Christie, Agatha: Sittaford Mystery, The (radio play)

I picked a radio adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Sittaford Mystery because it was referenced in To Say Nothing of the Dog, though not in a way that helped me solve it. This opens with a seance that communicates that a Captain Trevelyan is dead—murdered—though the last anyone knew, he was just fine. One of the seance participants goes to check, and of course discovers his corpse. (Oddly, the seance is not mentioned in To Say Nothing.)

This didn’t work very well as a radio play. The solution relies on a psychological motivation that’s told, not shown. And John Moffat plays a character who is not Hercule Poirot, which was tremendously distracting. The story itself also has some problems: the method is not very interesting, and it contains an odious view of marriage. So, long story short: just because it gets a shout-out from Connie Willis, doesn’t mean it’s good.

3 Replies to “Christie, Agatha: Sittaford Mystery, The (radio play)”

  1. I’ve sometimes guessed the identity of the murderer before it was revealed in one of Christie’s books, but The Sittaford Mystery is the only time I knew who the murderer was before the body was even discovered. That’s probably why it’s my least favourite Agatha Christie novel ever—as a mystery, it just never worked for me.

  2. I didn’t _know_, though I had very strong suspicions. And then I got distracted by the motivation problem.
    So, yeah, not a good one.

  3. Oh, well. When you’ve written as many great mysteries as Agatha Christie, I guess one or two duds aren’t a big deal. It’s a shame you didn’t get to enjoy the adaptation, though!

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