谜样的鬼艳先生 (1930)

The Mysterious Mr Quin is a short story collection by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by William Collins & Sons on 14 April 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.00.

Each chapter or story involves a separate mystery that is solved through the interaction between the characters of Mr Satterthwaite, an elderly socialite, and the eponymous Mr Quin who appears almost magically at the most opportune moments and disappears just as mysteriously.

In her foreword to the collection, Christie states: "Mr Quin, I consider, is an epicure's taste." (HarperCollins 2017 p. vii) Her husband Max Mallowan described the stories as "detection written in a fanciful vein, touching on the fairy story, a natural product of Agatha's peculiar imagination." Christie's favourite stories were 'The World's End', 'The Man from the Sea' and 'Harlequin's Lane'. (p. viii)

Characters

Mr Satterthwaite is aged 62 in the first story, in the sixth story he is 69, and in another work 'The Harlequin Tea Set' (which takes place "a large number of years" after 'The Mysterious Mr Quin'), he is "now of an advanced age". He is first described as "a little bent, dried-up man with a peering face oddly elflike, and an intense and inordinate interest in other people's lives. All his life, so to speak, he had sat in the front row of the stalls watching various dramas of human nature unfold before him." (HarperCollins, 2017 p. 1)

In her foreword, Christie describes Satterthwaite as "[t]he gossip, the looker-on at life, the little man who without ever touching the depths of joy and sorrow himself, recognizes drama when he sees it […]". (p. viii)

He is described as "given to old-fashioned expressions" (p. 74) and as "sentimental and Victorian" (p. 244). Like Hercule Poirot, he is habitually "polite" (p. 100). He is a wealthy "gentleman", with a Rolls-Royce driven by a chauffeur named Masters, and a cordon bleu chef (p. 53). He is known as an art collector, which features prominently in 'The Dead Harlequin'. He hires a box at the Royal Opera House on Tuesdays and Fridays during the season. He is fond of the company of the social elite: "In his way, a harmless, gentlemanly, old-fashioned way, Mr. Satterthwaite was a snob." (p. 265)

After their first encounter, Satterthwaite greets Quin warmly whenever he meets him and refers to him as "my dear friend" (p. 230).

Mr Harley Quin is first described as "tall and slender [...] a thin dark man" with a "pleasant level voice" (p. 7). Often in the stories, through some trick of the light, he appears to be momentarily "dressed in every colour of the rainbow" and his face seems to be masked, alluding to the traditional harlequin motley and mask. Rather than solving mysteries directly, Mr Quin guides others to make deductions: Satterthwaite describes Quin as a "catalyst" (p. 134). Mr Quin frequents Arlecchino restaurant in Soho and a country inn called The Bells and Motley.

Christie, in her foreword, describes Mr Quin as "not quite human and yet concerned with the affairs of human beings and particularly of lovers. He is also an advocate for the dead." (p. viii)

As the stories progress, Christie hints more strongly at Quin's supernatural nature. In 'The Sign in the Sky', Satterthwaite refers to Quin as "a man of magic" (p. 79). In 'The Man From The Sea', Quin explains that he appeared because he had a "commission to perform" as an "advocate for the dead" (p. 157). In 'The Bird with the Broken Wing', a character who meets Quin describes him as like a "lost soul" (p. 247). In 'The Dead Harlequin', when someone asks Quin why he intervened after witnessing a murder (seemingly invisibly) many years earlier, Quin replies: "So that the dead may rest in peace" (p. 236). In the final story of the collection, a character says "Harlequin is only a myth, an invisible presence. Unless […] his name is — Death!" (p. 333)

Plot summaries

The Coming of Mr Quin

It is New Year's Eve and a house party is taking place at Royston, the country house of Tom Evesham and his wife, Lady Laura. Among the guests are Mr Satterthwaite, Sir Richard Conway and Alex Portal and his Australian wife of two years, Eleanor. Satterthwaite finds her intriguing on many counts, especially why a blonde would dye her hair dark when the reverse is more common. After the clocks strike midnight, the older members among the guests mention Derek Capel, the previous owner of Royston, who committed suicide ten years previously, seemingly without reason. Tom Evesham stops this conversation and a few minutes later the women retire to bed.

Left to their whisky and the fire, the men restart the conversation regarding Capel. There is a sudden knock on the door. It is a stranger; the lights through the stained glass above the door cast a multi-coloured look over his motoring clothes. Mr Harley Quin asks for shelter while his chauffeur repairs his broken-down car. He knows this part of the world and knew Derek Capel, and he skilfully steers the conversation round to the question of why Capel should suddenly take his own life. Satterthwaite feels that Quin's appearance on this night is no accident. As the discussion continues, Satterthwaite spots Eleanor Portal crouched down in the darkness at the top of the stairs listening in.