The Case of the Distressed Lady - a Parker Pyne Short Story

Parker Pyne #2

by Agatha Christie

The lovely Daphne St. John enlists Parker Pyne’s aid. She must return a valuable diamond she stole to pay off gambling debts. Now, repenting her rash act, Daphne needs his help to return the diamond without its owner being any the wiser. It's all about trust, or is it? The man to talk to if you are unhappy is Mr. Parker Pyne.

Librarian's note: this entry relates to the short story, The Case of the Distressed Lady. 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 Goodreads for: a Parker Pyne Short Story.

The story was published in the print anthologies, Parker Pyne Investigates and Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective but it first appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1932.

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

Genres: Agatha Christie, Short Stories, Mystery, Crime, Audiobook, Fiction, British Literature

18 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1932

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 4 out of 5]

When a distressed young wife comes to Pyne begging him to help her make something right, he agrees.
Mrs. St. John tells him that she gambled herself into a great deal of debt while at a casino with friends. Her husband had no idea and would have been furious with her, so when her friend asked her to take her diamond ring to get reset, she had it switched out for paste and pawned the jewel.




She recently came into some money, bought the diamond back, and wants to switch it out AGAIN to clear her conscience. Unfortunately, the husbands had a falling out and now they no longer visit each other's houses.

I really enjoyed this one!
I won't tell you what happens, but will say Parker Pyne does not end up charging her a fee.

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

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I loved this short story. It seems to be a plain plot, but there's a twist. SYNOPSIS: "The lovely Daphne St. John enlists Parker Pyne’s aid. She must return a valuable diamond she stole to pay off gambling debts. Now, repenting her rash act, Daphne needs his help to return the diamond without its owner being any the wiser. It's all about trust, or is it? The man to talk to if you are unhappy is Mr. Parker Pyne."

[Jack Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars. Who do you trust? When do you follow your instincts and go with them, this person is trustworthy, and when do you take precautions? The Case of the Distressed Lady first appeared in the UK in Woman's Pictorial in 1932 and then in the collection Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective from Dell in 1971. Where I read it. The question above should be kept in mind when reading this 14 page story. The people's detective, Parker Pyne, is working in his office when a young lady is sent in by Miss Lemon. Daphne St. John had seen his "Are you happy?" advertisement, stiffened her resolve, and come to see Pyne. She's unhappy about something she's done, actually two things. The first was visiting the casino at Le Touquet on the southside of the English Channel in France where she lost big-time, and the second was stealing a valuable diamond ring belonging to her friend Lady Naomi Dortheimer. She had a paste version made and pawned the original to cover her debts. Daphne has now come into unexpected money and wants Mr. Pyne to put the real ring back without her friend finding out. He assures her that it can be done. But is there more to this? (Jul2021/No2025)

[wilted flower · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Confession hour: I have a thing for scheming women. Any time you give me a scheming woman, you can bet I'll fall in love. No tragic backstories to justify it, just a plain scheming villain of a woman and I'll be swooning.

This story was so good. Given the nature of the other Parker Pyne stories I've read so far, I did not expect a plot twist at all. Not that I'm complaining, though. Diamonds, a switcheroo, a ball and scheming?!? You really can't go wrong.

[a ☕︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of fun, very twisty! still love the claude and madeleine duo, who are being worked to the bone in this one: pyne has them posing as russian dancers doing the spanish flamenco.

[mairiachi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I'm still v confused as to what just happened, because there are too many rings and replicas for me to keep track of - but it made it more fun that way so I didn't really mind and it was interesting, plus fun to read about even if I don't totally understand it.

[Dennis Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5 This was the best Parker Pyne story so far.

[Kayla Lodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow this definitely did not go in the direction that I was expecting compared to others I read from this short story series. I did still enjoy my time reading this though so that’s a bonus.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Pyne is almost double crossed in this adventure. A distressed lady confesses to Mr. Pyne that she stole her friend’s diamond ring by agreeing to take in into the jeweler for repair, making a paste copy and keeping the real ring in order to cover her gambling debts. She pawned the ring and then bought it back when she make money at the casino again. Now she wants to return it without being caught. Mr. Pyne agrees to help and has his employee pose as a dancer at a party where he switches the rings without suspicion. But Mr. Pyne is too smart for this one. It turns out that she is not a friend but rather the former secretary of the woman and she wasn’t trying to replace the ring, she was trying to throw suspicion on Mr. Pyne by having him replace a fake with another fake. But he double crossed her and never switched the rings. 4 stars

[Abeer Albossany · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average mystery story, yet it was so convencing and exciting. I have enjoyed all of it.

[Vin Vineeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

That one time a damsel in distress takes to play Parker Pyne and falls miserably 😂👌🏽

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read 2020

[Helen Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the ending!

As always Agatha does not disappoint. The ending was a delightful surprise, as Parker Pyne uses his "little grey cells" to get to the truth.

[Sarah-Grace (Azrael865) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story with an incredible twist! I wish Christie had written more about Parker Pyne.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eponymous-ey sentence:
p4: She was a pretty girl and quite young.

Smelled fishy from the get-go.

Read as part of the collection Parker Pyne Investigates.

[Kristen Bouma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

[Sarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three things ----
1. Listening to a short dramatized audio adaptation in Bangla in a long while;
2. Introduction to Radio Milan's audiobooks through this particular tale, which was decided upon precisely due to its short duration;
3. Re-read of a short story out of a well-loved classic work ["Parker Pyne Investigates"] of a favourite author after decades.
---- Had forgotten the twist completely, so got a jolt of surprise near the end of this audio-read and remembered once again why Agatha Christie is called the queen of mystery and crime. Excellent production and great work by voice actors. A must-listen for an Agatha Christie enthusiast, even if they've read this story before.

[bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short story Parker Pyne is called on to help a Mrs St John, who wants to return a ring she stole. Parker says that he can help and sets to return the ring, without the original owner knowing that it is missing.

This was the first Parker Pyne mystery that I really liked. The previous ones were okay, but they didn't wow me. With this one I didn't see the twist and I really liked that. Parker is growing on me and looking forward to the next one.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parker Pyne Investigates

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Daniel Zhang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why would Claude even risk taking Lady Naomi’s ring at the party? Daphne wasn’t there to see the purported exchange of rings, so Claude had no need to fake making the exchange!

[Piper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommendation from Lola, needed a boost to convince myself I can reach my reading goal by the end of the year.

[Jina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha! I really should’ve guessed this one. But nope.. it got me!
Listened to audio book read by Hugh Fraser.

[Emma Gallacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great twist although I guessed it halfway I have to admit!!

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we have a story of a guilt ridden lady who stole a ring and knew it was wrong. She wants it returned but doesn’t know how to without creating more issues. So, she comes to Pyne to see assistance.

What I feel will become an issue the more I read these short stories is, why does Agatha Christie keep referring to the gentleman as “Mr Parker Pyne”. Surely ‘Parker’ or “Pyne” will do and the reader will still know who she is talking about.

[Rolf · Rating 2 out of 5]

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. I wasn’t a fan of the heavy-handed moralism of this entry, largely because of how judgmental it was of the titular lady.

[Akemi G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this. The third story of the Parker Pyne series, and Christie throws a curve ball.
Do I count this as a case in which a servant is the culprit? (A rarity with Christie) Although this is only an attempted theft.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the more clever short stories, I have had the privilege of reading. The story sounds reasonable enough from the beginning, but the end shows us a completely different aspect. Kudos to Dame Christie!

[Jini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too complicated. Did the scheming woman count on the fact that when Claude substituted the ring at the party, he would bring it back to Pyne and therefore to the woman herself? That's a big risk. And if so, why is she surprised when Pyne hands over a ring to her?

[Pritom Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

ছোট গল্প হলেও বেশ মজার।

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars