Three-Act Tragedy
Dust-jacket illustration of the US (true first) edition.
|
|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Dodd, Mead and Company |
|
Publication date
|
1934 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 279 first edition, hardback |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Parker Pyne Investigates |
| Followed by | Death in the Clouds |
Three Act Tragedy is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie first published in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1934 under the title Murder in Three Acts and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in January 1935 under Christie's original title. The US edition retailed at $2.00 and the UK edition at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6).
The book features Hercule Poirot, supported by his friend Mr Satterthwaite, and is the one book in which Satterthwaite collaborates with Poirot. Satterthwaite previously appeared in the stories featuring Harley Quin, in particular those collected in The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930). The novel was adapted for television twice, first in 1986 as Murder in Three Acts, and again in 2010 as Three Act Tragedy.
Sir Charles Cartwright hosts a dinner party at his home in Cornwall. His guests include Hercule Poirot, Dr. Bartholomew Strange, Lady Mary Lytton Gore and her daughter Hermione, Captain Dacres and his wife Cynthia, Muriel Wills, Oliver Manders, Mr Satterthwaite, and the Reverend Babbington and his wife. During the party, Babbington suddenly dies after sipping one of the cocktails being served. Despite Cartwright believing it was murder, an investigation finds no poison in Babbington's glass, and his death is ruled as natural causes. Sometime later, when visiting Monte Carlo, Poirot is met by Satterthwaite and Cartwright with news that Dr Strange died suddenly after drinking a glass of port, while hosting a party at his home in Yorkshire. The coroner ruled that he died from nicotine poisoning, despite no poison being found in his glass. Babbington's body is later exhumed, given the similarities between the two deaths, whereupon it is found he died of the exact same causes.
With help from Satterthwaite and Cartwright, Poirot learns that the guests that attended the party were the same ones from Cartwright's party, with the exception of himself, Cartwright and Satterthwaite. One guest, Manders, arrived to the party in an unusual way, having crashed his motorcycle into a wall in front of Strange's home. Prior to the party, Strange had sent his usual butler away on a two-month vacation, hiring a temporary butler named Ellis to stand in for them, who has since disappeared after the murder. Ellis proves a mystery for Poirot: both Satterthwaite and Cartwright later find evidence that showed Ellis was blackmailing Dr Strange; a serving maid remarks that he did his butler's duties in a strange manner; Wills recalls that she noticed something odd at the party, along with the fact that Ellis had a birthmark on his right hand. Sometime later, Wills disappears.
...
Wikipedia