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71st out of 3,450 books
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7,983 voters
Witness for the Prosecution and Selected Plays
* Witness for the Prosecution
* Towards Zero
* Verdict
* Go Back for Murder
Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie's highly successful and award-winning stage thriller, opened in 1953 to spectacular reviews. It went on to become an acclaimed feature film, nominated for six Academy Awards. This special 50th anniversary edition comes complete with three other mysteries, de...more
* Towards Zero
* Verdict
* Go Back for Murder
Witness for the Prosecution, Agatha Christie's highly successful and award-winning stage thriller, opened in 1953 to spectacular reviews. It went on to become an acclaimed feature film, nominated for six Academy Awards. This special 50th anniversary edition comes complete with three other mysteries, de...more
Published
October 7th 1995
by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
(first published 1954)
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I primarily got this book from the library because I didn't realise one of the story collections I had contained Witness for the Prosecution and I wanted to read it before I read Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks. But it winds up I read Witness in the recent short story collection, and I got to read it in play format in this volume. The play is quite different than the short story, with the focus from the mystery to become more of a courtroom drama for the theatre production. Still a powerful s...more
Out of the four plays in this collection, three of them, Witness for the Prosecution, Towards Zero and Go Back for Murder, I had already read either in short story or novel format. I have to say that while I liked how Witness for the Prosecution would've been staged as a play, the other two I preferred in the more detailed and intricate novel format, although it was interesting to see how one of my favourites of Christie's, Towards Zero, would've been adjusted to be staged in a theatre. The play...more
"Witness For The Prosecution" is an Agatha Christie short story collection, first published in 1948. The edition I have contains ten of the short stories - "Accident", "The Fourth Man", "The Mystery of the Blue Jar", "Witness For The Prosecution", "SOS", "The Red Signal", "Philomel Cottage", "Sing A Song Of Sixpence", "Wireless", and "The Second Gong" - an early version of the Hercule Poirot mystery, "Dead Man's Mirror". Most of them are crime stories with a slight touch of supernatural, and eac...more
I read each of these plays with delight. Christie has long been a favorite of mine and I had the pleasure to direct The Mousetrap at West Orange High School in 1991, 92? The twists and turns are so much fun and although I can frequently figure them out, having read pretty much all of the 80+ books Christie wrote, it's still fun to see where she is taking it every step of the way.
The edition I read was only Witness for the Prosecution. A very good and suspenseful play. Though over the last 60 years the material has been referenced in popular culture, so you may be able to see the end coming, it still leaves you guessing and impresses itself as being very inventive and cutting edge.
This is my favorite Agatha. And yes, I've actually read them all! (Even read a few in French.) While many of her mysteries are formulaic and sometimes even poorly edited (especially her later books), this one is solid, fascinating, and strong throughout. I highly recommend it!
It's Agatha, so the mysteries are good, but being that they were so short, I felt disappointed when there wasn't more to the story (or in this case, stories). I did like there was a supernatural/paranormal bend to the last story.
I didn't realize this was a collection of short stories when I picked it up. Some were good, others okay. I'm not a big short story fan to begin with.
Oct 16, 2009
Bausertron
added it
This is getting a little too "2 minute mystery"-ish for me right now. Gonna go back to novel-ing it up for a while, but will keep this on my night stand.
Huh, just realized this is a short story. Sure enough it says 'and other stories' right there on the cover. I guess I am none too observant. I was a little confused as to why they were giving away all the plot lines in the "first chapter." Well the fact that it was originally a 24 page short story makes me all the more impressed with the movie!
I...more
Huh, just realized this is a short story. Sure enough it says 'and other stories' right there on the cover. I guess I am none too observant. I was a little confused as to why they were giving away all the plot lines in the "first chapter." Well the fact that it was originally a 24 page short story makes me all the more impressed with the movie!
I...more
One of my favorites from Christie.
This is a story with a punch line at the end. And most readers will be surprised.
This is a story with a punch line at the end. And most readers will be surprised.
This was really a good one...and the movie was just as good....produced late 40's or early 50's....a Hitchcock.
Stunning plays that won six Academy Award! This plays deserves more than that.The best book I have ever read!
One of my favorite Christie's along with Murder on the Orient Express.
The movie "Witness for the Prosecution" is a MUST see!!!
Read the other edition by the Harper Collins.
She is the master of mystery. Enough said.
Great batch of short stories by Christie.
Liked it, but the play was better.
Thoroughly enjoyed it!
It was great
Again, I wrestle with putting Agatha Christie mysteries on the stage. It works for me on film, (essentially adaptations), but I think Christie's best work is in novel format. This play mostly takes place in a courtroom pondering the murder of Emily Jane French, with Leonard Vole as the main suspect. The play moves slowly, but there are some interesting characters. 18 men, 4 Women, various barristers and jurors.
Christie was more interested in her complicated plots than in characterization, which is why, I think, she's written such amazingly popular plays. It works for her, leaving the characterization to the actors who fill the roles. Wonder why Hollywood didn't beg her to come write for them? She'd have been a much better screenwriter than the lauded literary writers they wooed.
Oh. My. Gawd. Brilliant, as always. Reading the last page left me deliciously chilled. Agatha Christie's plots are too superior.
Till date, it remains one of my favourite dramas
Desarrollé gradualmente un gusto por Agatha Cristie a lo largo del libro. Siempre recae el interés de la lectura en el final cercano. Son nueve cuentos que siempre dejan una duda del victimario y su móvil. La traducción de selecciones de biblioteca oro no era tan buena.
This is one of the most confusing Agatha Christie books I've ever read. There are so many different angles that I didn't completely understand the story until the last paragraph.
This one really redeemed Christie for me. Fantastic story with a chilling surprise twist at the end. I love courtroom drama.
Some of the stories were rather ho-hum, but a few were gems. The title story was fantastic, though!
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Agatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
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Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, U.K., as the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was eleven years Agatha's senior, and Louis Montant Miller (1880...more
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May 31, 2007 08:00am