Lord Edgware Dies
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| Lord Edgware Dies | |
 Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition |
|
| Author | Agatha Christie |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Lambart |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
| Publication date | September 1933 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 256 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | The Thirteen Problems |
| Followed by | The Hound of Death |
Lord Edgware Dies is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in September 1933[1] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of Thirteen at Dinner[2][3]. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)[1] and the US edition at $2.00[3]. The novel features Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Jane Wilkinson, an actress, is suspected of murdering her husband, the fourth Baron Edgware, so that she can marry another man. Jane asks Poirot to convince her husband to agree to a divorce. When he reluctantly does so, Edgware says he already agreed to a divorce and wrote a letter to Jane a while back. Later, Jane denies ever having received such a letter. On the night of the murder, she supposedly goes to the Edgware house. The butler lets her in, and she goes into her husband's study. The next day, he is found murdered and Chief Inspector Japp tells Poirot about it. But in the newspaper, there was an article about a party and among the guests was Jane Wilkinson herself. At the party, there were thirteen guests at the dinner table. One guest mentioned that thirteen people at dinner means bad luck for the first guest to rise from the table (hence the alternative title of the book Thirteen At Dinner). Jane Wilkinson is the first to rise. One of the other guests is a Donald Ross. So the police are baffled with the case, including Poirot.
Later, comedian/actress Carlotta Adams is found dead due to an overdose of Veronal. There was a mysterious gold case with the sleeping powder in it. The engravement said: "From D, Paris, November. Poirot tries to decode this and arranges the evidence together. At another dinner party, Jane appears there and the guests talk about Paris (as in Paris in Greek mythology of Troy). The Jane at this dinner party is thinking that the writer Donald Ross was referring to Paris as in the city of France. Ross can't understand this, because at the party on the night of the murder, Jane was talking about Paris (the Paris in Greek mythology) and seemed to know all about him. Ross goes to ring up Poirot about his discovery, but before he can say what he discovered, he is stabbed.
In the conclusion to the book, Jane Wilkinson turns out to be the murderer. She pays Carlotta Adams to pose as her at the party on the night of the murder. Carlotta was an expert on Greek Mythology, so she talked a lot about it with Donald Ross. With her made up alibi, Jane goes to the Edgware house and kills her husband. Later at her hotel room, she sits in the room with Carlotta to reward her the money. Jane slips Veronal in Carlotta's drink, effectively killing her. Jane discovers a letter Carlotta wrote to her sister and sees that she talks about posing to be Jane and how she was going to get paid. Jane couldn't let this happen. At the top left hand corner of the second page, there was a she (referring to Jane paying her to pose as her at the party) and she tears off the 's' and it appears as 'he'. Poirot wonders about this. Jane then puts the Veronal in the gold case engraved with Paris on it to make it look like Carlotta was a Veronal addict. She ordered the gold case the week previously, but Poirot went to the engravement shop and found out it was ordered that last week, and he found out that November was engraved on it to throw him off. So at the dinner party, Jane realizes she made a mistake about Paris and had to kill Donald Ross from telling Poirot about his discovery that the Jane at the party (on the night of the murder) was not Jane herself. She stabs him. In the end, Poirot realizes that he was actually tricked by the killer. Jane's motive for killing Lord Edgware was so that she could marry the Duke of Merton (he was an Anglo-Catholic and didn't want to marry a divorced woman). In the last chapter, she writes a letter to Poirot before her execution and tells him how she committed the crime.
[edit] Literary significance and reception
The Times Literary Supplement of September 21, 1933 reviewed the book positively, commenting on the fact that "it was the chance remark of a stranger in the street that put him on the right track. Three such murders, however, are enough to tax the powers of the most superhuman sleuth, and we do not grudge him one stroke of good fortune."[4]
Isaac Anderson concluded his review in the September 24, 1933 issue of The New York Times Book Review by saying, "This story presents a most ingenious crime puzzle and a still more ingenious solution, all set forth with the consummate skill of which Agatha Christie is mistress."[5]
Robert Barnard: "Deals with a social/artistic milieu rather off Christie's usual beat: aristocrats, actresses, socialites, rich Jews. The anti-Semitism is more muted than in the early thrillers, but still leaves a nasty taste (this is the last book in which it obtrudes). Otherwise clever and unusual, with the Hastings/Poirot relationship done less crudely than usual."[6]
[edit] References to actual history, geography and current science
The character of Carlotta Adams was based on the American dramatist Ruth Draper (1884–1956). In her Autobiography, Christie says, “I thought how clever she was and how good her impersonations were; the wonderful way she could transform herself from a nagging wife to a peasant girl kneeling in a cathedral. Thinking about her led me to the book Lord Edgware Dies.”[7] In writing this, Christie forgot that she had previously used the Draper idea in the short story The Dead Harlequin, published in The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1930), where the character was called Aspasia Glen and was the murderer’s accomplice, rather than the victim.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
[edit] Lord Edgware Dies (1934)
The novel was first adapted in 1934 as an eighty-minute film directed by Henry Edwards for Real Art Productions. The film was the third to star Austin Trevor in the role of Poirot after his appearances in Alibi and Black Coffee, both in 1932.
[edit] Thirteen at Dinner (1985)
The novel was then adapted for an eight-seven minute TV movie in 1985 starring Peter Ustinov in one of his six appearances as Poirot. The production was made under the US book title of Thirteen at Dinner and co-starred Faye Dunaway in the dual role of Jane Wilkinson and Carlotta Adams. The story was updated to be set in contemporary times and not in the 1930's.
[edit] Agatha Christie's Poirot (2000)
The book was adapted by Carnival Films as a one-hundred-and-twenty minute drama and transmitted on ITV in the UK on Saturday, February 19, 2000 as a special episode in their series Agatha Christie's Poirot.
Adapator: Anthony Horowitz
Director: Brian Farnham
Cast:
- David Suchet as Hercule Poirot
- Hugh Fraser as Captain Arthur Hastings
- Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp
- Pauline Moran as Miss Lemon
- Helen Grace as Jane Wilkinson
- John Castle as Lord Edgware
- Fiona Allen as Carlotta Adams
- Dominic Guard as Bryan Martin
- Fenella Woolgar as Ellis
- Deborah Cornelius as Penny Driver
- Hannah Yelland as Geraldine Marsh
- Tim Steed as Ronald Marsh
- Lesley Nightingale as Miss Carroll
- Christopher Guard as Alton
- Iain Fraser as Donald Ross
- Virginia Denham as Alice
[edit] Publication history
- 1933, Collins Crime Club (London), September 1933, Hardcover, 256 pp
- 1933, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1933, Hardcover, 305 pp
- 1944, Dell Books (New York), Paperback, (Dell number 60 [mapback]), 224 pp
- 1948, Penguin Books, Paperback, (Penguin number 685), 251 pp
- 1954, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 192 pp
- 1969, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover
- 1970, Greenway edition of collected works (Dodd Mead), Hardcover, 255 pp
- 1970, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 380 pp ISBN 0-85-456479-9
- 2007, Poirot Facsimile Edition (Facsimile of 1933 UK first edition), February 5, 2007, Hardcover, 256 pp ISBN 0-00-724022-8
The book was first serialised in the US in the American Magazine in six instalments from March (Volume CXV, Number 3) to August 1933 (Volume CXVI, Number 2) as 13 for Dinner with illustrations by Weldon Trench.
[edit] Book dedication
The dedication of the book reads:
"To Dr. and Mrs. Campbell Thompson"
Reginald Campbell Thompson (August 21 1876- May 23 1941), married to Barbara, was an eminent British archaeologist and the second expedition leader to employ Christie's husband Max Mallowan to work on one of his digs. The offer of work came in 1930 when Mallowan’s current employer, Leonard Woolley, was proving difficult over his proposed marriage to Agatha and their wish that she should join her husband on the dig at Ur although the real opposition came from Leonard's difficult wife, Katharine (see the dedication to The Thirteen Problems).
Thompson’s dig was at Nineveh and Max joined the team there in September 1931 followed the next month by Agatha. The invitation was only confirmed after the Mallowans had joined Thompson for a weekend in the country near Oxford where they were subjected to a cross-country scramble on "the wettest day possible over rough country" followed by another test to ensure that neither Agatha nor Max were fussy eaters. These were to ensure that both could withstand the rigours of a season in the wilds of Iraq. Used to walking over Dartmoor and having a very healthy appetite, Agatha passed the tests with flying colours [8]. The relationship between the Mallowans and the Thompsons was far more relaxed than it had been with the Woolleys. The only source of contention was that Thompson was notoriously frugal with money and questioned every expense. Horses were a vital part of the expedition but Thompson only bought poor, badly-trained animals. He nevertheless insisted that Max ride them with skill as to fall off one would mean that "not a single workman will have a scrap of respect for you"[9]. Christie’s clash with Thompson in regards to this facet of his character was over her insistence on purchasing a solid table to place her typewriter on in order that she could complete her next book. Not seeing why she couldn't use orange boxes, Thompson was aghast at her personal expenditure of ten pounds on a table at a local bazaar (although Max’s recollection in his Memoirs was that three pounds was the sum[10].) and he took some two weeks to recover his temper over this 'extravagance'. After this though, he made frequent polite enquiries over the progress of the book, Lord Edgware Dies, which was dedicated to him and his wife. A skeleton found on the dig was named 'Lord Edgware'[11]. A singular honour that Christie bestowed on the Thompsons was to read aloud the manuscript of the book to them, something that she normally only ever did to her family[12] (See external links below).
[edit] Dustjacket blurb
The blurb on the inside flap of the dustjacket of the first edition (which is also repeated opposite the title page) reads:
"Supper at the Savoy! Hercule Poirot, the famous little detective, was enjoying a pleasant little supper party there as the guest of Lady Edgware, formerly Jane Wilkinson, a beautiful young American actress. During the conversation Lady Edgware speaks of the desirability of getting rid of her husband. Lord Edgware, since he refuses to divorce her, and she wants to marry the Duke of Merton. M. Poirot jocularly replies that getting rid of husbands is not his speciality. Within twenty-four hours, however, Lord Edgware dies. This amazing story once more reveals Agatha Christie as the perfect teller of Detective stories. It will be difficult indeed to lay down the book until one learns the true solution of the mystery."
[edit] References
- ^ a b Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions. Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 14)
- ^ John Cooper and B.A. Pyke. Detective Fiction - the collector's guide: Second Edition (Pages 82 and 86) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8
- ^ a b American Tribute to Agatha Christie
- ^ The Times Literary Supplement September 21, 1933 (Page 633)
- ^ ''The New York Times Book Review September 24, 1933 (Page 25)
- ^ Barnard, Robert. A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie - Revised edition (Page 196). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743
- ^ Christie, Agatha. An Autobiography. (Page 437). Collins, 1977. ISBN 0-00-216012-9.
- ^ An Autobiography. (Pages 451-2).
- ^ An Autobiography. (Page 454).
- ^ Morgan, Janet. Agatha Christie, A Biography. (Page 201) Collins, 1984 ISBN 0-00-216330-6
- ^ An Autobiography. (Pages 454-5).
- ^ An Autobiography. (Page 460).
[edit] External links
- Lord Edgware Dies at the official Agatha Christie website
- Lord Edgware Dies (1934) at the Internet Movie Database
- Thirteen at Dinner (1985) at the Internet Movie Database
- Lord Edgware Dies (2000) at the Internet Movie Database
- British Museum webpage on the Mallowan's work with Dr and Mrs Campbell Thompson
