The Mousetrap and Other Plays

This one is going to screw with my stats - I read The Mousetrap last night while BookLikes was offline but this book contains 6? other plays as well that I didn't read. Clearly, this review will be for just The Mousetrap and not the actual book.

This play is pure Agatha Christie and reading it, just as any of her other works, makes it painfully clear that all cozy writers since have been but pale imitators of one of the few originals. Locked room mystery, the gathering of the suspects, misunderstanding-based suspicions, the final denouement: they're all here in this entertaining, quick read.

I'm never eager to read plays because I struggle not to read the stage direction (which never makes any sense to me at all) which tends to keep me show more from enjoying the story, but I could totally see the stage almost immediately, and I just lost myself in the audience.

The next time I'm in London, seeing this play is one of two non-negotiable must-do's (Ceremony of the Keys is #1).


[PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge: A Play.] show less

I used to read Agatha Christie avidly when I was younger, but gave her up after I read the corpus. Now I decided to tackle her plays, partially because I wanted to see why The Mousetrap was the longest running play on Broadway. It didn't help. The play was good, interesting, but it seemed the answer was almost too obvious too early, and it certainly was not better than, or even as good as, some other plays that have been on Broadway for shorter periods of time. Still, the works were interesting, and rekindled my interest in Agatha Christie, such that I may begin a re-read of her works now that 35 years have passed and I might have a chance of approaching them fresh. I was disappointed at the changed ending of And Then There Were None, show more the new ending no doubt to satisfy an American theatre going audience that wouldn't tolerate the rather less rosy ending of the original...or maybe the logistics were just considered too difficult, though I can think of at least three ways it could have been pulled off, even before the advent of computerized everything and television sets/movie screens used in stage productions. Still, it was satisfying and fun. show less

This is a collection of eight plays.
Ten Little Indians, Ten people trapped on an island, start dropping like flies from unnatural causes. A bit campy for me, but I wonder if one saw it staged they could pick out the murderer?
Appointment With Death, Creepy, suffocating. Most unnerving mother I've ever read about. Takes place in Egypt.
The Hollow, A satisfactory tale with a nice clean ending. Wonderful Duchess character in it. Takes place at an estate 20 miles from London.
Mousetrap, I like this version better than the book. It seems a tighter story.
Witness for the Prosecution, This takes place mostly in the court, which I thought would be boring, but it moved along very quickly. I figured it out pretty early, except some of the fine show more details. Love the ending.
Zero Hour, A bit bizarre, not sure it's quite believable, but still a good tale.
Verdict, My favorite setting for a play, I'm sure. It takes place in a room full of books. :) The story is melodramatic and not quite to my taste, but I would love to be in charge of arranging the stage.
Go Back for Murder. This story was easier to follow than the movie version I saw. However, I think the makeup for Clare and Caroline would be tricky on the stage. I would love to see this on the stage though.
I'm not keeping this due to room on my shelves. show less

Interesting reading Christie in play form.

3 Plays

Ten Little Indian; Appointment With Death; The Hollow; The Mousetrap; Witness for the Prosecution; Towards Zero; Verdict; Go Back for Murder

This is a wonderful book, excellent if you like crime fiction or mysteries