Christie, Agatha - Three Act Tragedy / Murder in Three Acts (1935)
Review by Nick Fuller
4/5
A Christie which feels more like an Anthony Berkeley, with its cast of socialites, intellectuals and theatricals, its opening murder at a cocktail party, and both the murderer's identity and his gambit. Throughout, Christie's writing is witty and sophisticated, and the characterisation of the leading roles is very good. Although Poirot is present when an inoffensive clergyman is poisoned at a cocktail party given by the actor Sir Charles Cartwright, he doesn't really begin to detect properly until page 117. The murderer's identity is quite surprising, although it's one Christie will use several times throughout the 1930s. His plan, though, is improbable and very risky.
Note that this is one of two occasions on which Poirot meets Mr Satterthwaite (from The Mysterious Mr Quin).
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