The Harlequin Tea Set

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio.

It’s been many years since Mr. Satterthwaite has seen Mr. Harley Quin, so when Satterthwaite, awaiting his broken down car, goes to a tea shop called the Harlequin café, he begins to think of his friend.

A self-described snob, Satterthwaite orders coffee and examines the coloured china when a bolt of sunlight comes in and the very same Mr. Quin walks through the door. Enigmatic as ever Mr. Quin and his diligent dog Hermes stay for a Turkish coffee with the excitable Satterthwaite whilst the car is fixed, and Satterthwaite cannot help but bore Mr. Quin with the very long history of the family he is off to visit.

Their conversation is interrupted by the abrupt entrance of the member of that very same family intent upon replacing her harlequin cups. Satterthwaite desperately persuades Quin to accompany him, but, all the bereft Satterthwaite is left with is one word, ‘Daltonism.’ What is the importance of Quin turning up at the tea shop on that day and what does that word have to do with anything?

Reviews

‘The plots are so good that one marvels … most of them would have made a full length thriller.’ Daily Mirror

About the author

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.