Three Act Tragedy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Reissue cover of Three Act Tragedy |
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| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Series | Hercule Poirot |
| Genre(s) | Detective fiction, Mystery novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Released | 1934 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 224 pp (reissue) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-425-09180-5 (reissue) |
| Preceded by | Murder on the Orient Express |
| Followed by | Death in the Clouds |
Three Act Tragedy (published in 1934), also known as Murder in Three Acts, is a murder mystery novel by Agatha Christie. It features Hercule Poirot and Mr. Satterthwaite.
[edit] Plot summary
When a clergyman dies at a dinner party thrown by theater actor, Sir Charles Cartwright, it is thought by nearly everyone (Poirot included) to be an accidental death. Shortly afterwards, however, a second death in suspiciously similar circumstances and with many of the same people present puts both Poirot and a team of sleuths on the trail of a poisoner whose motive is not clear.
The solution to this mystery is one of Christie's classic pieces of misdirection and is a plot device that has been widely imitated. Poirot reveals that the first murder - in which the murderer could not have predicted who would get the poisoned glass and had no motive to kill the eventual victim - had only been a "dress rehearsal" for the second murder.
[edit] Trivia
- This is the one book where Satterthwaite collaborates with Poirot. He plays the detective, in a couple of other books with the help of Mr Harley Quin, with the stories bordering on the supernatural at times.
- The novel is also notable for having the first clear statement by Poirot of two aspects of his character: first, that he can speak idiomatic English but chooses not to; and secondly that he plays up his apparent vanity. In both cases he says that he does this because it encourages the suspects to underestimate him.
- The very last remark made by Poirot, at the end of the book, is very characteristic of him. When Mr. Satterthwaite exclaims that he might have been the one who got poisoned during the first round, Poirot says "It could have been worse. It could have been ME!"
- Colonel Johnson alludes to the murder in part 3, section V of Hercule Poirot's Christmas.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
A 1986 television film was made under the title Murder in Three Acts, starring Peter Ustinov and Tony Curtis, which relocated the action to Acapulco. Mr Satterthwaite was replaced by Hastings.
A radio production was made for the BBC in 2003, starring John Moffatt (Poirot), Beth Chalmers (Egg Lytten Gore, the heroine) and Clive Merrison (Sir Bartholomew).
