THE BIG FOUR

AGATHA CHRISTIE

A DELL BOOK

Published by
DELL PUBLISHING CO., INC.
750 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10017
Copyright 1927 by Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc.
Copyright renewed 1955 by Agatha Christie Mallowan
All rights reserved. For information contact
Dodd, Mead & Company.
Dell ® TM 681510, Dell Publishing Co., Inc.
Reprinted by arrangement with
Dodd, Mead & Company
New York, New York 10016
Printed in the United States of America
Previous Dell Edition #0562
New Dell Edition
First printing—June 1972

CONTENTS

1.[THE UNEXPECTED GUEST]
2.[THE MAN FROM THE ASYLUM]
3.[WE HEAR MORE ABOUT LI CHANG YEN]
4.[THE IMPORTANCE OF A LEG OF MUTTON]
5.[DISAPPEARANCE OF A SCIENTIST]
6.[THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS]
7.[THE RADIUM THIEVES]
8.[IN THE HOUSE OF THE ENEMY]
9.[THE YELLOW JASMINE MYSTERY]
10.[ WE INVESTIGATE AT CROFTLANDS]
11.[A CHESS PROBLEM]
12.[THE BAITED TRAP]
13.[THE MOUSE WALKS IN]
14.[THE PEROXIDE BLONDE]
15.[THE TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE]
16.[THE DYING CHINAMAN]
17.[NUMBER FOUR WINS A TRICK]
18.[IN THE FELSENLABYRYNTH]

THE BIG FOUR

1. THE UNEXPECTED GUEST

I have met people who enjoy a channel crossing; men who can sit calmly in their deck-chairs and, on arrival, wait until the boat is moored, then gather their belongings together without fuss and disembark. Personally, I can never manage this. From the moment I get on board I feel that the time is too short to settle down to anything. I move my suit-cases from one spot to another, and if I go down to the saloon for a meal, I bolt my food with an uneasy feeling that the boat may arrive unexpectedly whilst I am below. Perhaps all this is merely a legacy from one's short leaves in the war, when it seemed a matter of such importance to secure a place near the gangway, and to be amongst the first to disembark lest one should waste precious minutes of one's three or five days' leave.