The little Belgian detective is back! In this seventh volume of episodes from the tremendously popular British series, Hercule Poirot is on the case for three excellent mysteries. These episodes are the first three of the show's fifth season, originally airing in 1993; all are based on original short stories by Agatha Christie. "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb" was originally published in 1924, "The Underdog" in 1926, and "Yellow Iris" in 1937.

Poirot: Collector's Set 7 opens with "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb." At the excavation site of an Egyptian pharaoh in Cairo, mysterious death seems to be stalking the archaeologists; some say that it's the work of an ancient curse, but Poirot is on the lookout for more human motives at work. This is a solid, entertaining episode that ably handles its cast of characters (or should we say, suspects and victims) and offers an interesting conclusion.

"The Underdog" is the highlight of this set: it's a perfectly constructed Poirot story, with several threads of mysterious goings-on deftly interwoven to create a mystery that will keep viewers intrigued from start to finish. Poirot's interest in Belgian bronze sculptures, Hasting's passion for golf, a chemist's top-secret formula, and a possible connection to the German rearmament all end up as elements in a puzzling murder case. The characters and the various threads of the story are all presented extremely well, so that the viewer always knows who's who, and the plot twists are interesting and unexpected (yet logical in retrospect).

Finally, "Yellow Iris" is another standout episode. It's structured quite differently from the typical Poirot story, but it pulls it off nicely. When Poirot discovers a yellow iris left on his doorstep by an unknown person, it reminds him of an unsolved case of two years' earlier. The central portion of the episode is an extended flashback of Poirot's trip to Argentina and his abortive investigation into the death of a British heiress under suspicious circumstances. When we return to the story's present, Poirot decides to take on the case once again. Like "The Underdog," this episode is extremely well paced and entertaining, with an intriguing mystery unfolding bit by bit. After watching as many Poirot episodes as I have, admittedly I spotted one of the plot twists ahead of time, but the final resolution caught me by surprise.

As always, the "Art Deco" atmosphere of Poirot's 1930s-era England is recreated with loving care and attention to detail, and certainly contributes to the charm of the show. And also as always, David Suchet is impeccable as Poirot, capturing the character's precise balance of fussiness and passion for justice, of eccentricity and keen intellect. While Inspector Japp isn't present in any of these stories, Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) appear in all three, much to my appreciation: these characters add a nice spark of humor and humanity to the stories.

The DVD

Video

Poirot: Collector's Set 7 looks reasonably good; the image quality in Set 7 is actually a step up from what we've seen in several of the recent Collector's Set releases. While the image is consistently soft and a bit grainy, it's reasonably bright and clear, with natural-looking (if slightly muted) colors, a clean print, and satisfactory contrast. Both indoor and outdoor scenes look acceptable. The episodes are presented in their original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is perfectly satisfactory for these dialogue-based episodes. The actors' voices are always clean and distinct, and the theme music and background sound effects are correctly balanced with the dialogue track, making for a pleasant listening experience.

Extras

The standard Poirot bonus material is included: biographies of David Suchet and Agatha Christie, cast filmographies, and information on Agatha Christie.

Final thoughts

Poirot: Collector's Set 7 is a particularly outstanding volume in a very entertaining series. Not only is this a must-buy for fans of the series, it's a great starting point for any viewer who'd like to sample this great mystery program. Highly recommended.