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Three Act Tragedy: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
Three Act Tragedy: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
Three Act Tragedy: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition
Audiobook5 hours

Three Act Tragedy: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition

Written by Agatha Christie

Narrated by Hugh Fraser

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

In Agatha Christie’s classic, Three Act Tragedy, the normally unflappable Hercule Poirot faces his most baffling investigation: the seemingly motiveless murder of the thirteenth guest at dinner party, who choked to death on a cocktail containing not a trace of poison.

Sir Charles Cartwright should have known better than to allow thirteen guests to sit down for dinner. For at the end of the evening one of them is dead—choked by a cocktail that contained no trace of poison.

Predictable, says Hercule Poirot, the great detective. But entirely unpredictable is that he can find absolutely no motive for murder.…

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateJul 3, 2012
ISBN9780062233981
Author

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in over 70 foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 20 plays, and six novels written under the name of Mary Westmacott.

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Reviews for Three Act Tragedy

Rating: 4.330357142857143 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

224 ratings36 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A renowned but retired British actor throws a dinner party at his country home, where the village vicar unexpectedly drops dead. Was it ... murder?! No one seems to think so except the actor, his friend Satterthwaite ("A dried-up little pipkin of a man"), and the actor's erstwhile young lover, Miss Hermione Lytton Gore (Egg to you, if you please). Even Hercule Poirot, who was a guest at the party, pooh-poohs the idea.But when one of the other guests at that party, a nerve doctor named Strange, throws his own dinner party with more or less the same guest list back in London some months later, another death occurs and suddenly no one is pooh-poohing anything, least of all Poirot.Another twisty plot from the queen of twisty plots, as the spotlight of suspicion falls plausibly on one after another of the characters. Poirot's part is seemingly minor, except that he is the one in the end who solves the seemingly unsolvable mystery. Additional kudos to Dame Agatha for structuring a mystery involving denizens of the theater scene as a play: Act One, the first murder; Act Two, the second murder and the amateur investigation; Act Three, the unmasking of the murderer. Or, as she says in the mock Production Notes at the beginning, Illumination by Hercule Poirot. Bravo!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Always enjoyable the way the background is established and the reader leans toward one perpetrator then finds out the real criminal and the answer to why in the last chapter.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great book. I enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Retired actor Sir Charles Cartwright throws a house party in his Cornwall home. He invites several locals to have dinner with his house guests. During the cocktail hour, the local reverend suddenly drops dead. The Harley Street specialist/house guest and the local doctor both attribute the death to natural causes, but are they mistaken? Could it be murder?As the title implies, the novel is structured in three “acts.” The action shifts from Cornwall to Monte Carlo, London, and Yorkshire, and to points in between. A large part of the book is narrated from the vantage point of Mr. Satterthwaite, who first appeared in the short story collection The Mysterious Mr. Quin. Nevertheless, it is Hercule Poirot who solves the crime and reveals the culprit.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another superb plot with perfectly believable characters from the master of mystery
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A local vicar keels over dead at an actor's dinner party. His death is assumed to be natural until a knighted neurologist suffers a similar fate at his own home. The actor and a couple of friends decide to investigate, and M. Poirot, who has retired from detecting, can't resist the opportunity to help.I particularly enjoyed the character of Egg, an ambitious young lady; none of the others had much to them. Ms. Christie has some fun with the "three acts" idea. Overall there isn't much to it, other than some typical Poirot cleverness at the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I remember feeling, when I first read this book many years ago, that there was something "off" about it. Something didn't quite work. When I reread it recently I was left with the same feeling. And it is one that it difficult to clearly articulate.

    Warning, past here there be spoilers.

    Perhaps the clearest way of explaining it is to say that I think that this would be a far better play than a novel. On stage the things that, in my opinion, worked against it might actually work for it. (Not to mention the wonderfully meta quality of staging a play about a murder that was basically staged and rehearsed much like a play.

    Since he has no Hastings to function as Watson to his Holmes Poirot is forced to discuss the murders in the book with a number of different characters who cannot successfully fill in for the missing Hastings. Poirot does not have the type of relationship with any of these characters that would justify his opening up to (or, for that matter, misleading) them. In order to "play fair" with the reader Christie must provide a limited view into the minds of the various subsidiary characters whose POVs advance the plot since to do otherwise would have immediately given away "whodunnit."

    The characters seem to be rather vaguely "realized" functioning more as types than as individual people and I felt uninvested in any of them on first reading or on rereading. Their failure to come off the page was particularly noticeable in the latter chapters of the book when I often felt that whenever one character, particularly Poirot, was speaking the other characters froze into immobility or faded from the scene. This is especially true in the dramatic "all is revealed" scene when I was as a reader distracted by the lack of distracting responses from the other people in the room.

    In short, what would have been an enjoyable play presented instead as a serviceable book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Nice change of pace since the investigation is carried out by three characters that don't include Poirot at first. Very surprising resolution which you just don't expect but no deus ex machina here, it all makes perfect sense. I quite liked the touches of romance here and there which are reminiscent of the earlier books. It's no Orient Express but it's such a good read on a rainy afternoon.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Poirot is not as present as in some, but it is a ripping yarn, and read SO well!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This one was just okay, I found that I wasn’t invested in this mystery as much as some of the ones that I have read previously. I feel like the romance and the fact that Poirot wasn’t really in this story as much detracted from my enjoyment of it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Hercule Poirot was actually NOT the star of this novel. What a shock! Who knew it was possible for someone to overshadow Poirot?? But Christie found a way. I enjoyed it immensely, but I would have liked a bit more Poirot. I also liked the way the murder was turned into a play by use of references throughout the book. Interesting plot twists too - and expert trickery of course.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Continuing on in my summer Agatha Christie challenge, I come to Three Act Tragedy. This is my first Hercule Poirot book and I was a little disappointed. I thought he would figure more prominently in the book but after dismissing the first death as accidentally in the beginning of the book we don't hear much more from him until the end. He does not hold the same appeal Miss Marple does for me, at least in this book. I will see if I like him any better as I read other books featuring him this summer. The central mystery at the heart of this novel was not that engaging for me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of in the beginning and that was somewhat confusing, although that did get easier as the novel went on. Like in the previous AC mystery I reviewed, the solution was presented in the final pages. I had rather liked the murderer so that was disappointing although Eggs did seem to get her happy ever after. I am off to view the Masterpiece Classic film of Three Act tragedy. Perhaps when I view it on film, I will like it better. If this had been the first AC I read I might have given up on the challenge. I will see if Endless Night is more to my liking.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent. Only problem is there aren’t any more being written!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Christie’s book do get better if you read them in chronological order. I found the motive convincing, and the reveal held together better than some of the earlier Poirot books. Also, I can more easily overlook Christie’s casual anti-semitism, because Oliver does get the girl in the end. Still, thus far, Murder on the Orient Express is the one I’ve enjoyed the most.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A series of murders involving an egocentric actor.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The more I read Agatha Christie's mysteries the more I like them. It seems like with every new volume there's an extra something that makes them more than just an engaging riddle. Either I'm reading the books with a more pronounced human element or I'm just noticing it more and somehow I'm inclined to think that it is the latter. I really liked Mr. Satterthwaite, the intelligent little man with an absolutely unpronounceable name and a way with people. The Lytton Gore ladies were my "human element" here introducing the subject of being able to see people for who they really are and not in the way Poirot does it. They made mistakes sometimes, sure, but their perceptions felt warm and uncalculating. I liked these characters more than the rest particularly because we learned more about them as people than we did about any of the others and that is really my only gripe - the rest of the cast are barely fleshed out and I wish we knew a little more about them. Of course I didn't figure out who the culprit was even though I suspected everyone. It almost detracted from the story, this constant watchfulness, attentiveness to every word and trying to see in what way it could be a clue, whether it could be a clue. I really need to turn off that part of my brain next time and just enjoy the story. Learn from my mistakes, my friends!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    i read my first agatha christie book in fifth grade when my teacher, mr. mccandless, suggested i read one of her books. i picked up "the mirror crack'd" and was hooked. i've only read a couple of her books but everytime i read one i fall in love with it. i re-read "the mirror crack'd" senior year of high school and did a report oh ms. agatha, but i haven't read any of her books since. i picked up this one because i needed a nice, fun, short book to read while i was waiting for our annual hanukkah trip to barnes and noble. once agian, i wasn't dissapointed. i was positive i knew who it was- or at least i had an idea, but when i got to the end, i was wrong. very wrong. i had expected exactly who agatha wanted me to expect. i was so bummed, too, because i normally don't fall for stuff like that. i see right through silly twists and turns in a murder mystery- but agatha is too smart for me. i don't think i've read a true murder mystery in a long time, and when i finished my mouth fell open and i was shocked at who did it. i need to read more of her books.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not something I would read again, although I didn't skip to the end to find out "whodunnit" until the 2nd or 3rd-to-last chapter....
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie - good

    So, I'm an Agatha Christie addict. I'm slowly working through her books as I find them in charity shops or bookcrossing and use them as comfort reading when I need respite from something heavy going or my annual stats are down & I need a quick read. This time it was the stats.

    Of course, this one has been adapted for TV and I've seen it and, more to the point, can actually remember the plot. Normally that doesn't spoil it for me but, for a change, the TV version stuck very closely to the book and I knew from page 1 'whodonit'.

    Still a good read, enough
    changes from my remembrances to make it worthwhile and of course, written

    to the usual AC standards. Not too many ouch moments with the use of

    non-pc language either. A good read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is vintage Christie and an enjoyable read. Who would want to murder a kind old vicar at a house party and follow it up by murdering a famous psychiatrist at another house party? That is the puzzle facing three amateur sleuths who, despite their analysis of the events, can't come to any conclusion. It is up to Hercule Poirot who was actually a guest at the scene of the first murder to use his little gray cells and uncover the murderer.The book is divided into three acts, much like an actual play with a murder occurring in each act. Many of the characters come from the theater: Sir Charles Cartwright the retired actor and one of the sleuths, a female playwright who sees too much, an attractive,although aging actress. Add to the mix a charming young woman who is the second sleuth, her maybe former beau, a bookie and his fashion designer wife plus sundry butlers, secretaries, housekeepers. Hercule Poirot is joined by the third amateur sleuth Mr Satterthwaite, a character who was last seen in the Harly Quinn short stories.About a third of the way through the novel I remembered who the murderer was and I enjoyed picking out the clues as Christie laid them down. She certainly plays fair in this one and I think the novel has one of the best last lines in her entire canon.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another splendid Hercule Poirot book. Can't wait to begin another adventure with Monsieur Poirot
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have a soft spot for this story as I like the idea of applying a three act structure to a novel. Its not classic Christie, but it passes the time very nicely all the same.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    In which a clergyman dies at dinner – with no apparent motive or reason – and it’s only the beginning…

    On the one hand, it features a varied cast of characters, including a charismatic actor friend of Poirot’s, Sir Charles Cartwright, who dominates the proceedings. Cartwright was played by Tony Curtis in the Ustinov film, and Martin Shaw in the lovely Suchet adaptation, and is the best thing about both the novel and the films. The structure of the murders is well-conceived and elaborate without feeling contrived. The structure imposed by the title makes sense both thematically and narratively. The reveal will hopefully be surprising for all first-time readers, as it is cleverly done.

    On the other hand (does this belie everything I just said?), once the surprise wears off, I find "Three Act Tragedy" to be a bit of a bore. In retrospect, the surprise is never a shock, for reasons I won’t spoil here. Suffice it to say that several of the suspects never come alive to warrant suspicion. The few who stand out quickly take their places: “the trusted ally”, “the innocent”, etc, and looking back, you can’t really find any other viable suspects. However, I recommend this because Christie puts up some of her best smokescreens here.

    [The US title is the equally-clever-but-somehow-less-good "Murder in Three Acts", thus basically confirming my suspicion that all Christie mysteries without "murder" or "death" in the title weren't considered viable.]

    Poirot ranking: 23rd out of 38
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was excellent. I enjoyed the investigative trio of Egg, Sir Charles and Mr Satterthwaite, even though it meant we saw less of Poirot. The solution was ingenious and completely satisfactory.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5


    Let's see: when I first began the book I was excited to find Mr. Satterthwaite on the terrace of the Crow's Nest, because he is usually followed by Harley Quinn, however, much to my dismay this was not to be, and instead M. Poirot turned up.

    Upon the announcement of M. Poirot's pending arrival for a dinner party, there is conjecture that there will be a murder; as murders seem to be M. Poirot's forte & seem to occur where ever he happens to be. The host (Sir Charles, the great actor) jokes to his friend the Doctor, Sir Bartholomew : "Well, you can have your murder, Tollie, if you're so keen on it. I make only one stipulation- that I shan't be the corpse!"

    The dinner party consists of: Sir Charles; Egg Lytton-Gore (whom is very fond of Sir Charles & visa-versa) & her mother; the parson & his wife, the Babbingtons, Sir Bartholomew; Mr. Satterthaite; M. Poirot; the Dacres (she's a famous designer, he's a gambler & a lout); Angel Sutcliffe (the actress); Anthony Astor (the female playwright); Oliver Manders (Egg's friend); and Miss Milray (Sir Charles' secretary who sits in at the last minute to even out the t able to 14)

    After dinner, Pastor Babbington, who has no enemies, sips a cocktail & falls over dead, the inquest rules, heart failure ..... M. Poirot, Sir Charles, & Mr. Satterthwaite begin to make inquiries but get nowhere.

    A short time later, Sir Bartholomew gives a dinner party (inviting most of the same people) and falls over dead while sipping sherry (nicotine poisoning)... Then butler mysteriously disappears and the police pin him as the most obvious suspect.

    Mr. Satterthwaite, Egg, & Sir Charles join forces to investigate the murder of the good Doctor. Eventually M. Poirot joins the group and they break-up into teams; M. Poirot with Egg and Sir Charles with Mr. Satterthwaite.

    The Pastor Babbington is exhumed & is found to have been poisoned by nicotine thus connecting his murder to that of the Doctor's, there is no end of clues and there are a few Red Herrings.....

    To my dismay, Mr. Satterthwaite, who usually figures it out w/ his sound ability to weigh evidence and use his keen powers of observation of people & human nature is shown up by M. Poirot..... This is where I knocked off 1 ?.

    But, I NEVER had a clue "Who done it"!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Three-Act Tragedy is a bit of a gimmick novel, even for Agatha Christie! She structures the book in the promised three acts, each taking place in a different setting. The positives here are the cooperation and interactions between Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite, her odd, upper-crust-yet-colorless ‘man on the scene’ recurring character. In fact, it’s Satterthwaite who conspires with a team of amateur sleuths to solve the seemingly inexplicable poisoning of a country parson at a dinner party. The solution to the mystery, while not among Christie’s very best, is never the less good fun.On the downside, Poirot’s presence here is limited, which to his fans is of course a small disappointment. The novel also lacks particularly interesting supporting characters.Three Act Tragedy is still an engaging and charming read, however, so I recommend it without hesitation.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Almost a four-star rating for this 11th Poirot mystery from Agatha Christie. The story was very refreshing and unlike most of the other Poirot's not written from Hasting's first person. It's funny to see how Christie mocks the whole detective genre in this book and I was very surprised by the confindings of Poirot in one of the characters in the very last page about his methods and character.

    I did find the beginning very confusing however, due to the great number of characters introduced and their rather difficult names. I took me a while to start enjoying the book. That's why it's only a three-star rating from me.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    November 1998 I have been meaning to reread this book for some time and finally I picked i up and read it through in two days. I remembered who the murderer was which is extremely frustrating when Christie tries to move in a red herring. But I couldn’t remember the motive. Poriot takes a back seat to the characters Mr. Satterwaite and Charles Cartwright which doesn’t suite his style much and though Christie tries to make the reader empathize with Cartwright, somehow he is not a very sympathetic character....all along you are hoping Cartwright will be the next murder victim so Manders can win the girl. I believe that Christie gave the true love affair to the ill fated Babbingtons.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Always an intriguing story whenever you read Agatha, I enjoyed it
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An actor throws a dinner party, and when someone dies an accident is at first assumed. Hercule Poirot gets involved and solves the mystery in his inimitable fashion. Clever plotting and a bit of humour.