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0:40

F-R-E-E. Welcome

0:47

to All About Hackatha, the

0:49

podcast dedicated to reading and ranking.

0:52

Every single mystery novel written by the

0:55

queen of crime, Dame Hackatha Christie. I

0:57

am Kemper Donovan, and on this

1:00

episode, I have a new Agatha

1:02

Christie short story for you. We

1:05

will be covering The Actress by

1:07

Agatha Christie, also known as A

1:09

Trap for the Unweary. But

1:12

first, I won't spend a long

1:14

time on this, but I mentioned in my last

1:16

episode that tickets are now on sale for

1:18

the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay

1:21

in September. My event

1:23

was close to selling out, and then

1:25

there were an infusion of seats. So

1:27

there are still some seats available. These

1:29

two seem to be going quickly, but I

1:31

just want to encourage anyone who hasn't yet

1:34

visited the site to do so. You can

1:36

click on the link I've provided in the

1:38

notes. I would love to see

1:40

you there. We will be crowning Agatha Christie's

1:42

greatest screen adaptation. It's going to be so

1:44

much fun. I am going

1:46

on tour very shortly for two weeks

1:49

in April for my debut mystery novel,

1:51

The Busy Body. Perhaps you've heard

1:53

me talk about it. Perhaps you've read it at

1:55

this point. Or perhaps you'd like to get a signed copy of

1:57

the book and would like to hear me talk about it a

1:59

little bit later. a little bit more in depth. In

2:01

that case, you are in luck. I'll

2:04

be in New York, both Manhattan and Long Island

2:06

on April 9th and April 11th. I'll

2:09

be in Connecticut in two different

2:11

locations in Avon and Madison, both

2:14

on Friday, April 12th. And

2:16

at the second of those events in Madison,

2:18

I will be in conversation with Lauren E.

2:21

Rico, author of, Familia. I'll

2:23

be in Massachusetts on Monday, April 15th, in

2:26

Maine on Tuesday, April 16th.

2:29

And then on April 18th, I'm

2:32

headed to Michigan, Grand Rapids, where

2:34

I will be recording a live

2:36

episode of this very podcast. The

2:39

next day, I'll be in Perrysburg,

2:41

Ohio. And the day after that,

2:43

I am back in Michigan in

2:45

Ann Arbor, where I will be

2:47

speaking in conversation with Colleen Cambridge,

2:50

who is the author of the

2:52

Philatebrite Mysteries. So there's

2:54

lots going on there with this two-week tour that

2:56

I'm about to embark on. I really, really hope

2:58

to see as many of you as possible. I

3:00

know that it's a big commitment to come out

3:03

on a weekday in the early evening. But if

3:05

you're on the fence, let me just get you

3:07

off that fence and in the bookstore, because that

3:09

is where I want you to be. That is

3:11

where I am going to be. And

3:14

I'll see you there. Click on the link to

3:16

my website in the show notes for more on

3:18

all of those tour dates. OK,

3:20

before I get into some mailbag

3:23

slash general housekeeping for the podcast,

3:25

I just want to list the titles

3:27

that I will be spoiling in the

3:30

course of this episode. I did this

3:32

in my last episode, where I was

3:34

speaking with Teresa Peschel, because we spoiled

3:36

so many different stories, that

3:38

it was just too difficult to tell people

3:40

to fast forward a couple of minutes or

3:42

what have you when a Christie title came

3:44

up, and actually really liked listing the titles

3:46

at the beginning, so that I didn't have

3:48

to worry about telling

3:50

you to fast forward. And I am going to try to

3:52

do that from now on. I think this format works a

3:54

lot better. I'm also going to list these titles in

3:57

the show notes. We'll see if I can continue to

3:59

be this organization. organized about spoilers. I'm not

4:01

sure this is sustainable, but it's

4:04

becoming the new standard operating procedure

4:06

for now. So here are the

4:08

short stories and novels that are

4:10

spoiled in the course of this

4:12

episode. And again, this is in

4:14

general order of spoilage. The

4:16

Murder on the Links, Cat Among the Pigeons,

4:19

Miss Marple Tells a Story,

4:21

The Affair at the Bungalow,

4:23

Murder in the Muse, Three

4:25

Act Tragedy, Death in the

4:28

Clouds, and Then There Were None, The

4:31

Murder of Roger Aykroyd, Lord

4:33

Edgware Dies, and Evil

4:35

Under the Sun. If you are worried

4:37

about having any of those titles spoiled,

4:40

you may want to read them before you

4:42

proceed with this episode. I'm always in favor

4:44

of reading more Christie. So go ahead and

4:46

pause it and read up and then come

4:48

back to this moment here. All

4:51

right, moving on to our mailbag

4:53

and general housekeeping for the podcast

4:55

overall. I like to start with

4:57

the most recent episode and work my way

4:59

backward. So I am actually going to start

5:01

with a future episode because I am putting

5:03

out a general call. I want

5:06

you to let me know what your favorite

5:08

YA mystery titles are

5:10

or YA mystery authors.

5:13

In a future episode, I will

5:15

be doing a roundup slash overall

5:17

reaction to what's available out there.

5:19

One of you recently made me aware

5:22

of this fantastic children's

5:24

picture book called Ten

5:27

Loopy Caterpillars, which

5:29

is an extremely witty and

5:31

dark spin on

5:33

And Then There Were None for Children. As

5:36

many of you know, I have a seven

5:38

year old, my oldest is seven. So I

5:40

am really beginning to be on the lookout

5:43

in earnest for YA mystery fair.

5:45

We're not quite there yet, but we're almost

5:47

there. I've interviewed Maureen Johnson in the past

5:49

on this podcast. And I've talked a little

5:51

bit here and there about some YA mystery

5:54

titles that I like, but I've never really

5:56

considered YA mystery overall. And I'd really like

5:58

to do that because I think a lot

6:00

of us are big fans of the

6:02

genre. And it's how we came to

6:04

be Agatha Christie fans, or at least

6:06

it went hand in hand with our

6:08

early love of Agatha Christie. So shoot

6:10

me an email at [email protected] or get

6:13

in touch with me on social media

6:15

at allaboutthedame on Twitter or

6:17

at allaboutagatha on Instagram. I read all the

6:19

comments and messages that I get. So I'd

6:22

love to hear from people about

6:24

their favorite YA mystery titles and authors.

6:27

Okay, let's move on to a

6:29

comment about my episode on the

6:32

island with guest co-host Sarah Henlicki

6:34

Wilson. Here's what one of you had to say. I

6:37

love the episode on the island and your guest host

6:39

really knew her stuff. I also

6:42

loved the weaving of your knowledge of Agatha

6:44

Christie with Sarah's theological knowledge. As

6:46

you were talking about Agatha Christie's piety,

6:48

are you aware of the Agatha Christie

6:50

in dolts? I'll attach a

6:53

link, but here's the TLDR. When

6:55

the Roman Catholic church discontinued the Latin mass around

6:57

1970, a number of British people, including

7:00

non-Roman Catholics, wrote to the Pope asking

7:02

that the Latin mass be allowed in

7:04

England and Wales. Agatha

7:06

Christie was one of the signatories

7:09

and reputedly the Pope recognized her

7:11

name in particular and so granted

7:13

permission. That permission was granted in 1971 by

7:15

Pope Paul VI. Indulce,

7:19

by the way, is a term that

7:21

I had never heard before. It's referring

7:24

to the giving of permission to do

7:26

something that would be forbidden without that

7:28

permission. So I love that Agatha

7:30

Christie was responsible for this indult, which

7:32

is yet more proof of

7:35

her high Anglican leanings, I think. And I

7:37

also would just like to point out that

7:40

in the article of Sarah's that

7:42

I mentioned on the episode, Agatha Christie,

7:44

a very elusive Christian, this is

7:46

the article that Sarah published recently, she

7:49

mentions this fact about the Agatha Christie indult.

7:52

She did not mention it on the episode,

7:54

but she is very aware of the Agatha

7:56

Christie indult. But it's such a fun

7:58

fact, I just figured I would mention. it here. Okay,

8:01

moving on now to the

8:03

issue of the best

8:05

last Christie, which is

8:07

a philosophical question I pondered at the

8:09

beginning of my gargantuan bumper sized mousetrap

8:11

episode. A few of you responded to

8:14

me about this as I knew you

8:16

would. And here's what you had to

8:18

say. First up, in response to

8:20

the question from another listener about which book should

8:22

be their final first time Christie, I thought I

8:24

would share my thoughts. My suggestion is

8:27

very different to yours. I suggest

8:29

that of the options given the murder on

8:31

the links should be chosen. I

8:33

clearly have a lot more fondness for this novel

8:35

and its puzzle than the podcast does smiley face.

8:38

And as a Hastings narrated story, it has an

8:40

emotional pull that makes it appealing for a last

8:42

new novel. What really clinches it

8:44

for me though, is the bittersweet end. With

8:47

Hastings falling in love and marrying the reader

8:49

is happy for him but also knows that

8:51

Poirot's relationship with his sidekick can never be

8:53

the same again. It is

8:55

a natural ending and reading it last would feel

8:57

like a way of honoring how Christie herself wanted

9:00

to say goodbye. After all,

9:02

she spent much of her career intending that

9:04

her final novel, or at least Poirot's final

9:06

outing, would involve focusing on his relationship with

9:08

Hastings and its inevitable end, albeit she planned

9:11

a more infinite event. So

9:13

I hope I've made a good enough case for the murder

9:15

on the links to throw its hat into the ring. Indeed

9:17

you did and you're right, the murder on the links does

9:19

not get a ton of love on

9:21

this podcast. It's not one of my favorites,

9:24

so I wanted to shine a little readerly

9:26

light and appreciation on it. Thank you for

9:28

that, listener. Here is the

9:30

next listener email about the best last Christie.

9:33

I am chiming in about the question you asked in

9:35

a recent episode of the podcast. A listener asked what

9:37

was the best sidekick Christie to conclude with and I

9:40

think you gave her excellent advice in terms of the

9:42

six she was left with. I

9:44

will say in my experience I didn't

9:46

intend to end in any particular way,

9:48

but my final Christie wound up being

9:50

exactly right, for me at least. My

9:53

final Christie was a pocket full of rye.

9:56

Over the series I learned that I am very much

9:58

a Ms. Marple girly. So when I

10:00

only had eight or so books left, I made a

10:02

game plan and made sure that of the three or

10:04

so Marples I had left, I would definitely end with

10:07

one of those. By random chance,

10:09

that ended up meaning I ended with Ry. It

10:11

was the perfect way to cap off my

10:14

big mission to read all 66 mysteries, because

10:16

the final lines of that book are just

10:18

exquisite. You said as much in

10:20

the podcast episode where you reviewed it, and

10:22

then this listener reproduced those final lines, so I will

10:24

happily read them out now. The tear

10:26

rose in Ms. Marples' eyes. Succeeding

10:29

pity, there came anger. Anger

10:32

against a heartless killer. And

10:34

then, displacing both these emotions, there

10:37

came a surge of triumph. The

10:40

triumph some specialist might feel who

10:42

has successfully reconstructed an extinct animal

10:44

from a fragment of jawbone and

10:47

a couple of teeth. This

10:49

listener went on to write, This ending

10:52

gave me chills. I love

10:54

this final vision of my favorite swim

10:56

as a clear-eyed excavator of evil deeds.

10:58

Jurassic Park meets Ms. Marple

11:01

perfection. Thank

11:03

you listener. That is an excellent

11:05

defense of A Pocket Full of

11:07

Rye as the best last Christy.

11:10

I love it. Those closing lines of

11:12

A Pocket Full of Rye were also

11:14

highlighted by Teresa Peschel on my last

11:17

episode. They really are some of the

11:19

best that Christy wrote, and I would

11:21

just add that they provide a stunning

11:24

contrast to the closing scene of Nemesis,

11:26

which is, in a true sense, the

11:28

final Ms. Marple novel. I

11:30

won't read out those lines now, but I think even though

11:32

they're quite different in tone, we have

11:34

Ms. Marple sort of fading into

11:37

the ether. The

11:39

timeless, immortal, happy, bacon

11:41

slicer-brained Ms. Marple. It's

11:43

definitely a much lighter depiction of where she

11:46

ends up, but Christy does something similar I

11:48

think in Nemesis with the intention of that

11:50

being the final time that we see Ms.

11:52

Marple. I never thought to compare

11:55

that closing scene of Nemesis to the closing

11:57

lines of A Pocket Full of

11:59

Rye because But even though there's a contrast

12:01

in tone, she is doing something similar in

12:03

both books. And this is an excellent

12:05

moment to remind all of you that one of

12:07

the many reasons I love the Ms. Marple novels

12:09

as much as I do is that they're just

12:11

really well written. They tend to be, I think,

12:14

on average, a little better written

12:16

or more interestingly written or more

12:19

thoughtfully written than the Poirots. I

12:22

know those are fighting words for a lot of

12:24

you out there. And there are obviously many stupendously

12:26

written Poirots such as, you know, Five Little Pigs,

12:28

our number one ranked Christie novel. But

12:30

there really is just something special about these

12:33

Ms. Marple novels and her depiction of Ms.

12:35

Marple. You can feel Christie's

12:37

passion in those lines. Anyway,

12:39

thank you for that, listener. And

12:41

we come now to our final comment on The Best

12:43

Last Christie. Here goes. What an

12:45

interesting dilemma for that reader and what an eclectic

12:48

list of titles to choose from. There

12:50

is a quandary that comes from knowing all six

12:52

books so well, you and I can easily dismiss

12:54

Passenger to Frankfurt, The Clocks and Third Girl as

12:57

lesser works, all with features of interest. But get

12:59

them out of the way and let your final

13:01

read be as positive as possible. That

13:04

leaves Taken at the Flood and Cat Among the Pigeons.

13:06

I'm sure your choice was the right one, as it

13:08

comes almost literally at the end of Christie's own Golden

13:10

Age. It was actually the last Christie

13:12

title I read myself. I actually came upon

13:14

a used copy in an old bookstore and

13:16

it had no idea that the book existed.

13:18

So it felt like an undiscovered treasure. But

13:21

it's definitely a book that works better for a mature

13:23

reader. I love the Claude family,

13:25

but I ended up being disappointed by that complex

13:28

yet fractured solution. Meanwhile, I have

13:30

adored Cat Among the Pigeons from the first read.

13:33

The school setting, the trick with two murderers,

13:35

the hunky gardener spy, I was definitely bebessened

13:37

by then, the tragic end of Miss Chadwick,

13:39

I could go on and on and

13:41

I would probably choose Cat Among the Pigeons

13:43

as my recommendation for all those reasons. I

13:47

too love Cat Among the Pigeons. I remember

13:49

being surprised by how much I loved it

13:51

because the book is so overstuffed and there

13:53

are thriller hijinks and Warro really makes a

13:55

late appearance and it's by no means perfect,

13:57

but I enjoyed the heck out of that

13:59

book. when Catherine and I rewrite it for the

14:02

podcast. So I think Cat

14:04

Among the Pigeons is a defensible answer

14:06

for the best last Christie. All

14:09

right, moving on now to

14:11

my mousetrap episode. I heard

14:13

from a former guest co-host

14:15

on the podcast. This would

14:18

be Tina Hodgkinson, who

14:20

was one of my guest co-hosts

14:22

on the All About Ableism episode

14:24

that Tina and I and two

14:26

other guest co-hosts did. Tina also

14:28

does guided tours in London and

14:31

is a scholar of Agatha Christie,

14:33

an agathologist who regularly appears at

14:35

the Agatha Christie Festival and the

14:37

Agatha Christie Conference. She too recently

14:39

published an article about Agatha Christie

14:41

and ableism, which she worked on

14:44

in the wake of the All

14:46

About Ableism episode. So Tina

14:48

is just an endless source of knowledge

14:50

when it comes to Agatha Christie, and

14:52

I was not surprised, though thrilled, when

14:54

she contacted me halfway through the mousetrap

14:56

episode. I don't blame her for having

14:58

to listen to it in pieces. It

15:00

was over four hours long after all.

15:03

Here's what she wrote. I am only

15:05

partly through your episode on the mousetrap. I

15:07

had to stop it when you started comparing the

15:10

70th anniversary edition and the Samuel French editions, the

15:12

latter I don't have, as I have viewed the

15:14

prompt book, and I was wondering how that compared

15:16

to the 70th edition. I've made some

15:18

notes which I've attached. I think some of the

15:21

differences are due to the Samuel French edition sticking

15:23

to the original script and not the changes in

15:25

the prompt book. I hope you

15:27

find this of suitably nerdy interest. This

15:30

prompt book was used for the first 12 years of

15:33

the play's history. And I

15:36

poured over the attachment that Tina so

15:38

kindly provided because it shows how there

15:40

were these editions that were made in

15:42

the prompt book, which is the book

15:45

that's used while the play is being

15:47

produced night after night after night. There

15:49

were all these changes written into it

15:52

that seem to have been incorporated into

15:54

the 70th anniversary edition of the script,

15:56

but which were not incorporated into the

15:59

Samuel French. edition, which just

16:01

stuck to the original script.

16:03

So that may be the

16:05

reason for the changes that

16:07

I noted in the episode

16:09

between the 70th anniversary edition

16:12

and the Samuel French edition. And

16:14

it was my friend and also

16:16

former co-host, Christopher Deal, who first

16:19

brought those changes to my attention.

16:21

For example, in The Prompt Book,

16:24

there was a line added

16:27

about Mrs. Barlow, the housekeeper

16:29

at Monkswell Manor, leaving

16:31

the wireless on again. That

16:34

seems to be a line that got added

16:36

at some point during the first 12 years

16:38

of the play's production, probably because audience members

16:40

were like, why is the radio on at

16:43

the beginning of this play? Chris and I

16:46

had ascribed that to Agatha Christie with the

16:48

Samuel French edition for some reason leaving that

16:50

line out. But perhaps Christie did not write

16:52

that line. And it was over the course

16:55

of the first 12 years of the play

16:57

being produced that the producers realized the line

16:59

needed to be in there. And then when

17:01

the 70th anniversary edition got printed, that extra

17:04

line was included, whereas it doesn't

17:06

appear in the Samuel French edition. I

17:08

doubt that this explains all

17:10

of the differences between these two versions, but

17:12

I will bet you that it explains many

17:15

of them. So that is really fascinating.

17:17

And I want to thank Tina for getting in touch

17:19

with me about that. I knew it

17:21

would be of interest to many of you. Also

17:24

of interest, I hope, is a

17:26

listener writing into me about Bertha

17:28

Waddell. This is a fairly

17:30

arcane reference that I discussed during the

17:33

mouse trap episode. Christopher Wren is

17:35

said to pantomime in the style

17:38

of Bertha Waddell, who was this

17:40

performer who put on lots of

17:42

plays and theatrical fare

17:44

for children in the 20th century.

17:47

And I was theorizing that Christie

17:49

was probably familiar with Bertha Waddell

17:52

through her daughter and or her

17:54

grandson seeing one of these performances.

17:57

But I couldn't find out all that much about Bertha

17:59

Waddell and one. of you wrote in to help me out. So

18:01

here is what you had to say. Hi, regarding

18:03

Bertha Waddell's style, I found this. Don't know if

18:05

you've already seen it. And this

18:07

listener went on to quote from the University

18:10

of Glasgow's School of Culture and Creative Arts.

18:12

They had a blog post in 2020 titled

18:15

Bertha Waddell's Children's Theatre, combing

18:17

the Scottish Theatre Archive for

18:19

remnants of a theater company,

18:21

especially for children. And here's

18:23

the relevant quote, Bertha's original scripts were

18:25

reportedly destroyed at her request in the 1980s.

18:27

And the wealth of

18:29

props and costumes donated to a local college

18:31

since disbanded. However, we do

18:33

have a handful of black and white photographs

18:36

of stage sets and actors colored by descriptions

18:38

from various other sources. Newspaper

18:40

cuttings and living memories give us enticing details

18:42

which bring the company to life. One

18:45

year there was a particularly memorable

18:47

bright green dress amongst the immaculate

18:49

costumes and aprons starched in stark

18:51

white and always an overall impactful

18:53

good stage picture. Detailed

18:55

descriptions of how best to achieve certain

18:57

props costume and even vocal phrasing noted

18:59

by Bertha in her four volumes of

19:01

rhymes for performance also give clues

19:04

to her style and ethos and what the

19:06

audience would expect. That

19:08

audience, suffice to say, was wrapped, paid

19:10

close attention and in exchange were imbued

19:13

with what was often their first influential

19:15

experience of theater. Noted

19:17

for her clear diction and for

19:19

being somewhat glamorous, very theatrical and

19:21

genteel and ladylike, small hints in

19:24

my new shade like these tell

19:26

us that Bertha knew her business

19:28

well and took it seriously. And

19:30

this listener then went on to write, so

19:32

I guess it means over theatrical with very

19:34

precise enunciation. Perhaps a bit camp? That

19:38

sounds right to me, listener. I think

19:40

Bertha Waddell was a bit camp, as

19:43

was Christopher Wren. So thank you for

19:45

that bit of cultural context. And

19:47

then finally, my last bit of mail

19:49

here in the podcast mailbag has

19:52

to do with my episode

19:54

about the new Miss Marple

19:56

short stories. My friend

19:58

Brad Friedman co-hosted that episode with

20:00

me. We talked about all 12 of

20:03

the short stories in that collection. And

20:06

when we were talking about the Jade Empress, in

20:09

particular, we said that we

20:11

couldn't think in the moment of any other

20:13

Ms. Marple story in which the invisibility of

20:16

the maid was a key factor. And

20:18

even in that moment, we both knew that

20:20

we simply weren't thinking of

20:23

a Ms. Marple story that had to exist.

20:25

And two of you actually wrote in to

20:27

supply us with that story. Here's what one

20:29

of you had to say. I

20:31

have that story. It's called in my book

20:33

anyway, Ms. Marple tells a story with

20:35

which she writes to Raymond and Joan West about a

20:38

time in which she helped a client of Mr. Petherick,

20:40

who was suspected of killing his wife in a hotel.

20:42

It turned out to be another guest

20:44

who disguised herself as a maid and went into

20:46

the man's wife's room, stabbed her then exited through

20:48

the man's room. He thought nothing of

20:50

it because the real maid had previously gone

20:52

through his room into the wife's room. And

20:55

you are absolutely right listener. That is a

20:57

Ms. Marple story in which the fact that

20:59

maids are not looked at too closely and

21:01

generally dismissed is the key to solving

21:03

the mystery. So thank you very much

21:05

for that to both listeners. It

21:08

is now time to talk about a

21:10

new Agatha Christie short story. So let's

21:13

get into some publication history. I can't wait.

21:16

This story was first published in the

21:18

novel magazine in May 1923 as

21:21

a trap for the unwary,

21:24

which is the title under which

21:27

it was republished in a booklet

21:29

issued in 1990 to mark the

21:31

centenary of Agatha Christie's birth. There

21:34

is this big celebration down in Torquay

21:36

during which, and this is the event

21:38

the occasion is most remembered for David

21:40

Suchet as Ms. Yaupouro and Joan Hickson

21:43

as Ms. Marple met at the train

21:45

station there in Torquay. Many

21:47

photos were snapped. You can totally dig up a

21:49

video of this moment on the internet without trying

21:51

too hard if you would like. So

21:54

it was a big event and this booklet was printed

21:56

for it, including this story, which is one

21:58

that up until then no one had

22:00

read since it had been serialized so early,

22:03

but never collected in book form. And

22:06

I just have to shout out

22:08

an extremely loyal and dedicated listener

22:10

and patron, who found

22:12

this short story in that centennial booklet

22:14

from 1990, and she had

22:16

no idea what it was. And she wrote in

22:18

to me to ask about it. I too was

22:20

at a loss I had never heard of a

22:22

trap for the unwary. So this

22:24

listener then took a screenshot of

22:26

the story within this centenary booklet for

22:29

me to look at, but the screenshot

22:31

was sort of tiny and blurry, screenshots

22:33

can be, so I

22:35

couldn't really read it. And do you

22:37

know what this listener did, unprompted? She

22:40

transcribed the entire story for me. And

22:43

I want to be clear that this was unprompted because

22:45

I would never ask any of you to do such

22:47

a thing for me, but I so

22:49

appreciate that she did. This episode is officially in

22:51

your honor, loyal listener, you know who you are.

22:54

So this short story, A Trap for the

22:56

Unwary, was originally titled by

22:59

Agatha Christie, the actress. And we

23:01

know that because it was published

23:03

under its original title in the

23:05

1997 book collection, While

23:09

the Light Lasts and Other Stories.

23:11

This collection was edited and annotated

23:13

by a friend of the podcast,

23:15

Tony Medawar, who was actually the

23:17

one to have discovered this quote

23:19

unquote long lost short story. While

23:22

the Light Lasts is a wonderful collection that

23:24

features all sorts of odds and ends within

23:26

the Christie oeuvre of short stories, there's stories

23:28

that had fallen through the cracks and not

23:30

been published in book form before. I'm

23:33

thrilled to report that of the nine stories

23:35

published in this collection, we have

23:37

covered on the regular podcast and Patreon

23:39

only four of them thus far, five,

23:41

if you count this episode. So that

23:43

means we still have four more of

23:45

these outlier short stories to go. None

23:47

of them feature any of Christie's series

23:49

long detectives, of course, but even so,

23:51

I think that's a cause for celebration.

23:54

I love knowing that there's a little more Christie out

23:56

there for us to discuss. So let's

23:58

talk about the victim of this. story. Well,

24:01

this is one of those stories where there

24:03

is a seeming victim and then an actual

24:06

victim, or you could make

24:08

the argument that any of the three major

24:10

players in the scheme that unfolds in this

24:12

story is the main victim, actually. But

24:15

if I spelled it out now, I'd

24:17

basically have told you the whole story.

24:19

So let's make like the infamous Facebook

24:21

relationship status and simply say, it's complicated.

24:23

All right, let's talk suspects. First up,

24:25

we have Jake Leavitt, who was described

24:27

in the very first sentence of this

24:30

story as a shabby man. He

24:32

seems desperate for cash. And you know what

24:34

they say about desperate times. Next

24:37

up, we have Olga Stormer, a

24:40

celebrated actor and

24:45

seemingly the titular actress of

24:48

this story, whose name is

24:50

actually Nancy Taylor. More on

24:52

her in a moment. Next up,

24:54

we have Miss Jones, who is

24:56

Olga's secretary. She barely appears in

24:58

the story, but we must suspect

25:00

everyone in a Christie, mustn't we?

25:03

Especially the help. Next,

25:05

we have Sid Dannahan, Olga Stormer's somewhat

25:07

put upon manager. He kind of has

25:09

a lot to deal with in this

25:11

story. But is he ultimately behind

25:13

all of it? We've seen such

25:15

high end professional types, such as doctors turn

25:17

out to be guilty in many a Christie.

25:19

So let's not discount him. Next,

25:22

we have Margaret Ryan, who

25:24

is Olga Stormer's understudy. Hmm,

25:27

an actor who doubles for

25:29

another actor? Color

25:36

me intrigued. Next, we have

25:38

Sir Richard Everard, MP. He is

25:40

Olga Stormer's new politician fiance whose

25:42

career would fall to pieces if

25:44

any sort of scandal ever attached

25:47

to him. And

25:49

finally, we have an unnamed maid in

25:51

the flat of Olga Stormer, because

25:53

once again, let us never underestimate

25:56

the help. This maid makes

25:58

a late appearance, but we would do will

26:00

not to forget her. All

26:02

right, let's talk about the world as it appears to be.

26:05

We open on a man, Jake Levitt, watching

26:07

a play. This play is

26:09

called The Avenging Angel and it includes

26:12

an actress named Olga Stormer who is

26:14

playing the role of Cora and she

26:16

is making quite the sensation doing so.

26:18

In fact, Olga Stormer has been making

26:20

quite the sensation for a few years

26:23

now. Her name has become a household

26:25

word, but as is so often

26:27

the case with actors, there is more to

26:29

Olga Stormer than meets the eye and

26:32

Jake Levitt knows something about that.

26:35

Jake Levitt knows that Olga

26:37

Stormer is really Nancy Taylor

26:40

and apparently there's something in Nancy Taylor's

26:42

past that she will be motivated enough

26:44

to keep quiet that he thinks he

26:46

can blackmail her. We

26:49

quickly get the sense that blackmailing people

26:51

is something Jake does quite regularly. He's

26:53

basically a scoundrel and for the entire

26:55

story, we're waiting for the come-up and

26:57

we're pretty sure he's going to receive

27:00

and let me tell you listeners, it does not disappoint

27:02

when it comes. So

27:04

Jake sends a threatening letter to Olga indicating

27:06

as such, but he does so obliquely and

27:08

the letter is worth reading out. It's really

27:10

great. Dear Madam, I much

27:12

appreciated your performance in The Avenging Angel

27:14

last night. I fancy

27:17

we have a mutual friend in

27:19

Miss Nancy Taylor, late of Chicago.

27:22

An article regarding her is to be published

27:24

shortly. If you would

27:26

care to discuss same, I would

27:28

call upon you at any time

27:30

convenient to yourself. Yours respectfully, Jake

27:32

Levitt. That yours respectfully plays

27:34

the same way to me as

27:37

this fabulous line in Hamilton.

27:46

Speaking of plays that have made quite the sensation. Hamilton,

27:49

good show. I don't know if you've heard of it. Olga

27:52

Stormer knows exactly what Jake is

27:54

getting at even if her manager

27:57

Sid Dannahan doesn't. Sid

27:59

asks who this Nancy Taylor is. Taylor is, and

28:01

Olga replies, a girl who

28:03

would be better dead, Danny. There was

28:05

bitterness in her voice and a weariness that

28:07

revealed her 34 years. A girl

28:09

who was dead until this carrion crow

28:11

brought her to life again. All

28:15

right, I'd just like to point out two things. There

28:17

are quotation marks around this line of

28:19

Olga's, a girl who was dead until

28:21

this carrion crow brought her to life

28:23

again. So I figured Kristi had to

28:25

be quoting a well-known play or poem,

28:27

something saved by Shakespeare or Tennyson, but

28:29

I couldn't find anything. If anyone knows

28:31

what Kristi might be quoting here, let

28:33

me know. She could merely

28:36

be making up a convincing sounding line from

28:38

the sort of play Olga Stormer would star

28:40

in, which is much more impressive. So

28:42

let's assume that's what she's doing here. Second,

28:45

given that the story was almost definitely written

28:47

around the time it was published, Kristi herself

28:49

would have been 33 or

28:51

so when she wrote this story. So I like

28:53

that she makes Olga basically the same age. 34

28:56

strikes me as a good age for

28:58

someone in Olga's position. She's old enough

29:01

to have a robust past, but still

29:03

young enough to care deeply about her

29:05

future. In other words, she's middle

29:07

aged. Anyway, Dani, which

29:09

is Olga's nickname for Sid Danahan, and

29:11

which I'd like to point out free

29:13

dates by 15 years, a

29:15

much more famous Dani whose nickname

29:17

also comes from her last name.

29:20

That would be Mrs. Danvers from

29:22

Rebecca, of course. Hair

29:24

drill, Dani. Anyway, this Dani

29:26

finally understands that Olga Stormer

29:28

is Nancy Taylor and he

29:31

tries troubleshooting the problem. First

29:33

he tells her to just deny everything, but

29:35

Olga says that Jake Levitt is too

29:37

experienced to approach her without solid evidence

29:39

of what she did in the past.

29:42

Then he suggests the place she

29:45

immediately icksnays that suggestion. And I

29:47

love this line from Kristi. Beneath

29:49

her self control, though he did not

29:51

guess it, was the impatience of the

29:54

keen brain watching a slower brain laboriously

29:56

cover the ground it had already traversed

29:58

in a flash. In

30:00

other words, catch up, Dani. Dani

30:04

then suggests that she might want to say

30:06

something to her new fiancé, Sir Richard Everard,

30:08

but Olga informs Dani that she told Sir

30:10

Richard all about her past when he asked

30:12

her to marry him. So her

30:15

relationship is not in danger here if

30:17

her secret gets out, but both her

30:19

career and Sir Richard's career will go

30:21

smash, as she puts it. And

30:24

that is a big problem. According

30:26

to Olga, there are only two things she

30:28

can do. Pay up, which will of course

30:30

never end, be unscrupulous, Jake Levitt will probably

30:33

continue to squeeze her until she's destitute, or

30:36

she can disappear and start over again. Olga

30:38

is particularly aggrieved about these options because it's not

30:40

like she even regrets what she did. And here's

30:43

where we find out what she did. I'm quoting

30:45

here from the text. I was

30:47

a half starved little gutter wave, Dani,

30:49

striving to keep straight. I shot

30:51

a man, a beast of a man who deserved

30:53

to be shot. The circumstances

30:55

under which I killed him were such that no jury on

30:57

Earth would have convicted me. I know that

30:59

now. But at the time, I was only

31:01

a frightened kid, and I ran. So

31:05

that's not good. Dani's

31:08

final suggestion is getting some sort of dirt

31:10

on Levitt that they could hold over him.

31:13

But Olga says that Jake Levitt is too cowardly

31:15

to have ever done anything himself. However,

31:17

this word, coward, begins to

31:19

give her an idea. Dani

31:22

says maybe Sir Richard could see this

31:24

man and frighten him. But

31:26

Olga says that Sir Richard is,

31:28

quote, too fine an instrument, end

31:30

quote, which I love because it's

31:32

both complementary and dismissive of Sir

31:34

Richard in the same breath. And

31:37

while her fiance is too soft, Olga

31:40

can see that Dani is too hard.

31:42

As she puts it, something between gloves

31:45

and bare fists is needed. Let us

31:47

say mittens. That

31:49

means a woman. Olga

31:52

then goes on to ask the name of the

31:54

girl who wants to be the understudy for her

31:56

as Cora in the Avenging Angel. This

31:59

girl, Margaret Ryan, is a man. has bronze gold

32:01

hair, just like Olga does, but

32:03

apparently that's all that poor Margaret

32:05

has to recommend her, because she

32:07

has no talent whatsoever. Danny

32:09

was going to fire her in a week, but

32:12

Olga says to invite Margaret Ryan over to

32:14

dinner at her place tomorrow night. Oh,

32:17

and she's also going to need, quote, some

32:19

good strong knockout drops, something that will put

32:21

anyone out of action for an hour or

32:23

two, but leave them none the worse the

32:25

next day, end quote. OK.

32:29

Olga also asks Danny if she really is a good

32:31

actress, which to be honest, felt a little like fishing

32:33

for a compliment to me. But

32:36

as expected, he assures her, there's been nobody

32:38

like you since Dews. And

32:40

that, of course, is a reference to Eleonora

32:42

Dews, who actually would pass away just one

32:44

year later in 1924. She

32:47

was a hugely celebrated Italian actress

32:49

who did lots of Ibsen. Is

32:52

anyone from New York going to see An Enemy

32:54

of the People with Jeremy Strong and Michael Curioli

32:56

by any chance? It's on Broadway now. I'm

32:58

jealous if you're going. There will always be

33:01

celebrated actors doing Ibsen. Let us hope. So

33:04

celebrated with Eleonora Dews that the First Lady

33:06

of the United States, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, gave

33:08

a tea in her honor at the White

33:11

House in 1896, shocking

33:13

the nation. An actor in

33:15

the White House? Oh, if only those in 1896

33:17

knew what was in store in

33:20

the 20th and 21st centuries for

33:22

the White House, moving right along. I

33:24

learned that Eleonora Dews retired from acting

33:26

in 1909. So

33:29

it's possible that the young, teenaged Christie

33:31

saw her during this period. But interestingly,

33:34

she made a triumphant return to the

33:36

stage in 1921 in both Europe and

33:38

the US. So

33:41

that was just two years before this

33:43

story. And she passed away

33:46

while she was on a

33:48

US leg of that tour. So she seems

33:50

to have been touring right around

33:52

the time that Christie was writing this story. So

33:54

I have to imagine Christie saw her then, or

33:56

that she was at least top of mind as

33:58

a result of this. for. Olga

34:01

dismisses Dani and she has her secretary Miss

34:03

Jones write a letter back to Jake Levitt,

34:06

which is just as gloriously subtextual as his

34:08

was. I'll read this one out as well.

34:11

Dear sir, I cannot recall

34:13

the lady of whom you speak, but I

34:15

meet so many people that my memory is

34:17

necessarily uncertain. I am always

34:19

pleased to help any fellow actress, and

34:21

she'll be at home if you will

34:24

call this evening at nine o'clock. Yours

34:26

faithfully, Olga Stormer. I have the honor

34:28

to hear you, sir, at nine

34:30

a.com. I

34:35

will just note, and this is the

34:37

only error that I found in this

34:39

story, that Olga had told Dani to

34:42

invite Margaret Ryan tomorrow night. I

34:44

check this in both copies of the story

34:46

that I have, both within While the Light

34:48

Lasts and Other Stories, and the

34:51

copy that my loyal listener transcribed for me

34:53

out of that centennial booklet, and the error

34:55

is in both versions. So I have

34:57

to imagine this is just a typo that no

35:00

one noticed when it was published. Just

35:02

wanted to point that out. I will

35:04

also note that the serialized version

35:06

of this story, A Trap for

35:08

the Unwary, the version that appeared

35:10

in the centennial booklet, divides the

35:12

story into sections. The first

35:14

section, which runs from the beginning to this moment

35:16

in the story, is titled Blackmail.

35:18

And now we move on to the

35:21

next section titled The Spider and the

35:23

Fly. So thank you

35:25

again to my loyal listener for that transcription, because

35:27

I would not have gotten those subtitles without her

35:30

efforts. Okay, so Jake Leavitt comes

35:32

to Olga's flat, and he presses

35:34

the bell. No one answers, but then he sees

35:36

the doors unlatched, so he lets himself in. And

35:39

there is a note on the table that

35:41

reads as follows, Please wait until I return.

35:43

Oh, Stormer. Simple enough. So

35:46

he waits. But

35:48

something is making him feel

35:50

uneasy, and this feeling grows

35:52

and grows until finally he

35:54

spies a hand sticking

35:57

out from the black velvet drapes

35:59

that are hanging over one of the

36:01

windows in this room. And

36:03

when he touches the hand, he notes that it

36:05

is cold, quote, a dead

36:08

hand, end quote. Jake

36:10

flings back the curtains and here is what he

36:12

sees, quoting again from the text. A

36:15

woman lying there, one arm flung wide,

36:17

the other doubled under her as she

36:19

lay face downwards, her golden bronze hair

36:21

lying in disheveled masses on her neck.

36:24

Naturally, Jake assumes that this is Olga

36:26

Stormer. He feels for a pulse and

36:28

Christie writes, as he thought, there was

36:30

none. So just as

36:32

naturally, Jake assumes that Olga has died

36:34

by suicide as a result of his

36:36

blackmailing scheme. Perhaps this has happened

36:38

to him before with past victims, yikes. But

36:42

then Jake sees a red cord wrapped around

36:44

the woman's neck and as he touches it,

36:47

the woman's head sags and he sees that

36:49

this woman's face is purple. Clearly

36:51

she has been murdered, but just as

36:53

clearly she is not Olga Stormer. So

36:56

Jake turns around only to be confronted by

36:59

the terrified eyes of a maid servant

37:01

crouching against the wall. And

37:04

this maid accuses Jake of having killed the

37:06

woman. Oh my gourd, you've

37:08

killed her, is what she actually says.

37:10

And Christie does write God as gourd

37:13

with the R. Jake tells

37:15

this maid that he found the woman dead, but

37:17

the maid says she saw him pull on the

37:19

cord and strangle her. She even heard the woman

37:21

make a gurgling cry. Jake

37:23

realizes the maid must have come in just

37:25

as he was handling the rope and that

37:27

the gurgling cry was his gurgling cry upon

37:30

making such a grisly discovery. But he knows

37:32

instantly that this maid will swear to having

37:34

witnessed him do the deed. So he is

37:36

totally sunk here. Though he doesn't

37:38

give up entirely, not yet. Christie writes, on

37:41

an impulse he said, eyeing her narrowly,

37:43

that's not your mistress, you know. And

37:45

the maid responds that she is well

37:47

aware of this. She says that the

37:50

woman is an actress friend of Ms.

37:52

Stormer's, though the two of them were

37:54

in a big old fight that evening.

37:56

And now Jake Levitt sees what's happened.

37:58

Olga Stormer has done it again. She

38:00

killed this woman just as she killed that man long

38:02

ago, and she's trying to pin it on him, killing

38:05

two proverbial birds with one

38:08

proverbial stone. Jake

38:10

is a trapped rat at this point, so

38:13

we shouldn't be surprised that it takes him

38:15

about two seconds to seriously consider strangling this

38:17

poor maid to death with his bare hands.

38:20

But fortunately for the maid, there is a

38:22

gun on the table beside her which she

38:24

picks up and points at Jake. He

38:27

for his part is pretty certain that

38:29

a revolver in Olga Stormer's flat is

38:31

almost definitely going to be loaded, so

38:33

he high-tails it on out of there,

38:36

and he's barely out of the building before he's making plans

38:38

in his head for a permanent escape. Here's what

38:41

Christie writes, To Gravesend as quickly

38:43

as possible, a boat was sailing from there that

38:45

night for the remoter parts of the world. He

38:47

knew the captain, a man who for

38:50

consideration would ask no questions. Once

38:52

on board and out to sea, he would be safe. Thank

38:55

goodness poor Jake Levitt escapes the clutches of

38:58

that murderous actor. Am I right? Not

39:01

entirely, which is why it is time

39:03

for some clues, and this isn't a

39:05

puzzle mystery, so we don't really have

39:07

any clues in this story, but let's

39:09

pretend we do. Let's construct a bridge

39:11

of clues anyway, because there are a

39:13

few Christie classics at work in the

39:15

solving, or at least clarifying, of what's

39:17

actually going on here. Clue number

39:19

one is never underestimate the help.

39:21

Oh, how I wish Catherine Burbeck were here

39:23

to say that for me. And

39:26

the deduction we should make from that is

39:28

that every other character in this story is

39:30

given a name except for that nameless maid

39:32

who appears at the end of the story.

39:34

Is it possible that this maid could be

39:37

one of the other characters dressed up to

39:39

look like a maid? Do

39:41

such things ever happen in Christie

39:43

stories? I mean as pointed out

39:45

by two astute listeners, they happened in Miss Marple

39:47

Tells a Story, for instance. They

39:49

also happened in the Miss Marple short story The Affair

39:51

at the Bungalow, which is a personal favorite of mine,

39:54

and in Three Act Tragedy and Death in the

39:56

Clouds and many other novels. So there is that.

40:00

Blue number two. Okay, let's just be honest. We all

40:02

know that the maid is actually Olga in disguise because

40:04

she has to be. And

40:06

I love that Chrissy even clues this a

40:08

little bit with that over the top accent.

40:10

She gives Olga's lines as the maid. Oh,

40:13

my gourd, you've killed her. This

40:15

maid is officially dropping more H's than Eliza

40:17

Doolittle. Now, repeat that

40:19

after me. In

40:22

Hartford, Hartford and Hampshire, hudderskins hardly ever

40:24

happen. In Hartford,

40:26

Hartford and Hampshire, hudderskins hardly

40:29

ever happen. Oh, no,

40:31

no, no. So it makes sense that Olga

40:33

would dress up as the maid to enact

40:35

this little ruse to scare the daylights out

40:37

of Jake Leavitt and send him running away

40:39

for good. But that still means she

40:41

must be a murderer or Margaret Ryan.

40:43

Right. This would be understudy, who is

40:45

obviously the woman lying dead among the

40:47

drapes, but not so fast. And

40:50

the deduction to this clue is

40:53

my favorite aspect of this case,

40:55

because it resurrects a very controversial

40:57

critique that I had of Chrissy

40:59

Crown Jewel, and then there were

41:01

none. In that

41:03

novel, Chrissy's third person omniscient narrator, who, unlike

41:05

Dr. Sheppard in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,

41:07

is meant to be trusted and has to

41:09

be trusted. That narrator

41:11

refers to Justice Wargrave's hand as

41:13

a dead hand when Justice Wargrave

41:16

is found murdered in the course

41:18

of the story. But we learn

41:20

at Stories End that Wargrave was not dead when

41:22

he was discovered in this way. I

41:24

cried foul when Catherine and I covered and

41:26

then there were none. It was one of

41:29

my few criticisms of the writing of that

41:31

novel. But one of you astute listeners and

41:33

many of you astute listeners, actually, over the

41:35

years, as people have continued to discover the

41:38

podcast and listen to that episode, many

41:40

of you have pointed out to me that one of

41:42

the official definitions of dead is

41:45

having the appearance of

41:47

death or deathly. So

41:49

we can make the argument that Chrissy

41:51

just follows the rules calling Wargrave's hand

41:54

a dead hand, and she does the

41:56

exact same thing here in 1923. with

42:01

Margaret's dead hand. Our

42:03

deduction is that even though we are told that it's a

42:05

dead hand, it might not be

42:07

a dead hand. And of course it's not

42:09

a dead hand because Olga is the badass

42:11

heroine of this story. She's not gonna kill

42:13

anyone, other than that man she killed when she was

42:16

younger of course. But we're meant

42:18

to believe her that he deserved it. And

42:20

this deduction turns out to be all

42:22

too correct because in a final section

42:24

of this short story titled adorably, The

42:27

Mittens won! exclamation point.

42:30

That's in the serialized version of the

42:32

story. Olga calls Danny at 11 o'clock

42:34

that same night and tells him that

42:36

unfortunately he's gonna have to give that

42:38

understudy role to the garbage actress Margaret

42:41

Ryan. And I'm just going to

42:43

read out the last few sentences of the story

42:45

because with her trademark economy, lightness, and wit, yes,

42:48

Christie was already combining these writerly powers as

42:50

early as 1923. Our favorite author wraps

42:54

up this delightful little story.

42:57

Bear a contract for Miss Ryan, will you?

42:59

She's to understudy Cora. It's absolutely no use

43:01

arguing. I owe her something after all the

43:03

things I did to her tonight. What? Yes,

43:06

I think I'm out of my troubles. By

43:08

the way, if she tells you tomorrow that

43:10

I'm an ardent spiritualist and put her into

43:12

a trance tonight, don't show open incredulity. How?

43:16

Knockout drops in the coffee followed by

43:18

scientific passes. After that I painted

43:20

her face with purple grease paint and put a tourniquet

43:22

on her left arm. Mystified? Well,

43:24

you must stay mystified until

43:26

tomorrow. I haven't time to explain

43:28

now. I must get out of the cap and

43:30

apron before my faithful Maude returns from the pictures.

43:33

There was a beautiful drama on tonight, she told

43:35

me, but she missed the best

43:37

drama of all. I played my

43:40

best part tonight, Danny. The

43:42

Mittens won. Jake Levitt

43:44

is a coward. All right. And Oh,

43:46

Danny, Danny, I'm

43:48

an actress. Don't

43:55

touch that dial. We'll be back in a moment with the

43:57

rest of our episode. We just wanted to take a moment

43:59

to ask you our dear listeners

44:01

for a favor. If you haven't

44:03

already done so, we'd very much

44:05

appreciate it. If you take a

44:07

moment to, you know, give us

44:09

a rating or view wherever you're

44:11

listening to this podcast. It really

44:14

helps the podcast out because ratings and reviews

44:16

make it much easier for other Christie fans

44:18

such as yourselves to find our podcast. And

44:20

the more ratings and reviews we get, the

44:23

more people we can reach. It should take you

44:25

a matter of seconds and lucky you, we're going

44:27

to provide you with those seconds right now. So

44:29

go to it. Thank

44:41

you so much. And now back

44:43

to our regularly scheduled programming. Now

44:52

that is how you end an Agatha

44:54

Christie short story. And I just like

44:56

to point out the superiority of Christie's

44:58

original title, the actress, because it seems

45:01

obvious from the beginning of the story

45:03

that the actress must be referring to

45:06

Olga Stormer. But in fact,

45:08

there are two actresses in

45:10

this story. And Margaret Ryan's

45:13

unwitting acting job as a corpse is

45:17

central to the plot. So there's just that

45:19

slight little double meaning there to the title

45:21

that Christie chose. Okay, so

45:23

in closing, we have to talk

45:25

about how there are so many

45:27

echoes of so much Christie in

45:29

this one little short story. Here

45:32

is what Tony Medawar writes in the

45:34

afterward to the story within the While

45:36

the Light Lasts collection. This

45:38

story illustrated Christie's great skill at taking

45:40

a particular plot device and presenting it

45:43

again, perhaps in the same form,

45:45

but from a different perspective, or with

45:47

subtle but significant variations to conceal it

45:49

from the reader. And

45:51

indeed, I have been begging Tony to come

45:53

onto the podcast again, to talk about this

45:55

specific skill of Christie's. He has promised me

45:58

he will when he has the the time,

46:00

and I'm using this as yet another

46:02

opportunity to cajole him in a public

46:05

way. I will be keeping

46:07

you to your promise, Tony. Mark my words.

46:10

I really can't wait to do that

46:12

episode with him because this is something

46:14

that no one else does as well

46:16

as Christy. It's a Christy-specific trick, and

46:18

we really need to have an episode

46:20

focused on it. To

46:22

add onto what Tony said, I was

46:24

reminded of when Christy describes how Mrs.

46:26

Ariadne Oliver can riff a thousand different

46:29

ways on a single idea because we

46:31

can see Christy doing this with the

46:33

bones of this tale in

46:35

short stories and novels to come. For

46:37

instance, I already mentioned the affair at

46:40

the bungalow where we have an actress

46:42

dressing up as a maid, but in

46:44

that case, the actress' understudy is

46:46

fully conscious during the scheme, and she

46:49

pretends to be the actress in question.

46:51

This would, of course, mean that the understudy

46:54

would have to be trustworthy since, unlike or

46:56

Margaret Ryan, she wouldn't be knocked out during

46:58

the entire escapade. That was

47:00

one of the reasons Miss Jane

47:02

Marple advises the one and only

47:04

Jane Hellyer, seeming dinged that actress,

47:07

not to go through with this

47:09

scheme, which she had pretended had

47:11

already happened. She was basically just

47:13

workshopping it. We discussed this short

47:15

story at the Agatha Christy Festival

47:17

in Torquay last year when we

47:20

were crowning Agatha Christy's greatest short

47:22

story. And the fact that this

47:24

is technically a future crime is

47:26

one of many reasons that I cherish the affair at

47:28

the bungalow. In Murder

47:31

in the Muse, we basically have

47:33

another spin on this situation where

47:35

the Olga Stormer character is not

47:37

honest with her fiance, and as

47:39

a result of being blackmailed, she

47:41

does actually kill herself, which

47:43

is what Jake Levitt thought was going on

47:45

for a moment. So in that story, which

47:47

was also nominated for Agatha Christy's greatest short

47:49

story at the festival last year, the suicide

47:51

is made to look like a

47:53

murder by the victim's roommate and

47:55

friend so as to incriminate the

47:58

Jake Levitt character, the dastardly Blackmailer.

48:00

This is such a great spin

48:03

on the exact same scenario. I'll

48:05

also just mention two full-length novels. In

48:07

Lord Edger Dies, Christy once again makes

48:10

great use of the resemblance between two

48:12

actresses, though in an entirely different way.

48:14

And in Evil Under the Sun, she once

48:17

again makes great use of the impersonation of

48:19

a dead body by a live person. I

48:22

could come up with a bunch more

48:24

comparisons if I tried. The possibilities are

48:26

endless, and Tony and I will discuss

48:28

those endless possibilities at some point. I

48:31

also just have to mention that this short

48:33

story put me in mind of the Sherlock

48:35

Holmes short story, The Adventure of the Copper

48:38

Beaches, which is one of my

48:40

favorites. In that one, A Governess gets way

48:42

more than she bargained for when she takes

48:44

a governess position with the

48:46

unusual requirement of cutting short

48:49

her uniquely beautiful chestnut-colored hair.

48:51

So that story also

48:53

hinges on the resemblance between two women.

48:56

I totally remember the Jeremy Brett adaptation of

48:58

this story, but I looked it up out

49:00

of curiosity when I was prepping for this

49:03

episode, and I did not remember that Natasha

49:05

Richardson actually plays the governess in that adaptation.

49:07

I'm going to have to rewatch that. We

49:10

know Christy was a big Holmes fan, so

49:12

I wonder if she was inspired by this

49:14

story, even just subconsciously. By the

49:17

way, in that final paragraph of the

49:19

story I read out, Olga Stormer references

49:21

scientific passes, knockout drops

49:23

in the coffee followed by scientific passes.

49:26

I have to assume that

49:28

scientific passes are some version of hypnotherapy. If

49:31

anyone knows for sure, get in touch with me. I couldn't really

49:33

figure that one out. Regardless, I

49:35

am in awe of both Olga

49:37

Stormer and Agatha Christie, but mainly

49:39

of Agatha Christie, because I

49:41

just have to note that she leaves the door open to

49:44

not fully believing in the power

49:46

of Olga Stormer's acting, given those

49:48

hammy lines of dialogue that we

49:51

heard when Olga was pretending to

49:53

be her maid, Maude. I

49:55

think that's really funny, and it's done with a

49:57

light touch. And you know what? Even

50:00

if she's not as good as she thinks

50:02

she is, Olga Stormer got the job done.

50:05

And that is what actors do in Christie.

50:08

They get the job done. No

50:10

matter how dirty or murderous that

50:13

job may be. That

50:22

is the Actress Flash a

50:24

Trap for the Unwary by Agatha Christie. I

50:27

hope you enjoyed that. I sure did. For

50:29

my next episode, it's going to be a little

50:31

bit of a shorter episode just because I am

50:34

going to be on tour for

50:36

my mystery novel, The Busy Body. I

50:38

had so much fun talking about screen

50:40

adaptations with Theresa Peschel that I'm doing

50:42

a little follow up to that episode,

50:44

a little addendum where I am going

50:46

to be ranking 10 Hercule Poirot performances

50:48

on the screen, big and small, and

50:51

10 Miss Jane

50:53

Marple performances. So

50:55

I will get to talk a little bit

50:57

more about the screen adaptations of Agatha Christie,

50:59

which are so important in which I'll be

51:01

speaking about in a few months with my

51:03

dream team of co-panelists at the Agatha Christie

51:06

Festival. So again, click on the link in

51:08

the show notes if you would like to

51:10

purchase tickets for that panel or for any

51:12

of the wonderful panels happening at the festival

51:14

this coming September. Click on

51:16

the link to my website for more information

51:18

about my appearances on my upcoming tour. I

51:20

hope to see as many of you as

51:22

possible in the coming weeks. If

51:25

you would like bonus content, you can always head

51:27

on over to the podcast's Patreon page click on

51:29

the link in the show notes. I

51:31

am currently reading Overture to

51:34

Death by Nio Marsh for April's Patreon

51:36

episode. That is what I will be

51:38

covering in April and I am loving

51:41

it. Why did it take me this long

51:43

to start seriously reading Nio Marsh? I do

51:45

not know, but I'm glad that I finally

51:47

am. I will be discussing her and that

51:49

book in the days to come. So

51:52

check it out if you'd like. You can

51:54

always email me at [email protected] and

51:56

you can find the podcast on

51:58

Twitter at allaboutthedame. and on

52:01

Instagram at All About Agatha, and

52:03

you can find me on Facebook

52:05

at Kemper Donovan Books. Please

52:07

take a moment to give the podcast a rating

52:09

and or a review. It's so

52:11

so so so appreciated, and

52:14

I'll see you next time. Bye! Ah,

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