The Witness for the Prosecution

Written by Agatha Christie

Narrated by Christopher Lee

When wealthy spinster Emily French is found murdered, suspicion falls on Leonard Vole, the man to whom she hastily bequeathed her riches before she died. Leonard assures the investigators that his wife, Romaine Heilger, can provide them with an alibi. However, when questioned, Romaine informs the police that Vole returned home late that night covered in blood. During the trial, Ms. French’s housekeeper, Janet, gives damning evidence against Vole, and, as Romaine’s cross-examination begins, her motives come under scrutiny from the courtroom. One question remains, will justice prevail?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Dec 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9780062257710

Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was an English author of mystery fiction whose status in the genre is unparalleled. A prolific and dedicated creator, she wrote short stories, plays and poems, but her fame is due primarily to her mystery novels, especially those featuring two of the most celebrated sleuths in crime fiction, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Ms. Christie’s novels have sold in excess of two billion copies, making her the best-selling author of fiction in the world, with total sales comparable only to those of William Shakespeare or The Bible. Despite the fact that she did not enjoy cinema, almost 40 films have been produced based on her work.

Reviews for The Witness for the Prosecution

[Clare Gaia Russell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you've ever seen the movie with Greta Garbo, Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lancaster, you'll recognize the premise. The story ends the same way, but the denouement is left hanging. It's still a lovely story.

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick read. I thought it would be better. I was drawn to it for the title story "Witness for the Prosecution". I've seen the movie so many times, but never read the story. I didn't realize it was a short story. This was the best one of the lot. I didn't understand the "Fourth Man". I saw the ending coming on "Where there's a will". The Blue Jar was very good as was the Mystery of the Spanish Shawl".

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review: These are some of Christie's lessor known stories, although one stars Hercule Poirot. They range from 'normal' mysteries to rather creepy tales. In any case, all were fun to read.

[ferrisscottr · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I love love love Agatha Christie but this book just didn't do it for me. Not enough "puzzle" and not enough of the great characters I expect from her. A very rare dud for Agatha Christie.

[jennannej_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A collection of short stories by the mystery master (or is it mistress?) including mysteries, puzzles, and simply unbelievable occurences. Great to read when you don't have a lot of time to read a huge chunk.

[bookangel_a · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am always a bit disappointed when Christie puts a supernatural element in her short stories. I prefer the mystery to be explained by human cunning or cleverness. Several of these stories have a hint of the supernatural. Most of them do not. What a writer she is, though - all of them were very compelling reading!

[mstrust · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The majority of these stories have a supernatural bent, which is unusual for Christie, but shows her skill at creating tension in just a short amount of time. "The Fourth Man" is a tale of three orphans, two of whom are at the mercy of their more attractive and cruel friend, and is particularly good. The title story is a good, twisted crime story.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Lots of fine twists to the spaghetti. Christie is particularly well served by the short form/script because of her focus on plot. I think I read the play first, then the story for comparison.

Library copies

[arielfl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love the short story anthologies. This was the third one I read this summer. Included are the following:The Witness for the Prosecution, the story from which the title comes from. This is a story where the crime is what it seems but the people are not.The Fourth Man was a very unusual story, one I had to give a great deal of thought to. It was not one of the regular mysteries with a cut and dried solution at the end. You are asked to suspend your disbelief and consider if souls can switch bodies.S.O.S. is another one of the people switching mysteries Christie is so good at.Where There's a Will is a very clever story of a nephew who attempts to speed up the receiving of his inheritance through some wicked means and of course gets exactly what he deserves.The Mystery of the Blue jar was a favorite. In this story super natural elements are used to set up a con job.Sing a Song of sixpence was one of the "closed door" type of mysteries where one of the people present has to be the murderer. The man who was brought in to solve the mystery was an acquaintance of one of the suspects. They had a May December type romance. I don't know if it was acceptable in Christie's time but not too many people today would be down with a seventeen year old having sexual relations with an old man. It came off very strange when he was waxing on how attractive he found teenagers. The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl was another con type mystery evocative of The Blue Jar. Philomel Cottage was another favorite. In it a woman may end up a victim of her new husband or is it the other way around.Accident was another story that didn't play out the way you thought it would. You think the victim is going to be one person and it ends up being someone else.The final story is a Hercule Poirot one, The Second Gong. Poirot is called to an estate to do an investigation and if you know Poirot he always gets his man.This was enjoyable collection of short stories from the master of mystery. This is a highly recommended read.

[MrsD47 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

AG was AMAZING!!! This one left me speechless! It was fantastic!

[riverwillow · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

if you read a lot of Christie beware as this is essentially the stories from "The Hound of Death" repacked...

[musicmom41 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a delightful discovery of a volume of short mysteries, only one of which was familiar to me—the title story which was the basis for a famous play. Except for the last story, featuring Hercule Poirot, these were tales about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances and were nicel surprises for me.

[auntie0nanuuq · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Most all of these stories were written for various magazines.... The most famous is the title of the book & a movie starring Marlene Dietrich.

The stories, many of which deal with "spiritualism" are interesting enough, but much unlike her murder mysteries they are often dark & filled w/ foreboding.

I did not like most of the characters, nor did I feel empathy for any of them.....

The stories are:

Accident

The Fourth Man

The Mystery of the Blue Jar

The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl (a.k.a. Mr. Eastwood's Adventure)

Philomel Cottage

The Red Signal

The Second Gong

Sing a Song of Sixpence

S.O.S.

Where There's a Will (a.k.a. Wireless): This I liked, an Aunt gets even & justice after her death.....

The Witness for the Prosecution

However, if you are tired of T&T, Marple, & Poirot, this might be the break you're waiting for........

[cbl_tn · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This BBC radio drama attempts to present the essential elements of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution in less than half an hour. It's only partially successful. While key parts of the plot are present, too much of the context has been stripped out of the drama. I've seen the play and the films based on it enough times to be familiar with all of the plot twists and I still had trouble making sense of the radio drama. I even re-listened to a couple of segments and still felt like I was missing something. I'd love to have heard the cast in an unabridged audio production of the play. If you haven't seen, heard, or read the play as written by Christie, avoid this plot-spoiling bare bones adaptation.

[john257hopper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This Agatha Christie short story is packed full of twists and turns around the case of Leonard Vole, accused of murdering an old lady to get her money. I think this story demonstrates the strength of the short story model. No need for superfluous characters, just a straightforward but gripping story.

[Kat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well...I did not expect that. Very interesting and surprising. Great short story! Love Lee's voice as well!

[Maggie Norris · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

What can I say about Dame Agatha? Don’t know how anyone living in the twenty-first century can tolerate so much racism and classism. Besides< anyone who has read two or three of her books knew exactly what the big plot twist was going to be as soon as the spooky old lady showed up.