When is a suicide not a suicide? When there is an aging husband concerned about his health, a beautiful young wife, and a large life insurance policy. Hercule Poirot is called in by the insurance company to investigate.

Today's story is "The Marsdon Manor Tragedy," by Agatha Christie. It appeared in the March 1924 issue of "The Blue Book Magazine" on pages 121 to 126.

"The Marsdon Manor Tragedy" first appeared in "The Sketch" in 1923 in the UK. In 1924 it appeared in the short story collection "Poirot Investigates." In 1991 it was broadcast in episode 6 of season 3 of the BBC's "Poirot" series, titled "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor."

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952.

A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction," Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery." She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

Links

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LibSyn: libsyn.com

"Mesmerizing Galaxy" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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