Acorn Media continues to release the stellar, David Suchet series of Agatha Christie's Poirot in their original British broadcast order, and, of course, on Blu-ray. Now, you can own the eight mysteries of the fifth series from 1993 that follow a variety of storylines from various Christie works. If you're a longtime fan of the strange little Belgian, you may have already read the stories, and you've probably seen them before. But that's not going to stop you from collecting these nuggets of mystery, and the wonderful portrayal by Suchet himself. Besides, one must watch something to tide the hunger for Poirot until the upcoming "Curtain!"

Quite a few of the mysteries are taken from Poirot Investigates, a collection of Christie short stories. The first mystery, "The Adventures of the Egyptian Tomb," is one of them, along with "The Case Of The Missing Will," "The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman," "The Chocolate Box" (only in the American version of the collection), and "The Jewelry Robbery At The Grand Metropolitan." "The Underdog" comes from The Adventures of the Christmas Pudding, "Yellow Iris" comes from The Regatta Mystery, and "Dead Man's Mirror" comes from Murder in the Mews.

The set begins with a mystery around the now "typical" curse from entering an Egyptian tomb, as fans of Christie will recognize her frequent use of archaeology and historic sites. ("Death on the Nile" and "Murder in Mesopotamia" would later re-visit that sort of mystery.) Another typical Christie motif, in which Poirot is invited to visit or dine with someone and murder occurs at the party, leads off "The Underdog," where business and politics combine to make a tasty, murderous stew. (Of course, we're treated to the string of stories which include Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran), who I honestly didn't remember, as well as Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson), who I will compare to Sherlock Holmes' Lestrade.) Two of the mysteries, "Yellow Iris" and "Italian Nobleman," revolve around old stories, with the first finding Poirot solving a CBS special, that is, solving a cold case that he wasn't able to unravel before, and the second allowing for him to tell Japp of an early case.

Overall, it's always fun to catch these on Blu-ray thanks to the Acorn collection. I don't know that hopping in midway here is going to make you a fan. I still find myself likingThe Murder on the Orient Express the most, but the strange little man certainly grows on you. I can't imagine anyone else as Poirot, in much the same way I can't see anyone other than Peter Falk as Columbo. Sure, they've recreated Sherlock Holmes with a bit of Robert Downey Jr., but I don't believe there'll ever be another David Suchet as Poirot.