Title:Â The Veiled Lady
Author(s) Name(s):Â Agatha Christie
Published in:Â October, 1923
Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy
- classic thrillers,
- fast-paced stories,
- short stories,
- crime investigation, and
- detective stories.
Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike
- NA
Recommended for children? Yes, for adolescents and teenagers.
“The Veiled Lady” was first published as “The Case of The Veiled Lady” in October 1923. It’s a super short story, one you can finish reading easily, which is also funny enough to get you out of boredom. Talking about boredom, that is how this story begins: Hercule Poirot is terribly bored because there is no interesting case coming their way, and his companion, Captain Hastings gets to witness that first-hand and listen to his rants. This is where the author adds some humour, in the dialogue between these two men.
“They fear me, Hastings; the criminals of your England, they fear me! When the cat is there, the little mice, they come no more to the cheese!”
“I don’t suppose the greater part of them even know of your existence!”, I said laughing.
I picked up the paper. “Here’s an Englishman mysteriously done to death in Holland,” I said.
“They always say that – and later they find that he ate the tinned fish and his death was perfectly natural.”
In this short story, a rich, aristocrat woman from a royal family secretly approaches Hercule Poirot, seeking his help, hoping he would be able to get her out of a blackmail situation. According to her, one Mr Lavington possesses an old love letter she had written to a soldier and is using this letter to blackmail her to pay him a huge amount, threatening her that if she failed to do so, he would give this letter to the man she is engaged to.
When Poirot aks her how she expects him to be of help, she explains that she wants him to steal the letter from him. Anyway, Poirot is bored, so he accepts the case. But in this case, Poirot surprises Hastings by doing things he would not have expected of Poirot, like breaking in and entering the house of Mr Levington. Would Poirot engage in theft and robbery? As much as Hastings hates that man Levington and wants to help the innocent lady, he does not approve of Poirot’s ways, but he is in for a surprise. There is more to the story, it is not just a letter, but as always, Poirot successfully solves the case, surprising Hastings, and bragging about his smartness – and we all can agree that Poirot is smart! This a smooth short story, one that does not have much violence or even dark crime, so this might be a good read even for children who are adolescents or teenagers.
The Veiled Lady would be a good place to restart your reading journey or to get back into the world of thrillers after a long gap or a good story to start your thriller reading with. It’s a fast-paced, entertaining, quick read, so I would give this a 5-star rating.
