Plotting is Agatha Christie's forte of course but she outdoes herself with this 1934 Hercule Poirot mystery. It begins with the death of the beloved rector of the parish, a man without an enemy in the world. Who would want to kill him? Maybe it was natural causes - no poison was found in the martini he had just sipped when he collapsed at a party given by a recently retired actor, Sir Charles Cartwright. When another man dies in a similar manner (only this time it's a glass of port) a post-mortem shows nicotine poisoning. This is too much of a cooincidence and the people who were at both parties come under suspicion of murder.

A trio of Sir Charles, the young and beautiful Miss Lytton Gore, and the ascerbic old Mr Satterthwaite decides to investigate the crimes. Complicating things is that Miss Lytton Gore is in love with Sir Charles but he is unaware of it. He is in love with her but she can't see that either. Mr Satterthwaite sees it all and watches bemused. They consult with Hercule Poirot as the plot thickens. The key to solving these murders is the theater, as the name of the book implies and the fact that it is divided into three acts.

This book is of particular interest to me because one of the characters, a playwright named Muriel Wills, who writes under the pseudonym Anthony Astor, is believed to be based on Josephine Tey, whom Agatha Christie didn't particularly like. Tey's real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh and she wrote for the stage under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. For her mysteries she used the pseudonym by which we know her today, Josephine Tey.

2011 No 157