Hello crime readers and food lovers! Greetings from Cape Bridgewater! We are on a little holiday mini-break in far western Victoria, staying in a gorgeous renovated church. This is all the more appropriate because the first person to be murdered in Three Act Tragedy is the Reverend Babbington, who is felled by a poisoned cocktail! We decided to celebrate the holiday and Three Act Tragedy with a Pink Gin!
This is the outside of our Air BnB:
The first act of Three Act Tragedy is set in Cornwall, which like our current location is by the coast!
Three Act Tragedy – The Plot
The famous actor Sir Charles Cartwright hosts a fancy dinner for the local glitterati at his home in Cornwall. In attendance, among others are Hercule Poirot and Mr Satterthwaite (who is a recurring character in the Harley Quinn novels). At the dinner, the Reverend Babbington drops dead and it is later found out that his cocktail had been laced with nicotine.
Some months later, Poirot meets Cartwright and Satterthwaite in Monte Carlo. They tell him that Doctor Bartholomew Strange (great name) who had also been a guest at Sir Charles’ dinner party has also been murdered by nicotine in his glass of port. With the exception of Poirot, Satterthwaite and Cartwright all the guests at the second dinner had also been at Cartwrights.
Someone at those parties is a murderer. But who? And why?
It is up to our favourite Belgian detective to find out!
We have:
- A vanishing valet
- Blackmail letters
- A mysterious woman in an asylum
- A third murder – this time by poisoned chocolates
- A drunken husband
- A secretary behaving suspiciously
- A writer with an eye for detail who disappears
- Poirot throwing a sherry party (the idea of this makes me a bit swoony)
- Some fun banter between Satterthwaite and Poirot.
Sadly, there is no Hastings and no Japp but there is a delightful girl called Egg and Mr Satterthwaite who largely make up for that loss.
Three Act Tragedy – The Covers
Most of the covers through the ages focus on the poisoned cocktail or the effects of it. A few show the actor’s mask which…spoilers!!!! The American title for Three Act Tragedy was Murder in Three Acts and the German title was Nikotin.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a Christie cover collage without one totally bonkers cover/ This week it is a Pan edition from, I’m guessing the 1970’s which features what I think is one of those plague doctor’s masks with spooky glowing red eyes. None of which has any bearing on the content.
My copy is the classic Tom Adam’s cover. Here is my attempt to somewhat copy it. ( Note: we were about 20km away from the nearest town and I was already half a pink gin in when I thought to do this. There were no roses in the garden and there was definitely no driving to get one but I like to think there is a vague similarity. I feel my version lands somewhere in the middle of the covers to the left and right of it.
Tom Adams says of his cover (right-hand side above)
In this painting of a fading rose against a darly sombre leafy background, I was trying to evoke the menace behind the glittering company
Tom Adams, Tom Adams Uncovered
The Recipe – Pink Gin
The Pink Gin cocktail is not made from the Pink Gin that is usually quite sweet and flavoured with berries or rhubarb. It is a much older creation combining angostura bitters and gin. The bitters were given to sailors in the British Navy to help them with seasickness but they found it too hard to drink on its own. They started mixing it with gin to make it more palatable. Seems like it wasn’t just rum, sodomy and the lash that kept the British navy going. It was rum, sodomy, the lash and some very pretty pink drinks!!!! By the 1880’s it became a very popular drink on land as well as on sea.
‘Sitting in the underground dimness of the Seventy Two Club and sipping a martini, Egg said: “This is great fun. I’ve never been here before.”
Freddie Dacres smiled indulgently. He liked a young and pretty girl….
“Upsettin’ sort of time wasn’t it?” he said. “Up in Yorkshire, I mean. Something rather amusin’ about a doctor being poisoned – you see what I mean – wrong way about. A doctor’s a chap who poisons other people.”
He laughed uproariously at his own remark and ordered another pink gin. …
“It’s odd, isn’t it, ” said Egg. “that when we meet it’s always at a death”
Agatha Christie, Three Act Tragedy
Other Food Mentioned in Three Act Tragedy
Unlike some of the recent novels Three Act Tragedy is LOADED with food references:
- Melon – Canteloupe
- Borscht Soup
- Fresh Mackerel
- Grouse
- Souffle Surprise (had I been at home when I wrote this, this was top of my list to make!).
- Canape Diane
- Martinis (twice)
- Whisky Soda (x2)
- Port
- Soup
- Grilled Sole
- Pheasant and chipped potatoes
- Chocolate souffle
- Soft roes on toast
- China Tea and Sandwiches
- Sherry (At Poirot’s sherry party)
- Tea and biscuits
- Boiled eggs
- Scones
- Liqueur Chocolates (Poisoned)
Well, the curtain is falling on our third act. If you are reading along with me, December’s read will be a huge leap in chronology to 1960 for the seasonal short story The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding. No prizes for guessing the likely menu item! Although, I haven’t read it yet so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves!
Have a great week and happy reading!
