agatha christie's murder in the making extract
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Agath� Christie’sMURDER IN THE MAKING
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From Notebook 4 a tantalising glimpse of a project, never realised, from the 1960s. See Unused Ideas Three.
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Agath� Christie’sMURDER IN THE MAKING
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Stories and Secrets from her Archive
JOHN CURRAN
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HarperCollinsPublishers77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published 2011
1
Text copyright © John Curran 2011.
Agatha Christie Notebooks/ The Man Who Knew/
The Case of the Caretaker’s Wife copyright © Christie Archive Trust 2011.
Quotations copyright © Agatha Christie Limited
(a Chorion company) 2011.
All rights reserved.
www.agathachristie.com
John Curran asserts the moral right
to be identifi ed as the author of this work.
ISBN 978-0-00-739676-4
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UNUSED IDEAS: ONE
UNUSED IDEAS: ONE�����
In Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks I discussed some of the
ideas that appeared in the Notebooks but were not further
developed. Most of those included in the earlier volume
were short, single ideas; a few lines scribbled by Christie
in a Notebook as the idea came to her. But there are more
elaborate ideas that, despite development beyond a few sen-
tences, still did not result in a story. In some cases detailed
character descriptions (‘young schoolmaster type’), defi-
nite backgrounds (‘Hellenic cruise setting’) or exact plot
devices (‘real drink poisoned earlier’) are listed; even titles
(‘Mousetrap II’) are included. Many of these ideas seem very
promising and it is easy to imagine most of them leading to
a new ‘Christie for Christmas’. Fragments of some of these
ideas were used, perhaps slightly adapted, in published works
and this was one of the advantages that Christie saw in the
chaos of her Notebooks when she wrote in her Autobiography, ‘What it’s all about I can’t remember now; but it often stimu-
lates me, if not to write that identical plot, at least to write
something else.’
This fi rst selection includes two of the more elaborate
sketches. ���
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MURDER IN THE MAKING
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THE CLUEDO CASE
Book ideaGeorge speaks to Poirot – his sister in law – she ‘obliges’ – giving evidence – but offered a very good post in Eire [Ireland] – can she take it? (or something [in] France). Or perhaps she is a ‘Nannie’ who now does a lot of ‘cooking’ in the house.What evidence? Murder case but her evidence is quite unimportantShe saw Professor Plum in the library – with the candlestick.Shall the people beGeneral Col. MustardMrs. White – Housekeeper? Or Col. M’s sisterMiss Scarlet – young woman of doubtful morals – engaged to son? or secretary to PlumMrs. Peacock – Colonel’s sisterReverend Green – Former owner – in neighbourhoodProfessor Plum – Old friend of MustardResult of conversation‘Nannie’ or ‘Daily Help’ dies after cup of tea?Now – what did she see or know that she didn’t know she knewA Point of TimeThe siren goes on a Monday at a certain time. She says it always ‘gives her a turn.’ The point is siren went off at 11.30 and she has just said Professor Plum down stairs at 11.25 (really 11.35). Electric clock has been stopped and put on again
What a wonderful idea – the ultimate deviser of detective
puzzles and the name most associated with the country-
house murder mystery adapting the classic country-house
murder mystery board game; and what a shame that it was
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UNUSED IDEAS: ONE
never explored. This sketch appears in Notebook 12 between
detailed notes for 1954’s Spider’s Web and the Marple short
story ‘Sanctuary’, so the mid 1950s seems to be the most
likely date of composition. This also tallies with the 1950
release date of Cluedo.
In many ways this sketch reads like an elaborate ver-
sion of the 1924 Mr Quin short story ‘The Sign in the Sky’.
In that story a housemaid mentions seeing a ‘sign’ – the
Hand of God, in reality the smoke from a passing train –
at the time her mistress, Vivien Barnaby, is shot. Although
during the investigation the time of the shot is taken from
the clocks in the house, in reality the time of the train is
accurate and the clocks have been altered by the murderer.
Although she does not realise the importance of her evi-
dence, the maid is subsequently offered, and accepts, a
lucrative position in distant Canada. The variation in the
unused idea above is a siren and an electric clock, but it
is essentially the same plot. Unreliable clocks or watches
are plot features of The Murder at the Vicarage, Murder on the Orient Express and Evil under the Sun.
The ‘Nannie dying’ idea featured in Crooked House; and
the ‘post abroad’ ploy also appears in other titles. In Chapter
6 of Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? Bobby is offered an attractive
job in Buenos Aires and a similar offer is made to no less a
person than Poirot himself in Chapter 1 of The Big Four. The
concept of a character knowing something (dangerous to the
killer) without realising its signifi cance was a regular feature
of Christie plots throughout her career. Sir Bartholomew
Strange in Three Act Tragedy, Miss Sainsbury Seale in One, Two, Buckle my Shoe, Agnes Woddell in The Moving Finger, Heather
Badcock in The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side – all die with-
out knowing why. And the unfortunate Mrs De Rushbridger,
also in Three Act Tragedy, dies because she knows nothing.
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MURDER IN THE MAKING
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THE PLASTIC SURGEON
Old man is crook – played market etc. Or surgeon – plasticWife was hospital nurse – ill – heart – had to give up her job – nursed old man – married him – happy in a quiet way – had had love affair with young medical student.Morgan and Eiluned – son and wife – strong feelingsSelina – dau Kathleen – daughter – (Nurse Vernon?)They have to live together in ‘Crooked House’ because of War diffi culties.Old man holds purse strings – two children – Serena and EdwardTutor? Young man – wounded in War – a cripple – MilesDr. Kirkpatrick – Suggestion is that Gertrude killed him – or MilesMoney is left to herPossibly Dr. Kirkpatrick is her old boyfriend – he intends to marry KathleenTriangleCountry House Rich man dead in (1) offi ce (2) study in suburban houseCrooked Mile (Dr. plastic surgeon – crook)Old man like gnome – young hospital wife nurse
Crooked HouseCrippled soldier with scarred face – old man is treating him for war wounds – but not war wounds – really a murdererCombine with Helen idea – man convinced he is a murderer. Doctor persuades him and says he will remake his face
Crooked ManOld gnome like man – plastic surgeon – (struck off for unprofessional conduct – did surgery for crooks) – young
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UNUSED IDEAS: ONE
dumb house wife – boisterous son – hard intellectual wife – grandchildren?Intelligent boy? girl?Fantastic persons in the house – young crippled tutor – in love with wife
Although all of these extracts contain defi nite elements (and
the title) of Crooked House – a young tutor, an old gnome-
like man holding the purse-strings and a young wife – and
all come from Notebook 14, they are included here because
they also feature the Plastic Surgeon idea. With three
attempts over a dozen pages it would seem that this idea was
one that appealed to Christie but ultimately defeated her.
It is probable that she abandoned it and subsumed most of
these ideas into Crooked House. But there are foreshadowings
of at least two other novels. The ‘rich man dead in offi ce’
from the fi rst extract explicitly presages A Pocket Full of Rye; and both ‘Combine with Helen idea’ and ‘man convinced he
is a murderer’ have strong echoes of Sleeping Murder.
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