Agatha Christie Titles In Other Words (4) Quiz

Answer: The Mousetrap

Agatha Christie originally wrote this play, under the title "Three Blind Mice", as a short radio play -- an 80th birthday gift for Queen Mary. It was broadcast in 1947. It was re-vamped as a stage play under a new title, "The Mousetrap", which opened in London's West End in November 1952.

It became the world's longest continually-running play, being performed until March 2020, when the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic brought its 67+year run to a halt. Agatha Christie herself predicted, "It won't run that long. Eight months perhaps".

Answer: Lord Edgware Dies

When Lord Edgware, a somewhat unpleasant character, is murdered, suspicion falls upon his estranged wife who was seen by witnesses to have visited him shortly before his body was discovered. However, she has a solid alibi -- 12 people will attest that she was at dinner with them at the time of the murder. For this reason, the American title of this novel is "Thirteen at Dinner".

Edgware Road is a well-known major London road running for 9 miles in a north-westerly direction from Marble Arch to Edgware on the outskirts of London.

Answer: Witness for the Prosecution

Agatha Christie wrote a short story published as "Traitor's Hands" in 1925. It was republished in 1933 as "Witness for the Prosecution" and included in the short story collection "The Hound of Death". In 1948 it was published in America in a short story collection, "The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories". Agatha Christie adapted it as a play in 1953.

This story/play has been published with and without the leading "The". In her autobiography, Agatha Christie refers to it as "Witness for the Prosecution".

Answer: The Hollow

This novel is also known as "Murder After Hours" in the USA. It features Hercule Poirot. In her autobiography, Agatha Christie stated: "'The Hollow' was a book I always thought I had ruined by the introduction of Poirot. I had got used to having Poirot in my books, and so naturally he had come into this one, but he was all wrong there".

When she converted the novel into a play, Poirot was omitted.

Answer: The Body in the Library

"The Body in the Library" features Miss Jane Marple. Agatha Christie once told an interviewer that she thought the opening chapter of "The Body in the Library" was the best first chapter she had ever written.

Answer: Death in the Clouds

"Death in the Clouds" (known as "Death in the Air" in the USA) is a classic example of a "locked room mystery". A woman is murdered during a flight from Paris to London so the murderer must be somebody on board the plane. The perpetrator must have had nerves of steel as the crime was committed in front of other passengers -- and yet nobody noticed!

Answer: The Secret of Chimneys

"The Secret of Chimneys" is an early Christie - her fifth novel, written in 1925. It introduces Superintendent Battle as the sleuth, assisted by Lady Eileen "Bundle" Brent. They appear again in the sequel, "The Seven Dials Mystery" (1929). Bundle Brent only appeared in these two stories but Superintendent Battle appears in a total of five novels.

Answer: Sad Cypress

Agatha Christie was a fan of Shakespeare and took a number of her book titles from his works, including "Absent in the Spring", "Taken at the Flood" (also known as "There is a Tide"), "By the Pricking of My Thumbs", "The Mousetrap", and "Sad Cypress". "Sad Cypress" is derived from a song from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" (Act II, Scene IV).

Answer: Peril at End House

In her autobiography, Agatha Christie dismissed this novel with the statement, "'Peril at End House' was another of my books which left so little impression on my mind that I cannot even remember writing it".

Answer: Black Coffee

In 1929, Agatha Christie wrote "Black Coffee", her first original play; that is, one which was not adapted from a novel or short story. In her autobiography she described it as "a conventional spy thriller...full of cliches (but) not at all bad". The plot involves Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings attempting to solve the murder of the famous physicist, Sir Claud Amory, and to locate his stolen secret formula.