Audiobook review: Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie read by Hugh Fraser

The curtain opens with the sudden death of Reverend Babbington following drinking a cocktail at a dinner party attended by a cast of various people including detective Hercule Poirot, only actor and host Sir Charles Cartwright raises any concerns or questions of foul play. Within weeks another party is held containing many of the same guests and this time the host and close friend of Sir Charles, Dr Bartholomew Strange dies following consuming a drink of port. Following an autopsy it is ruled that he died from nicotine poisoning.

This leads to an investigation led by Sir Charles with his young love interest Hermione (but known throughout the book as ‘Egg’) to try to uncover the murderer and reasons for these unconnected deaths. With the added help of friend Mr Satterthwaite and Hercule Poirot the group set forth to discover what links the murders and who would want both an unassuming Reverend and a psychiatric doctor to die.

An interesting story which is largely told from the viewpoints of Sir Charles and Mr Satterthwaite. In keeping with many stories written by Agatha Christie there are strong elements of morality and with the clear distinction between ‘wrong and right’ told throughout but especially towards the end of the story. The reader also has the usual red herrings and misdirections from out narrators to contend with and to keep them on their toes.

I’m aware of one criticism of this book being is that Hercule Poirot is not the central character and there are large chunks were he does not appear. This is a worthy criticism but personally I felt it to be pivotal to the story for him to be within the background as this allowed the misdirection from the narrators to take central stage and therefore for us as the reader to gain more enjoyment in the Big Reveal. I found this to be a good solid story and one I hugely enjoyed throughout.