Advent Calendar Day 7 : Agatha Christie
There’s a particular pleasure in reading a tidy, well-polished mystery while the winter dark settles early and the house smells faintly of orange peel and spice. On Day 7 I reach for Agatha Christie not for something bleak or noir, but for a short collection that feels like a warmed glass of something sweet: crisp, clever, and just a little indulgent.
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (also published simply as Christmas Pudding) gathers a handful of Christie’s short stories — mostly Poirot, with one charming turn from Miss Marple — and dresses them in holiday trimmings. The title tale places Poirot in an English country house at Christmas, where a missing jewel, eccentric relatives, and too much pudding combine into a puzzle that only his calm little grey cells can unravel. Other stories in the volume — the witty twists of The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, the haunting suggestion in The Dream, the domestic unease of The Under Dog — all carry Christie’s signature precision, but with a gentler seasonal hue.
🇺🇸 World of Books | 🇬🇧 World of Books | 🇫🇷 Momox Shop
A short note on how and why I share book links
What I adore about these stories is how the festive setting softens rather than diminishes Christie’s craft. Snow muffles footsteps; parlour rooms glow with lamplight; guests exchange pleasantries that thinly veil rivalries and regrets. The holiday becomes a kind of lens: familiar rituals and gatherings reveal the small hypocrisies and the unexpected kindnesses that make people interesting. Christie delights in that contrast — the cosy surface and the tangled motives underneath.
Rereading these tales in December feels like stepping into a small, exquisitely arranged performance. The plots reward attention, yes, but they also invite a slower form of reading: noticing the domestic details, the clipped lines of dialogue, the little human gestures that mean more at the year’s end. There is humour here, and there is tenderness, and there is that peculiar comfort in seeing order restored — not because chaos never happens, but because someone notices, attends, and gently sets things right.
Before you close this book, try this tiny ritual :
Find a small object in your home that feels like a token of this season — a sprig, a ribbon, a pressed scrap of card.
Hold it for a moment and imagine it placed into the scene of a Christie story: on a mantelpiece in a country house, beside a cracked teacup, or tucked inside a pocket of a wool coat.
Ask yourself: Who would find it? What small truth might it reveal about them?
Keep the image for a breath. If it feels right, send that imagined character a sentence — a line of care, mischief, or revelation — as a comment below. Let it be a tiny offering to our shared ritual of stories.
Alas, Christie’s mysteries remind us that even the most ordinary gatherings hold secrets worth listening for. In the hush between carols and conversation, there is always a story waiting to be noticed.
Written by Alexandra Poppy
Writer, reader & curator of The Ritual of Reading
I’m Alexandra, the voice behind The Ritual of Reading. Somewhere between a stack of novels and a half-finished pot of tea, I keep finding traces of the life I want to live—slower, richer, filled with stories. The Ritual of Reading is where I gather what I love: books that linger, places with a past, and rituals that make ordinary days feel a little more meaningful. I write from Paris, where elegant bookshops and old-fashioned cafĂ©s offer endless inspiration—and I share it here, hoping it brings a spark to your own days, too.
