Towards Zero

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Towards Zero (published in 1943), is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie. It is the last to feature her recurring character of Superintendent Battle.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Murder Method(s) 3 Characters 4 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations 5 External links

[edit] Plot summary

All events lead towards murder or towards zero

What a failed suicide attempt, a set of petty thefts falsely pinned on a schoolgirl and a group of people meeting in one place have to do with each other needs to be determined.

Lady Camilla invites her guests to her seaside house in Gulls Point and some guests start to quarrel with one another. Neville Strange, the tennis star, invites both his old wife and his new one and these two ladies invite two more men creating more love triangles than could ever be hoped. Mr Treves tells tales of child murders and children murdering each other. Soon, old Mr Treves dies seemingly of a heart attack. Then Lady Camilla is found murdered. Superintendent Battle solves this mystery along with his nephew Inspector James Leach.

[edit] Murder Method(s)

One blow to the head Induced Heart Attack

[edit] Characters

• Lady Camilla Tressilian, host of her seaside home
• Mary Aldin, Lady Camilla's somewhat secretary
• Neville Strange, a handsome tennis player
• Kay Strange, his beautiful second wife
• Audrey Strange, Strange's beautiful first wife
• Edward (Ted) Latimer, Kay's friend
• Thomas Royde, Audrey's distant cousin
• Mr. Treves, Lady Camilla's solicitor
• Andrew MacWhirter, a man who tries to commit suicide
• Inspector James Leach, Battle's nephew
• Superintendent Battle, who solves the case with his nephew

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1956, Christie adapted the book into a play. The novel has been adapted by Geraldine McEwan as part of the third season of her Miss Marple canon.

In 1995, a film company was going to turn Towards Zero into a film and included such issues as incest. Rosalind Hicks, Agatha Christie's daughter, reviewed the script and ordered that the name of the film be changed as well as the names of the characters. The film became Innocent Lies and was met with mediocre success.

[edit] External links

• http://www.all-about-agatha-christie.com/towards-zero.html

Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Death on the Nile • Dumb Witness • Appointment with Death • And Then There Were None • Murder is Easy • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Sad Cypress • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Sparkling Cyanide • Death Comes as the End • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • A Pocket Full of Rye • After the Funeral • Hickory Dickory Dock • Destination Unknown • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Hound of Death • The Thirteen Problems • Parker Pyne Investigates • The Listerdale Mystery • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • Poirot's Early Cases • The Harlequin Tea Set
Plays: Akhnaton • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three