Very entertaining.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Collins UK