The Mousetrap [Paperback]

Agatha Christie (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0573619239 | ISBN-13: 978-0573619236 | Publication Date: April 29, 2010

Melodrama / 5m, 3f / Int. The author comes forth with another hit about a group of strangers stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer. The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the suspicions that are in their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage. Others are a spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. Into their midst comes a policeman, traveling on skis. He no sooner arrives, than the jurist is killed. Two down, and one to go. To get to the rationale of the murderer's pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present, and rattles a lot of skeletons. Another famous Agatha Christie switch finish! Chalk up another superb intrigue for the foremost mystery writer of her time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 76 pages
• Publisher: Samuel French, Inc. (April 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0573619239
• ISBN-13: 978-0573619236
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and created the detective Hercule Poirot in her debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). She achieved wide popularity with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) and produced a total of eighty novels and short-story collections over six decades.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mousetrap is a perfect mystery - scary, thrilling, exciting!, June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mousetrap (Paperback)

The play 'The Mousetrap' revolves around a couple who set up a guesthouse for the first time and find that their visitors are not what they seem - that every visitor seems to have some connection to the couple, expected or unexpected. This is not made known until much later when a ski-happy policeman Trotter arrives on the scene, and starts connecting the Monkswell manor (the house) to a violent death scene in Paddington a few hours ago, where a notebook was left behind at the crime scene with the words 'Monkswell Manor' written on it. Trotter then gets everyone hyped up over this murderer's identity. This play is good because it showed that everyone could be a suspect, and that element of scariness cannot be missed in this very exciting play, a play that delves back into the histories of its characters. Suspense abounds as the murderer's identity is slowly revealed. A great book - not to be missed.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mouse Trap, March 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mousetrap (Paperback)

The guests of a newly opened bed and breakfast, Monkswell Manor, outside of London, are snowed in. The news on the radio tells of a murder that occurred in Paddington, a few hours away. A notebook dropped on the scene leads investigators to Monkswell Manor. All of the people in the house fit the profile of the murderer, a traveler wearing a dark coat and a beret. Mollie and Giles, the manor's owners, experience marriage turbulence as they begin to suspect each other. An older woman is disturbed by a young man who finds the murder humorous. The inn's occupants become very nervous when Inspector Trotter, a ski-happy investigator, arrives at the abode threatening to unveil the secrets that each character is holding. The investigator suggests that everyone there is not only a suspect but also a possible next victim by presenting evidence of a "Three Blind Mice" theme the murderer has been using. Whose secrets will be unveiled and whose will be silenced for eternity?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Three Blind Mice, September 17, 2000

By 

Ms. Herr (CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mousetrap (Paperback)

Who would have ever guessed Christie can do plays to outshine her books? "The Mousetrap" excellently portrays its characters in a concise, yet thorough manner. Christie's dry,English wit is as humorous today as it was in the '40s. Mollie and Giles are a young couple who have just started to run a bed and breakfast called Monkswell Manor. Great character development (as usual with Christie) takes place as guest after quirky guest arrives on-scene to stay at the Manor. Things start to move quickly when Trotter, an odd and fierce police sergeant, arrives on the scene to investigate Monskwell Manor and it's inhabitants in conjunction with a murder that just occured that very same day. "Three Blind Mice" is the murderer's theme, Trotter tells them, and one person has already been killed, leaving (insert suspenseful gasp here) 2 people for the murderer to do away with.The victms? Yet to be determined. The killer? At Monkswell Manor, unbeknownst. The play itself? Screaming fun.