Three Act Tragedy

by Agatha Christie Book 11 in the Hercule Poirot series.

First published 1934

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At a gathering hosted by retired actor Sir Charles Cartwright, a clergyman dies after drinking a cocktail, although no poison is found in the glass. When a physician later dies at another party attended by many of the same guests, Cartwright and Mr Satterthwaite begin an amateur investigation before Poirot takes control.

The case is structured around entrances, exits, rehearsed behaviour and the manipulation of an audience. Christie uses the social performance of interwar country-house life to ask why one death appears meaningless and how a murderer can turn witnesses into unwitting participants in a carefully staged sequence.