#Three Act Tragedy

[nerdish-nostalgia-revived]

"If there was anything to be noticed, I believe that you, the connoisseur of human nature, you would have noticed it."

Sir Charles and Poirot pay a visit to Miss Wills at the theatre.

[o-uncle-newt]

I guess the only person who can really be trusted to describe the greatness of Agatha Christie is Dorothy L Sayers...?

A while back, the always-sharp @thesarahshay sent me an ask that caught me up on something that I'd carelessly written in some tags- I said that Agatha Christie was good at writing romance into her detective fiction, without really elaborating. I then spent multiple paragraphs attempting to elaborate, I'm not sure with how much success. Essentially, and you can click above to see for yourself, my thesis was that while Sayers was a much better literary stylist (and certainly better at writing romance) than Christie, when writing a detective novel, her seams show; Christie had a natural talent for knowing exactly what belongs in a detective story and creating and fitting all the right pieces together that create a seamless detective story, including motivations drawn by romance (though I think the actual romances are among the weaker elements- still MUCH better than those written by most of her peers, for the record).

I'd had trouble putting into words what I wanted to say (there was a convoluted metaphor about Barbies and Lego in there), and I'm not sure I was too convincing; but turns out that the person who said what I wanted to say the best was, in fact the great DLS herself.

There's a fabulous book that I 100% recommend called Taking Detective Stories Seriously, which is a compilation of about two years' worth of detective story reviews that Sayers wrote. I hadn't heard of most of the authors, and even when I had heard of the authors I'd rarely read the books, but it didn't matter, frankly. She's just such a great writer, so thoughtful and incisive and passionate about both the genre and good craftsmanship (not to mention good English), that everything she has to say including on novels that haven't been in print since the 30s is worth reading. She has generally great taste, though she has a much higher opinion of Margery Allingham than I do and doesn't like Ellery Queen's The Siamese Twin Mystery as much as I'd thought she might (though the fact that a character in it insulted Unnatural Death may not have helped lol); but she also likes, to pick two very different writers who I too enjoy, HC Bailey and Mignon G Eberhart, and so she clearly has a good eye. (It's also entertaining to see her slowly force herself to admit that she likes Perry Mason...)

BUT ANYWAY.

She has three reviews of Agatha Christie books in the volume: Murder on the Orient Express, Why Didn't They Ask Evans, and Three Act Tragedy. She reviews all of them very positively, but it's her review of Three Act Tragedy (in my opinion, funnily enough, the weakest of the three) that she really gets to the core of Christie's genius. And it's actually fitting that it's for a book of hers that's on the more meh end of the scale- because it just shows how even meh Christie has an element of genius that other authors have to work hard for even in their best works.

She says:

Some time ago this column contained the statement that Hercule Poirot was "one of the few real detectives." It was a well-sounding phrase, and I have no quarrel with it, except that I am not quite clear what it meant. What I meant to write and what I thought I had written and what I now propose to write clearly with no mistake about it was and is this: Hercule Poirot is one of the few detectives with real charm. Plenty of authors assure us that their detectives are charming, but that is quite another thing. I don't know that Mrs Christie has ever said a word about the matter. She merely puts Poirot there, with all his little oddities and weaknesses, and there he is- a really charming person. And it is true, too, that he is "real," in the sense that we never stop to enquire whether his words and actions are suited to his character; they are his character, and we accept them as we accept the words and actions of any living person because they are a part of himself. Le style c'est l'homme. Indeed, when Mrs Christie is writing at the top of her form, as she is in Three Act Tragedy, all her characters have this reality. She does not postulate a character- retired actor, West End mannequin, family retainer- and put into its mouth sentiments appropriate to its station in life. She shows us character and behavior all of a piece. However surprising or enigmatic the behavior, we believe that everything took place just as she says it did, because we believe in the reality of the people. Poirot is charming, not because anybody says so, but because is is, and all her other people exist for us in the same objective manner. This is the great gift that distinguishes the novelist from the manufacturer of plots. Mrs Christie has given us an excellent plot, a clever mystery, and an exciting story, but her chief strength lies in this power to compel belief in these characters. [emphasis mine]

Sayers then proceeds to compare another author (or rather authors, the husband and wife pair GDH and M Cole) to Christie in this regard, moving on to another review. But in these three paragraphs she has, I think, said it better than anyone- that Christie's skill is in her naturalness, and how that naturalness compels us to believe in and immerse ourselves in her world. She is effortless and seamless.

To be clear, Sayers praises a lot of people in this book, and a lot of people's writing; but mostly she is praising their skill and ability to create what they have created. Here, she isn't quite praising that- she's praising the fact that the final product is so good that you can't even see the craftsmanship behind it, and that's, I think, what separates Christie from her peers. It's a power, and not one that can be broken down by a critic. She just has it.

I've said before that I don't think Sayers had this as a mystery writer, and I think she'd probably be the first to agree with that assessment; she certainly had a seemingly effortless skill as a prose writer (as these reviews show), but as a novelist she took construction seriously and wanted us to know this. That said, another person who I don't think has this, who I mention because he's someone who a lot of people compare Christie to (often negatively), is John Dickson Carr.

I've seen plenty of people say that Carr is a more sophisticated version of Christie, not just in mystery construction but in writing style, and equally prolific, creative, and versatile. I don't agree with this on most counts, but I think, honestly, that Carr is fine- but you can see the seams easily. He might have been prolific but his formulae are visible and his writing required intentionality on his part. By which I mean- Carr when he's trying to be funny is generally hilarious. Carr when he's trying to be scary is generally spine-tingling. But Carr when he's just trying to get to the next good bit is dull and mechanical. He needs to be paying attention and making an effort in order to be good, and we notice him doing this. Christie never has this problem; even when the actual stuff she's writing isn't high quality, she's never dull. Everything feels purposeful and organic, somehow.

Obviously, all of this is fundamentally subjective, and if there's one redeeming element it's that an incredibly smart lady agrees with me (by my interpretation, at least) and says it extremely well. But I'll be holding on to this one, if nothing else.

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

[frimleyblogger]

Three Act Tragedy

My thoughts on Three Act Tragedy by #AgathaChristie #HerculePoirot #CrimeFiction #BookReview

A review of Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie – 240101 Some sleuths in detective fiction take to knitting to help them think through the complexities of the case before them (Miss Silver and Mrs Bradley), others take to a pipe (Holmes) or go to the cinema (Bobby Owen) but Christie’s Poirot, the Belgian sleuth with the finely attuned little grey cells, makes houses with cards or, in this case,…

[thelastofthebookworms]

Previous polls in this series :

- Poll 1 : popular edition

- Poll 2

- Poll 3

- Poll 4

[deatherr]

Life is not always so black and white like in Christie's novels

But you can tell Christie was a person who's met people

[haikulibrary]

Deadly showman thinks Crime needs a dress rehearsal — Showbiz is murder!

Title: Three Act Tragedy Author: Agatha Christie Published: 1934 Read: November 2023 Rating: 3/5

[living400lbs]

From Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie:

"Sir Charles went on: “The sea—there’s nothing like it—sun and wind and sea—and a simple shanty to come home to.”

And he looked with pleasure at the white building behind him, equipped with three bathrooms, hot and cold water in all the bedrooms, the latest system of central heating, the newest electrical fittings and a staff of parlourmaid, housemaid, chef, and kitchenmaid. Sir Charles’s interpretation of simple living was, perhaps, a trifle exaggerated."

(Nowadays the staff seems even more extravagant than the three bathrooms & central heating)

[azazel-dreams]

Three Act Tragedy (Hercule Poirot) by Agatha Christie

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[unbonmot]

fun fact! did you know that you can gain extra ‘forbidden time’ by staying up late in the night? but Watch Out

[nerdish-nostalgia-revived]

"I love you, Egg and I would very much like to marry you. Just haven't found the courage to ask you"

"So you mean you've just been dithering?"

"Well, yes"

A little gif set to commemorate Jenksel's and my first anniversary of watching this episode. What a wild ride it has been since then!

[hitchell-mope]

Prick.

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

[crazy-pot-pourri]

[Read Christie 2023] Tragedia in tre atti

Titolo originale: Three Act Tragedy Autore: Agatha Christie Prima edizione: 1935 Edizione italiana: traduzione di Marcella Dellatorre (Mondadori, 2019) Continue reading Untitled

[fromyoursforever]

Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie

Summary: An elderly clergyman dies during a houseparty in Cornwall. At first, even Poirot, who is a fellow guest thinks there is nothing suspicious. But then a few weeks later, there is another houseparty in Yorkshire involving many of the same guests and another one of them dies....

💥SPOILER!!!💥

Review (My personal opinion): 3.5/5. In this book, Agatha divides the book into 3 parts. The First Act took place at Crow Nest a mansion own by our main character Sir Charles Cartwright. The first act introduce all the guest at the party. In the middle of the party, Mr. Babbington (a clergyman) suddenly fell and died. Everyone thought it was a natural death. Even Poirot thought the same. He was quite uninterested in the death of Mr. Babbington.

To be honest, Poirot was not involves in more than half part of the book. It is quite disappointing. Because it is a Poirot series book. So it was unfortunate that readers are not able to read more on Poirot deduction.

In The Second Act, the murder took place at Dr Bartholomew (one of the guest at Sir Charles party). The Dr also host a party with the same guest as the previous party. The Dr death has spark the question of whether it was related to the first death (Mr. Babbington death). So, Mr. Satterthwaite, Sir Charles, and Miss Lytton Gore pursue the mysteries surrounding the death of two people. Only after the occurrence of the second death did Poirot finally appear in the book.

The Third Act, is relating to the death of one of Dr Bartholomew patient. Tho her death seem unnecessary to me, but I guess to deepens the plot they includes her death in the book.

Personal opinion: I think it will be more interesting if all the death was actually the doing of Mr. Satterthwaite because he was mostly the narrator of the book. I think it will really be a good twist. But of course he is lack of motive. Sir Charles on the other hand has a lot more motive. Tho, I was successfully deceived in believing that Sir Charles was innocent.

[poirott]

Poirot + ruthlessness AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT (1989 - 2013)

"And he is ruthless, ruthless with those who commit crime. And they will be brought to justice." - David Suchet, BFI Q&A, Nov 12 2013