History MoralEventHorizon / AgathaChristie

* ''Literature/SleepingMurder'': [[spoiler:James Kennedy ruining Helen's entire life from start to finish through social isolation and malicious slander, before murdering her and gaslighting her husband Kelvin into believing he went insane and killed his own wife.]]

* ''Literature/ThePaleHorse'': The villain of the story, [[spoiler:Zachariah Osborne]], runs a commercial criminal operation by serially murdering people using the slow and painful method of [[spoiler:thallium poisoning]].

* ''Literature/APocketFullOfRye'': The [[spoiler:use of Gladys as a cat's paw and then her murder when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she had outlived her usefulness]]]].

* [[spoiler:Schaefer]] of "The Wife of the Kenite" crossed it several years before the story begins. [[spoiler:The reason he recognises the woman and associates her with motherhood is because during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the invasion of Belgium]] his regiment passed through her village and her four-year-old son was frightened. When he ignored Schaefer's order to stop crying, Schaefer chopped his hand off, ''laughed and joked about it'', and then battered him to death against the wall.]]
* "Wireless": [[spoiler:Charles impersonates his old aunt's dead husband and uses the disguise to scare her to death so he can inherit.]]

* ''Literature/MurderInMesopotamia'': The second murder, due to how [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrific and painful]] it is. [[spoiler:Dr. Leidner kills Miss Johnson by substituting her drink for hydrochloric acid, because she [[HeKnowsTooMuch knows too much]]. When unmasked by Poirot, he acknowledges that he has crossed this line.]]

* ''Literature/MurderInMesopotamia'': The second murder, due to how [[CruelAndUnusualDeath horrific and painful]] it is. [[spoiler:Dr. Leider kills Miss Johnson by substituting her drink for hydrochloric acid, because she [[HeKnowsTooMuch knows too much]]. When unmasked by Poirot, he acknowledges that he has crossed this line.]]

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption. These include [[WouldHurtAChild child murders]], certain particularly cold-blooded murders that prey on the victim's innocence, and any murders falling under the SerialKillingsSpecificTarget and TrialRunCrime tropes.[[note]]It's bad enough to kill one person out of passion, greed, an attempt to fix one's personal problems, or [[CrimeAfterCrime fear of exposure for one's past crimes]], but it's another level of heinousness entirely when one plans ''in advance'' to kill additional victims for no other reason than concealing or otherwise aiding the primary murder.[[/note]]

* ''Hickory Dickory Dock'': [[spoiler:The utter lack of remorse with which Nigel [[{{Matricide}} poisoned his kind mother]] and then bludgeoned his sort-of-girlfriend to death because of her writing a letter to his father hoping that they would reconcile.]]

* ''A Pocket Full Of Rye'': The [[spoiler:use of Gladys as a cat's paw and then her murder when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness she had outlived her usefulness]]]].
* ''Sleeping Murder'': [[spoiler:James Kennedy ruining Helen's entire life from start to finish through social isolation and malicious slander, before murdering her and gaslighting her husband Kelvin into believing he went insane and killed his own wife.]]

* ''Literature/TowardsZero'': [[spoiler:The killer murders his own mother figure just for the opportunity to frame his ex-wife and have her hanged.]]

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption. These include [[WouldHurtAChild child murders]], certain murders that involve callously preying on the victim's guilelessness, and any murders falling under the SerialKillingsSpecificTarget and TrialRunCrime tropes.[[note]]It's bad enough to kill one person out of passion, greed, an attempt to fix one's personal problems, or [[CrimeAfterCrime fear of exposure for one's past crimes]], but it's another level of heinousness entirely when one plans ''in advance'' to kill additional victims for no other reason than concealing or otherwise aiding the primary murder.[[/note]]

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption. These include [[WouldHurtAChild child murders]], murders that involve callously preying on an innocent victim's guilelessness, and any murders falling under the SerialKillingsSpecificTarget and TrialRunCrime tropes.[[note]]It's bad enough to kill one person out of passion, greed, an attempt to fix one's personal problems, or [[CrimeAfterCrime fear of exposure for one's past crimes]], but it's another level of heinousness entirely when one plans ''in advance'' to kill additional victims for no other reason than concealing or otherwise aiding the primary murder.[[/note]]

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption. These include [[WouldHurtAChild child murders]], as well as any murders falling under the SerialKillingsSpecificTarget trope.

* ''Literature/HalloweenParty'': [[spoiler:Michael Garfield grooming Miranda, his own ''biological daughter'', to be "sacrificed" and then attempting to carry it out on an altar, just because she could be a danger to his narcissistic desire to build a garden on a Greek island.]]

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption. These include [[WouldHurtAChild child murders]], as well as any murders falling under SerialKillingsSpecificTarget.

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption.

* ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'': The murder of Stephen Babbington as a [[spoiler:casual ''dress rehearsal'' for the main murder.]]

* ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': The killing of people with alliterative names [[spoiler:simply to [[SerialKillingsSpecificTarget disguise the identity of the intended target,]] whose name is alliterative, while framing an innocent man for them and actually making him think himself the AxCrazy perpetrator.]]

* ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': The killing of people with alliterative names [[spoiler:simply to disguise the identity of the intended target, whose name is alliterative--and to make an innocent man believe himself to be AxCrazy.]]

* ''Literature/TheABCMurders'': The killing of people with alliterative names [[spoiler:simply to disguise the identity of the intended target, whose name is alliterative.]]

* ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'': An exaggerated case. The kidnapping and murder of the baby Daisy Armstrong - even after the family had paid the ransom - puts the villain squarely in CompleteMonster territory.

* ''Hallowe'en Party'': [[spoiler:Michael Garfield grooming Miranda, his own ''biological daughter'', to be "sacrificed" and then attempting to carry it out on an altar, just because she could be a danger to his narcissistic desire to build a garden on a Greek island.]]

* ''Taken At The Flood'': The killer [[spoiler:co-ercing the parlourmaid to impersonate his sister using fear to control her, and then murdering her.]]

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption. This includes, for example, murders of children and/or casual murders committed for petty reasons without any qualms.

* ''Literature/{{Curtain}}'': The villain is on the other side of this before the novel begins, having [[spoiler:serially manipulated numerous unhappy, desperate people to commit murders they wouldn't otherwise have done, simply for his own pleasure.]]

* ''Literature/DestinationUnknown'': [[spoiler:Thomas Betterton ''leapt'' over this by romancing, marrying and then murdering Elsa -
all just to steal the credit for her brilliant scientific work.]]

* ''Literature/DestinationUnknown'': [[spoiler:Thomas Betterton ''leapt'' over this by romancing, marrying and then murdering Elsa just to steal the credit for her brilliant scientific work.]]

** [[spoiler:Patrick]] defrauding and killing young, naive women for their money.

* ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'': The murder of the baby Daisy Armstrong, not even considering the ensuing tragic fallout.

While most of Creator/AgathaChristie's stories feature murders, some stand out as especially heinous, plunging their perpetrators utterly beyond redemption.

* ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'': The murder of Stephen Babbington as a [[spoiler:casual ''dress rehearsal'' for the main murder.]]