Poirot's Early Cases is a collection of short stories of Agatha Christie's beloved detective, Hercule Poirot. The book has a dozen and a half titles, including The Chocolate Box, The Affair at the Victory Ball, and The Plymouth Express. The individual stories themselves were published between 1923 and 1935.

This book might be my least favorite book from the author. There are a lot of promising premises that were introduced in the book, but all of them are very raw and don't have enough time to be developed before the author decided to end the story. I also found the characters very flat and two-dimensional, which is very disappointing given the author's track record, very far from her usual intricate story and deep characterizations.

With those being said, the main appeal of this book is probably the title character himself and the cases that he's trying to solve. The methodical yet deceitful detective must not only exercise his mind against criminals, but also his heart to save the innocents. For some few stories, the short format worked quite well in effectively delivering a setup and a revelation of the mystery. Although, in the end, I can't help but desiring more from the stories given the author's usual  standards.