History Literature / ThreeActTragedy

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 than one of the guests, the local Vicar Stephen Babbington, suddenly falls down dead. Sir Charles immediately has suspicions of foul play... which his friends dismiss as a quite natural hankering after melodrama. Given that Babbington was an elderly man in poor health and with no enemies, the death is officially recorded as "natural causes".

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 than 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 and with no enemies, the death is officially recorded as "natural causes".

* ChekhovsParty: Invoked and played with. Everyone assumes that Sir Charles's first party is this, where Babbington died, and that it holds the solution to the second party that ends in murder. But it doesn't - the first party is merely a trial run that serves to throw people off the scent. The second one is the important one.

* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Oliver Manders often acts conceited and frequently rubs others' faces in 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.]]

* WindowsOfTheSoul: Mr Satterthwaite wonders how Muriel Wills could write the plays credited to Anthony Astor, until he makes eye contact with her and is alarmed by the keenness and intelligence of her gaze. It feels to him "as though Miss Wills were painstakingly learning him by heart."

* KarmaHoudini: An ambiguous example; [[spoiler: Sir Charles]] escapes at the end, and Poirot makes no move to stop him, but remarks that there's really no escape for him and all he can really do is "choose his exit", with the implication being that he's either going to kill himself off-page or will be apprehended, and even if he doesn't he's been exposed and ruined.

++Led by Sir Charles, our amateur detectives assume 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.]]

** Prior to her death, the third victim sent a telegram to the sleuths, telling them that she knows something about the murder case. However, she was killed before anyone could find out what she kew. [[spoiler:This was a rare case of [[InvertedTrope inversion of the trope]]. The note was a false clue sent by the killer to confuse the detectives, and the victim was actually killed to prevent the others from finding out that she actually knows ''nothing''.]]

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both the first two 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. There's even more to it: as it turns out in the end, the killer didn't hold any grudge whatsoever against the victims either.

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both the first two 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.

* SettingUpdate: Similarly to ''[[Literature/LordEdgwareDies Thirteen At Dinner]]'', the time period of this film is updated to the 80s. Also, the location is changed to Acapulco, Mexico; while it's heyday as Hollywood's getaway of choice was in the 1950's, in the 1980's it was still seen as a glamorous destination - the sort of place an American movie star might retire to.

* WindowsOfTheSoul: Mr Satterthwaite wonders how Muriel Wills could write the plays credited to Anthony Astor, until he makes eye contact with her and is alarmed by the keenness and intelligence of her gaze. It feels to him as though Miss Wills were painstakingly learning him by heart.

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 than 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 "natural causes".

* MayDecemberRomance: Charles Cartwright, 55, is in love with Egg, 25, though he fears that she prefers her old friend Oliver Manders, who is much closer to her age. Egg, on her part, hero worships Sir Charles and happily accepts his attentions.

** Prior to her death, the third victim sent a telegram to the sleuths, telling them that she knows something about the murder case. However, she was killed before anyone could find out what she kew. [[spoiler:This was also a red herring. The note was a false clue sent by the killer to confuse the detectives, and the victim was actually killed to prevent the others from finding out that she actually knows ''nothing''.]]

* SettingUpdate: Similarly to ''[[Literature/LordEdgwareDies Thirteen At Dinner]]'', the time period of this film is updated to the 80s.

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 than 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".

** Led by Sir Charles, our amateur detectives assume 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.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler: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.]]

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The the killer's motive is changed into this. [[spoiler: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.]]

* SettingUpdate: Similarly to ''[[Literature/LordEdgwareDies ThirteenAtDinner]]'', the time period of this film is updated to the 80s.

* 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.]]

* AdaptationalNameChange: Hermione and Mary Lytton-Gore become Jennifer and Daisy Eastman, Oliver Manders becomes Ricardo Montoya, Bartholomew Strange is renamed Wallace, and Angela Sutcliffe's surname is changed to Stafford.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The the killer's motive is changed into this. [[spoiler: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.]]

The novel was adapted into a 1986 film called ''Murder in Three Acts'', starring Peter Ustinov, and then into a 2010 episode for the twelfth season of ITV series ''Series/{{Poirot}}''. Tropes for the ITV adaptation can be found on that page.

!!This novel provides examples of the following:

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The American edition changes the killer's motives into this. [[spoiler: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.]]

* WhoMurderedTheAsshole: Inverted. Both the first two 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.

The novel was adapted into a 1986 film called ''Murder in Three Acts'', starring Peter Ustinov, and then into a 2010 episode for the twelfth season of ''Series/{{Poirot}}''. Tropes for the ITV adaptation can be found on that page.

The novel was adapted into a 2010 episode for the twelfth season of ''Series/{{Poirot}}''. Tropes for this adaptation can be found on that page.

The novel was adapted into an episode of the TV series ''Series/{{Poirot}}''.

* AdaptedOut: Mr. Satterthwaite is removed in the adaptation, presumably to allow Poirot to take the charge of the investigation.
* 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's enlisted by Sir Charles. The only problem? [[spoiler:Sir Charles is the murderer! Why would he ask for Poirot's help?]]

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Led by Sir Charles, our amateur detectives assume 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.]]