The House at Shiraz - a Parker Pyne Short Story

Parker Pyne #9

by Agatha Christie

Mr. Parker Pyne is having trouble getting to Tehran from Bagdad, what with his non-existent Persian linguistic skills and the less-than-comfortable travelling arrangements. But with the help of a German pilot, Herr Schlagal, he is able to get his bearings.

Later the pilot confesses to Pyne that his thoughts are dominated by the mysterious and sudden death of a previous passenger. She was in the company of Lady Esther Carr from Shiraz. Coincidence, Pyne is travelling to that city. Taking the initiative, he writes to Lady Carr offering his "Are you happy?" services. When he arrives at her home, he asks questions and sets a scene to see what the infamously unbalanced woman has to say for herself. Her story begins to unravel….

Librarian's note: this entry relates to the short story, The House at Shiraz. Collections and the other stories by the author are located elsewhere on Goodreads. The Parker Pyne series includes 14 short stories. Entries for the stories can be found by searching GR for: a Parker Pyne Short Story.

Librarian's note #2: the story was published in the print anthologies, Parker Pyne Investigates and Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective but it first came out in Cosmopolitan magazine in the US in 1933.

Librarian's note #3: this is #9 of the 14 stories.

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Short Stories, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime, Detective

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1933

About the author

Agatha 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 (née 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
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parker Pyne is in Tehran when a pilot tells him about his lost love.



He fell for a lady's maid, but she was killed in an accident before he could tell her he loved her.
And in a strange turn of events, the English lady she worked for has been rumored to have gone completely batty and doesn't accept visitors.
Since Pyne knows the family, he decides to pay her a visit and ask her if she is happy before he moves on.



You can guess the who & how, but maybe not the why of this one.
However, it's still a decent short story with a nice ending.

This was read as part of the short story collection Parker Pyne Investigates.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery listening 🏠👒😎🎶

This kindle e-book novella is from Amazon for $0.99

Parker Pyne is travelling in the middle east and arrives in Shiraz. He hears a story from the pilot of the plane. He approaches the woman and learns the truth!

I would recommend this novella and author to fans of Agatha Christie 👒 2024 😎🤗

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. Ingenious. An insight into the mind of Parker Pyne. He catches an incongruity, something that can't be right in someone's story, massages it with logic, and then tests it. Here he is following-up on a sad incident in the life of his helpful pilot on the flight from Bagdad to Tehran in Persia, now Iran. Those were the days when speaking to the pilot was easy! Herr Schlagal tells him about Lady Esther Carr, "Completely mad," and her lovely companion, Muriel King. The pilot, a young German, had met Muriel three years earlier but informs us that she died in a fall at Lady Carr's house in Shiraz soon after his one and only visit. He's still attached to her - or should I say pining for her? Our detective is going to Shiraz and offers to meet the Lady and determine what happened. It might actually have been murder. Who knows? It was suspicious. I read it in Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective, a 1971 short story collection. It appeared first in the US in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1933. Back to the story. When Lady Carr says, "If you will tell me what I owe you .. ," he refuses to move. Instead he tells her what he knows. That was also very interesting. (Au2021/No2025)

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Pyne is traveling and learns from the pilot that an eccentric British woman is living in Shiraz. He had flown them there a few years before and took a liking to the Lady’s companion but she died tragically of a fall soon after arriving. Now the Lady has gone quite mad and become a recluse. Intrigued, Mr. Pyne calls on the Lady and correctly guesses that she is not the Lady but rather the companion and it was the Lady who died from a fall. But fearing that she would be blamed for her death, the companion assumed her identity but is now trapped in her lie, unable to truly live. Mr. Pyne convinces her to come clean and says that he’ll help her tell her story to the officials.

[Sara Kamjou · Rating 2 out of 5]

خانه‌ای در شیراز اولین کتابی بود که از آگاتا کریستی می‌خواندم. چند داستان اول آن که جنبه‌ی معمایی داشت من را مجذوب خودش کرد، اما بعد، دیگر دست نویسنده رو شده بود و از اواسط کتاب، دیگر جذابیتی برایم نداشت.
چند داستان کوتاه با یک خط داستانی و تعدد شخصیت‌ها، و نیز نامربوط بودن داستان‌ها به یکدیگر از ضعف‌های کتاب بود.
از اواسط کتاب، نویسنده سعی کرده بود خلاقیتی به خرج دهد و داستان را از حال و هوای تکراری شدن نجات دهد، به این صورت که به جای اینکه هر فرد به طور مستقیم به پارکر پاین مراجعه کند تا کمکش کند خوشبخت شود، خود پاین در جریان سفرهایش درگیر پرونده‌های مختلف شود. با این حال این تغییر روند داستانی برای من نه تنها کتاب را جذاب‌تر نکرد، بلکه آن را کاهش نیز داد!
در کل کتاب‌های معمایی را دوست دارم و احتمالا چند کتاب دیگر از آگاتا کریستی بخوانم.

------------------------------------------
جملات ماندگار کتاب:
اگر شما علت ناخوشی را بدانید، درمانش کار مشکلی نیست.
...
کمی تغییر همیشه لذتبخشه.
...
یک زن خودش را با گریه زجر می‌دهد و در آخر چیزی به دست نمی‌آورد، ولی عشق را می‌شود مثل یک دسته گل تزئین کرد و سال‌ها از زیبایی‌اش لذت برد.
...
در برابر یک زن هرگز نباید حالت تدافعی اختیار کرد. او هم همان بها را برای شما قائل می‌شود که خود قائل شده‌اید - استحقاقش را هم دارید -.
...
روحیه‌ی فروتنی داشتن در زندگی زناشوئی، آقای عزیز من، باعث می‌شه کلاه آدم پس معرکه بیفته.
...
آدم یاد می‌گیره که زندگی کنه و بذاره دیگران زندگی کنند.
...
- شما خوشبخت نیستید؟
- نمی‌خوام بگم این‌طورهاست. خیلی چیزها دارم که به خاطرشون شکر کنم.
- ما همه داریم. ولی وقتی مجبور بشیم این واقعیت را به خودمان گوشزد کنیم، علامت خوبی نیست.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

اینکه قبل‌تر ها ایران تو داستان های جهان یه کشور قشنگ و از طرفی تهران به عنوان یه شهر بسیار مدرن یاد می‌شده ولی الان ها اصلا نیست و اگه باشه فقط یه کشور تروریستی یا پشت پرده مرموزه؛ غصه آوره.
مدل سفرش به تهران و شیراز و توصیفات باغ ها و مقبره حافظ و فلان تو شیرازش جالب بود.

[Nick Katenkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very short mystery by Agatha Christie in the Parker Pyne story. This is an interesting half hour read but I did find Parker Pyne a bit obnoxious. It's nothing he did but just the consistent repetition of the name Parker Pyne. It's never Parker or Pyne it's always Parker Pyne. Of course this was just a little annoyance and the story itself was quite good for being as short as it is. Mystery is tough genre to write in short format (except for Conan Doyle) as the answer must be revealed quickly without much exposition and investigation. This story is of course lesser than other of Christie's great works but not in the quality of the writing.

[Abeer Albossany · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was not really convinced with this story. Since we are ready to judge the companion as a victim, why then did she manage to act like a completely different person for a whole three years? Also the fact that all the servants were blind on the matter is also a big deal in my opinion.

[Shaneka Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Worst Agatha Christie so far

[maryam · Rating 2 out of 5]

با خوندن داستان اول شور و شوق سال های اولیه کتاب خوانیم بهم تزریق شد. ممنون از پیشنهاد دهنده ی کتاب که منو یاد آگاتای عزیز انداخت که تقریبن فراموش کرده بودم چقدر دوستش می داشتم و هنوزم دارم.
هرچند آثار آگاتا کریستی یک ضعفی دارند که همگی دارای یک تم خاص هستند که هرکسی دو سه داستان از آن بخواند سبک نویسنده دستش می آید و دیگر خودش میتواند چگونگی حل شدن معماها را حدس بزند. که البته این کار هم خودش جالب و هیجان انگیز است.
و اما در مورد خانه ای در شیراز یا ماجراهای آقای پاکرپاین. که قبل از هرچیز نام شیراز برایم جالب توجه بود. واقعن شگفت زده شدم که فهمیدم آگاتا کریستی سفری به ایران داشته و چندین شهرمان را دیده و دوست داشته. حتا از خواندن همین دو سه خط توصیفش از تهران در این کتاب احساس افتخار کردم و با خودم گفتم کاش در کتاب هایش بیشتر از ایران مینوشت.
ماجراهای آقای پاکرپاین من رو یاد فیلم بازی(دیوید فینچر) انداخت. که یک شرکت در ازای دریافت دستمزد و با ایفای نقش های گوناگون ، حس خوشبختی را به مراجعه کنندگان خودشان به نوعی بفروشند.
دو سه داستان اول واقعن برایم جالب بود. آدم ها می آیند پول می دهند تا فردی بهشون توجه کنه عشق بورزه تا تلنگری به خودشون، شریک زندگی شون وارد بشه و از زندگی ملال آورشون رها بشوند.
اما پس از خواندن همان چند داستان اول ، کم کم دست نویسنده کامل رو میشود و کتاب از هیجان می افتد و برای خواننده یکنواخت و حوصله سر بر میشود.

[Reza Haghighi · Rating 3 out of 5]

نام اصلی کتاب تحقیقات پارکر پاین هست که مجموعه ای از داستانهای کوتاه در مورد شخصی به نام پارکر پاین که به قول خودش کارآگاه نیست و تخصصش احساسات انسانی است و خوشحال کردن افراد حالا با هر روشی حتی شده شیادی. یکی از داستانهای این کتاب به نام خانه ای در شیراز هست در مورد خانمی انگلیسی است که در شیراز زندگی میکنه و دلیل اینکه سه ستاره دادم همین اسم کتاب برای ما ایرانی‌ها بود. وگرنه کتاب خوبی نبود و وقتم تلف شد.

[Selah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit too easy to figure out, but superior to most PP stories.

[Bekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it was a tiny bit predictable, it was well written and well read. Still don't know how I feel about Parker Pyne, but I'm willing to give him a few more tries.

[Gini DeLora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was bored.

[Lisa Tollefson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Christie, well written, and rather pleasant. Just a short story, no murder.

[mairiachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guessed the ending as soon as she said she couldn't go home but I thought she was actually a murderer - or, at least, I hoped she was.

[Jeffrey Jamison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would recommend

Short read but enjoyable all the same. anyone who likes Agatha Christie books will appreciate this short story for sure.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one, even though I figured it out early on. Maybe because I figured it out early on. It's more of a riddle than a murder mystery.

[Leya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second Parker Pyne short story. And I am really starting to enjoy them.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright, far from my favorite Christie.

[Corinne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Confusing and boring.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story. Quick and entertaining.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super short Christie story that feels like a chapter out of Encyclopedia Brown.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good short story

[Alinnarossa · Rating 4 out of 5]

the lady sounded innocent & not really clever yet she has done genius things (remembering she was just an ordinary girl panicking her mistress death).

[Joop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leuk geschreven al zie je de oplossing al van verre aankomen.

[Rodica · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5* rounded up.

[sue! · Rating 2 out of 5]

essentially a short story version of a murder is announced, but a satisfactory read nonetheless!

[Jina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was kinda cute short story. Listened to audio book on YouTube.. not impressed with the narrator, who was not acknowledged.

[Kayla Lodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun quick read and I enjoyed it.