History Literature / ThreeActTragedy

!! ''Three Act Tragedy'' contains example of the following tropes:

* AmateurSleuth: The investigation into Babbington and Strange's deaths is initiated by Charles Cartwright, Egg and Mr. Satterthwaite, as they rapidly discover more clues than the local police, much to the latter's chagrin. [[spoiler:Of course, one of them is [[DetectiveMole the culprit after all]], and the clues they found were deliberately meant to mislead.]]

However, Sir Charles is seemingly proven right not long afterwards, when Dr Bartholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's and a guest at the fatal house-party, dies in the exact same manner as the vicar while hosting his own house-party... which just so happened to feature a nearly identical guest list. And this time, it's unquestionably nicotine poisoning, administered in a glass of port. A subsequent re-examination of Babbington's body finds more of the same poison.

''Three Act Tragedy'', sometimes known as ''Murder in Three Acts'' is a detective novel by Creator/AgathaChristie, published in 1934, featuring Literature/HerculePoirot and [[Literature/TheMysteriousMrQuin Mr Satterthwaite]].

''Three Acts Tragedy'', or sometimes known as ''Murder in Three Acts'' is a detective novel by Creator/AgathaChristie, published in 1934, featuring Literature/HerculePoirot and [[Literature/TheMysteriousMrQuin Mr Satterthwaite]].

However, Sir Charles is seemingly proven right not long afterwards, when Dr Bartholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's and a guest at the fatal house-party, dies in the exact same manner as the vicar while hosting his own host-party... which just so happened to feature a nearly identical guest list. And this time, it's unquestionably nicotine poisoning, administered in a glass of port. A subsequent re-examination of Babbington's body finds more of the same poison.

Notable in the Christie canon as one of only two novels that exist in substantially different UK/American editions (the other being the Literature/MissMarple story ''The Moving Finger''). A friend of Christie's was reportedly vocally dissatisfied with the weakness of the original solution to ''Three Act Tragedy'', whereupon Christie reread, agreed, and reworked it more or less completely for a new edition--while making only very minor changes to the clues as planted. Nowadays, UK editions retain the original solution, and their American counterparts the revised one.

* InSeriesNickname: Hermione Lytton-Gore is known to every other character as "Egg". According to her mother, the nickname came from her toddler years, where she was rather roly-poly and prone to popping right back up after a fall.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The American edition changes the killer's motives into this. [[spoiler:The killer, Sir Charles, is suffering from a growing megalomania, but as he's already known as a flamboyantly theatrical man he can hide it from everyone except Dr. Strange, who besides being his closest friend is a 'nerve specialist' (psychiatrist). Sir Charles thus murders the doctor out of fears that he might commit him to an insane asylum.]]

With the help of love interest Hermione "Egg" Lytton-Gore, Mr Satterthwaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, Sir Charles embarks on a grand quest to figure out the connection between the two incidents. In the process they uncover one of the strangest motives for murder in Poirot's experience.

However, Sir Charles is seemingly proven right not long afterwards, when Dr Bartholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's and a guest at the fatal house-party, dies in the exact same manner as the vicar while hosting his own host-party... which just so happened to feature a nearly identical guest list. With the help of love interest Hermione "Egg" Lytton-Gore, Mr Satterthwaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, Sir Charles embarks on a grand quest to figure out the connection between the two incidents. In the process they uncover one of the strangest motives for murder in Poirot's experience.

Renowned actor Sir Charles Cartwright has rather improbably retired to the small, nondescript Cornish fishing village of Loomouth. As the novel opens, he is hosting a house-party of thirteen people, a mixture of local and London friends including Poirot and Satterthwaite. No sooner are the initial cocktails served then one of the guests, the local Vicar Stephen Babbington, suddenly falls down dead. Despite Sir Charles' suspicions of foul play--which his friends dismiss as a quite natural hankering after melodrama--and given that Babbington was an elderly man in poor health (not to mention the absolute absence of any motive for killing a kindly old village clergyman) the death is officially recorded as as "natural causes".

* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: Played with. Three highly unlikely people are killed by nicotine poisoning, the first two in exactly the same manner and surrounded by the same people--given that it's not coincidence, what's the connection? [[spoiler:The first murder turns out to have been merely a sort of dress rehearsal for the method used in the second, with the victim chosen absolutely at random. The second murder is the significant one, while the third serves to cover it up.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil:[[spoiler:In the original ending. Sir Charles wants to marry Egg, but is unable to do so because he can't divorce his first wife, since she's certifiably insane. In order to get around this, he murders his childhood friend Tollie Strange because he's the only person who knew of his first marriage.]]

* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: Played with. Three highly unlikely people are killed by nicotine poisoning, the first two in exactly the same manner and surrounded by the same people--given that it's too much to be coincidence, what's the connection? [[spoiler:The first murder turns out to have been merely a sort of dress rehearsal for the method used in the second, with the victim chosen absolutely at random. The second murder is the significant one, while the third serves to cover it up.]]

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both the victims are very nice people whom practically everyone likes, the third isn't known to any of the main cast at all, and so trying to figure out the murder motive is the main stumbling block to the investigation.

Renowned actor Sir Charles Cartwright has rather improbably retired to the small, nondescript Cornish fishing village of Loomouth. As the novel opens, he is hosting a house-party of thirteen people, a mixture of local and London friends including Poirot and Satterthwaite. No sooner are the initial cocktails served then one of the guests, the local Vicar Stephen Babbington, suddenly falls down dead. Despite Sir Charles' suspicions of foul play--which his friends dismiss as a quite natural hankering after melodrama--and given that Babbington was an elderly man in poor health (not to mention the absolute absence of any plausible motive for killing a kindly old village clergyman) the death is officially recorded as as "natural causes".

Renowned actor Sir Charles Cartwright has rather improbably retired to the small, nondescript Cornish fishing village of Loomouth. As the first act opens, he is hosting a house-party of thirteen people, a mixture of local and London friends including Poirot and Satterthwaite. No sooner are the initial cocktails served then one of the guests, the local Vicar Stephen Babbington, suddenly falls down dead. Despite Sir Charles' suspicions of foul play--which his friends dismiss as a quite natural hankering after melodrama--and given that Babbington was an elderly man in poor health (not to mention the absolute absence of any plausible motive for killing a kindly old village clergyman) the death is officially recorded as as "natural causes".

However, Sir Charles is seemingly proven right at the start of the second act, set not long afterwards. Dr Bartholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's and a guest at the fatal house-party, dies in the exact same manner as the vicar while hosting his own host-party... which just so happened to feature a nearly identical guest list. In the third act, with the help of love interest Hermione "Egg" Lytton-Gore, Mr Satterthwaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, Sir Charles embarks on a grand quest to figure out the connection between the two incidents. In the process they uncover one of the strangest motives for murder in Poirot's experience.

However, Sir Charles is soon seemingly proven right when not long afterwards Dr Batholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's and a guest at the fatal house-party, dies in the exact same manner as the vicar while hosting his own host-party... which just so happened to feature a nearly identical guest list. With the help of love interest Hermione "Egg" Lytton-Gore, Mr Satterthwaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, Sir Charles embarks on a grand quest to figure out the connection between the two incidents. In the process they uncover one of the strangest motives for murder in Poirot's experience.

* AmateurSleuth: The investigation into Babbington and Strange's deaths is initiated by Charles Cartwright, Egg and Mr. Satterthwaite, as they rapidly discover more clues (e.g. the butler's letters) than the local police, much to the latter's chagrin. [[spoiler:Of course, one of them is [[DetectiveMole the culprit after all]], and the clues they found were deliberately meant to mislead.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The American edition changes the killer's motives into this. [[spoiler:The killer, Sir Charles, is suffering from a growing megalomania, but as he's already known as a flamboyantly theatrical man he can hide it from everyone except Dr. Strange, who besides being his closest pal is a 'nerve specialist' (psychiatrist). Sir Charles thus murders the doctor out of fears that he might commit him to an insane asylum.]]

* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: Played with. Three highly unlikely people are killed by nicotine poisoning, the first two in exactly the same manner and surrounded by the same people--given that it's too much to be coincidence, what's the connection? [[spoiler:The first murder turns out to have been merely a dress rehearsal for the second, with the victim chosen at random. The second murder is the significant one, while the third serves to cover it up.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The American edition changes the killer's motives into this. [[spoiler:the killer, Sir Charles, is suffering from a growing megalomania, but as he's already known as a flamboyantly theatrical man he can hide it from everyone except Dr. Strange, who besides being his closest pal is a 'nerve specialist' (psychiatrist). Sir Charles thus murders the doctor out of fears that he might commit him to an insane asylum.]]

Renowned actor Sir Charles Cartwright has rather improbably retired to the small Cornish fishing village of Loomouth. As the first act opens, he is hosting a house-party of thirteen people, a mixture of local and London friends including Poirot and Satterthwaite. No sooner are the initial cocktails served then one of the guests, the local Vicar Stephen Babbington, suddenly falls down dead. Despite Sir Charles' suspicions of foul play--which his friends dismiss as a quite natural hankering after melodrama--and given that Babbington was an elderly man in poor health (not to mention the absolute absence of any plausible motive for killing a kindly old village clergyman) the death is officially recorded as as "natural causes".

However, Sir Charles is soon seemingly proven right when, not long afterwards, Dr Batholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's and a guest at the fatal house-party, dies in the exact same manner as the vicar while hosting his own host-party... which just so happened to feature a nearly identical guest list. With the help of love interest Hermione "Egg" Lytton-Gore, Mr Satterthwaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, Sir Charles embarks on a grand quest to figure out the connection between the two incidents. In the process they uncover one of the strangest motives for murder in Poirot's experience.

Renowned actor Sir Charles Cartwright has rather improbably retired to the small Cornish fishing village of Loomouth. As the first act opens, he is hosting a house-party of thirteen people, a mixture of local and London friends including Poirot and Satterthwaite. No sooner are the initial cocktails served then one of the guests, the local Vicar Stephen Babbington, suddenly falls down dead. Despite Sir Charles' suspicions--which his friends dismiss as a quite natural hankering after melodrama--and given that Babbington was an elderly man in poor health (not to mention the absolute absence of any plausible motive for killing a kindly old clergyman who'd served in Loomouth for decades) his death is officially recorded as as "natural causes",

* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: The removal of Mr. Satterthwaite causes some slight changes to the progress of the investigation, which causes the eventual reveal to make less sense. In the books, Mr. Satterthwaite is the one who baits Poirot into being involved in the case, while in the ITV series, he was enlisted by Sir Charles. The only problem? [[spoiler:Sir Charles is the murderer! Why would he ask for Poirot's help?]]

* TheButlerDidIt: Zigzagged. After the second death, the victim's new butler, Ellis, immediately disappears, implicating himself as the culprit. [[spoiler:After some poking around, Satterthwaite and Cartwright find various drafts of a letter in which the butler seems to be figuring out how to blackmail the real culprit, showing that he's innocent of Dr. Strange's murder, even if he's still a criminal in another sense.]] In the final act, Poirot reveals the truth: [[spoiler:the butler ''is'' the culprit after all. Only he's not a real butler, he's Charles Cartwright disguising himself as Dr. Strange's butler, with the doctor convinced it's all an elaborate practical joke on their mutual friends.]]

* EmbarrassingLastName: Cartwright is a stage name. Charles's real last name is "Mugg", a fact he is not proud to admit.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Led by Sir Charles, the detectives speculate that Dr. Strange was killed because he knew the truth about the first murder, was obviously about to test his theory out on the same batch of houseguests, and thus had to be silenced in a hurry. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a RedHerring, as the doctor knows nothing about the first murder, but he ''is'' killed because he knows a secret that the killer wishes to hide]].

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Oliver Manders often acts conceited and frequently throws his weight around regarding his uncle's wealth. The more perceptive characters (Mrs. Lytton-Gore, Mr. Satterthwaite and Poirot) are however convinced that it's all a facade to hide his insecurities [[spoiler:over being an illegitimate child.]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The American edition changes the killer's motives into this. [[spoiler:the killer, Sir Charles, has a noticeably growing megalomania that only Dr. Strange--a nerve specialist--knows about. He murders the doctor out of fears that he might commit him to an insane asylum.]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil:[[spoiler:In the original ending. Sir Charles wants to marry Egg, but is unable to do so because he can't divorce his first wife, since she's certifiably insane.In order to get around this, he murders his childhood friend Tollie Strange -- the only person who knew of his first marriage.]]

* MoustacheDePlume: In-universe. Anthony Astor, a famous playwright, is actually a very conventional middle-aged woman by the name of Muriel Wills. Many people are surprised to find out that a woman is behind "his" plays.
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: Three people are killed by poisoned drinks at three separate dinner parties. [[spoiler:The first murder turns out to have been merely a dress rehearsal for the second, with the victim chosen at random. The second murder is the significant one, while the third serves to cover it up. ]]

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both the victims are very nice people whom practically everyone likes, and trying to figure out the murder motive is a huge stumbling block to the investigation.

* TheButlerDidIt: Zigzagged. After the second death, the victim's new butler, Ellis, immediately disappears, implicating himself as the culprit. [[spoiler:After some poking around, Satterthwaite and Cartwright find various drafts of a letter in which the butler seems to be figuring out how to blackmail the real culprit, showing that he's innocent of Dr. Strange's murder, even if he's still a criminal in another sense. In the final act, Poirot reveals the truth: [[spoiler:the butler ''is'' the culprit after all. Only he's not a real butler, he's Charles Cartwright disguising himself as Dr. Strange's butler, with the doctor convinced it's all an elaborate practical joke on their mutual friends.]]

In the first act, a highly accomplished actor, Sir Charles Cartwright, hosted a house-party of thirteen people (which included Poirot and Sattethwaite). Everything seemed to go smoothly until one of the guests, an elderly reverend by the name of Stephen Babbington, suddenly fell down dead. The man in question was in poor health, and the verdict of his death was initially written up as "natural causes", though Sir Charles suspected foul play.

Cartwright was soon proven right when, not long afterwards, Dr Batholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's, died in the exact same manner as the vicar while he was hosting his own host-party. With the help of Hermione "Egg" Lytton Gore, Mr Satterwhaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, the group worked together to find the truth behind the murder.

!! ''Three Acts Murder'' contains example of the following tropes:

* AdaptedOut: Mr. Sattertwhaite is removed in the adaptation, presumably to allow Poirot to take the charge of the investigation.
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: The removal of Mr. Sattertwhaite causes some slight changes to the progress of the investigation, which causes the eventual reveal to make less sense. In the books, Mr. Sattertwhaite was the one who baited Poirot into being involved in the case, while in the ITV series, [[spoiler:he was enlisted by Sir Charles. This makes no sense because Sir Charles is the murderer, and it would not be reasonable for him to ask for Poirot's help.]]
* AffectionateNickname: Charles calls Dr. Batholomew, his ChildhoodFriend, "Tollie".
* AmateurSleuth: The investigation of Babbington and Bartholomew's deaths were initiated by Charles Cartwright, Egg and Mr. Satterwhaite, and they seem to discover more clues (e.g. the butler's letters) than the local police, much to the latter's chagrin. [[spoiler:Of course, one of them is [[DetectiveMole the culprit after all]], and the clues they found were deliberately meant to mislead.]]
* TheButlerDidIt: Zigzagged. After the second death, the victim's new butler, Ellis, immediately disappears, implicating himself as the culprit. [[spoiler:After some poking around, Satterwhaite and Cartwright found some of the butler's letter drafts, where he attempts to blackmail the real culprit, showing that he's innocent of Dr. Strange's murder, even if he's still a criminal in another sense.]] [[spoiler:In the final act, Poirot reveals the truth: the butler ''is'' the culprit after all. Only he's not a real butler. He's Charles Cartwright disguising himself as Bartholomew's butler, and the doctor played along with it to humour his old friend.]]
* DemotedToExtra: Even though the novel is considered to be a part of the Hercule Poirot series, the Belgian detective's involvement in the case was sparse until the third act.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: The detectives speculates that Dr. Bartholomew was killed because he knew the truth about the first murder and had to be silenced. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a RedHerring, as the doctor knows nothing about the first murder, but he ''is'' killed because he knows a secret that the killer wishes to hide, making this a double subversion]].
* InSeriesNickname: Miss Hermione Lytton Gore is known to every other character as "Egg". According to her mother, the nickname came from her toddler years, where she was rather like an egg.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Manders often acts conceited and frequently throws his weight around regarding his uncle's wealth. The more perceptive characters (Mrs. Lytton Gore, Mr. Satterwhaite and Poirot) are convinced that he put up this facade to hide his insecurities [[spoiler:due to the fact that he's an illegitimate child.]]
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The American edition changes the killer's motives into this: the killer had a noticeably growing megalomania, and is afraid that their condition might commit them an insane asylum. [[spoiler:He kills the doctor, a specialist of the nervous system, to prevent him from doing such a thing]]
* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Charles]] wants to marry Egg, but is unable to do so [[spoiler:because he's already married, and he couldn't divorce his first wife, since she's in the insane asylum.]] In order to get around this, he [[spoiler: murders his childhood friend, "Tollie" -- the only person who knew of his first marriage]], so he can marry the girl [[spoiler:without having to worry about scandals of bigamy.]]
* MayDecemberRomance: Charles Cartwright, 55, is in love with Egg, 25, though he fears that she might prefer the company of Oliver Manders, who is closer to her age. Egg, on her part, hero worships Charles and wishes to marry him as well. [[spoiler:In the end, however, Egg winds up with the young Manders after Charles is arrested for the murders.]]
* MoustacheDePlume: In-universe. Anthony Astor, a famous playwright, is actually a woman by the name of Muriel Wills. Many people who knows of Astor's work are most surprised to find out that a woman is behind "his" plays.
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: Three people are killed by poisoned drinks at three separate dinner parties. The second murder is the significant one, while the third served to cover it up. The first murder turns out to have been merely a dress rehearsal for the second, with the victim chosen at random.
* SupportingProtagonist: The main viewpoint character of the novel is Mr. Satterwhaite, who baited Poirot into the investigation, while he himself mostly serves as a background observer.
* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both the victims are very nice people whom practically everyone likes, and trying to figure out the murder motive was a huge stumbling block to the investigation.

Notable in the Christie canon as one of only two novels that exist in substantially different UK/American editions (the other being the Literature/MissMarple story ''The Moving Finger''). A friend of Christie's was reportedly vocally dissatisfied with the weakness of the original solution to ''Three Act Tragedy'', whereupon Christie reread, agreed, and reworked it more or less completely for a new edition--which required only very minor changes to the clues as planted. Nowadays, UK editions retain the original ending, and their American counterparts the revised one.

Notable in the Christie canon as one of only two novels that exist in substantially different UK/American editions (the other being the [[MissMarple]] story ''The Moving Finger''). A friend of Christie's was reportedly vocally dissatisfied with the weakness of the original solution to ''Three Act Tragedy'', whereupon Christie reread, agreed, and reworked it more or less completely for a new edition--while still largely retaining the clues as planted. Nowadays, UK editions retain the original ending, and their American counterparts the revised one.

Cartwright was soon proven right when, not long afterwards, Dr Batholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's, died in the exact same manner as the vicar while he was hosting his own host-party. With the help of Hermione "Eggs" Lytton Gore, Mr Satterwhaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, the group worked together to find the truth behind the murder.

* AdaptedOut: Mr. Satterwhaite is removed in the adaptation, presumably to allow Poirot to take the charge of the investigation.

Cartwright was soon proven right when, not long afterwards, Dr Batholomew Strange, an old friend of Cartwright's, died in the exact same manner as the vicar. With the help of Hermione "Eggs" Lytton Gore, Mr Satterwhaite and, eventually, Hercule Poirot, the group worked together to find the truth behind the murder.

* AffectionateNickname: Charles calls his ChildhoodFriend, Dr. Batholomew, "Tollie".

In the first act, a highly accomplished actor, Sir Charles Cartwright, hosted a house-party of thirteen people (which included Poirot and Sattethwaite). Everything seemed to go smoothly until one of the guests, an elderly reverend by the name of Stephen Babbington, suddenly fell down dead. The man in question was in poor health, and the verdict of his death was initially written up as "natural causes", though Sir Cartwright suspected foul play.

* MayDecemberRomance: Charles Cartwright, 55, is in love with Egg, 25, though he fears that she might prefer the company of Oliver Manders, who is closer to her age. Eggs, on her part, hero worships Charles and wishes to marry him as well.

* TheButlerDidIt: Zigzagged. After the second death, the new butler, Ellis, immediately disappears, implicating himself as the culprit. [[spoiler:After some poking around, Satterwhaite and Cartwright found some of the butler's letter drafts, where he attempts to blackmail the real culprit, showing that he's innocent of Dr. Strange's murder, even if he's still a criminal in another sense.]] [[spoiler:In the final act, Poirot reveals the truth: the butler ''is'' the culprit after all. Only he's not a real butler. He's Charles Cartwright disguising himself as Bartholomew's butler, and the doctor played along with it to humour his old friend.]]