The Witness for the Prosecution
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About this ebook
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?
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie is the most widely published author of all time, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Her books have sold more than a billion copies in English and another billion in a hundred foreign languages. She died in 1976, after a prolific career spanning six decades.
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Reviews for The Witness for the Prosecution
19 ratings14 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A 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.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5if you read a lot of Christie beware as this is essentially the stories from "The Hound of Death" repacked...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lots 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 - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This 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.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 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.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This 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".
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I 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!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I 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.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is one of Christie's finest works. I absolutely love this. The never ending plot twists and a very satisfying end.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This 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.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This 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.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Most 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........1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Review: 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.
Book preview
The Witness for the Prosecution - Agatha Christie
The Witness for the Prosecution
A Short Story
by Agatha Christie
Contents
Cover
Title Page
The Witness for the Prosecution
About the Author
Related Products
Copyright
About the Publisher
Witness for the Prosecution
‘The Witness for the Prosecution’ was first published in the USA as ‘Traitor Hands’ in Flynn’s Weekly, 31 January 1925.
Mr Mayherne adjusted his pince-nez and cleared his throat with a little dry-as-dust cough that was wholly typical of him. Then he looked again at the man opposite him, the man charged with wilful murder.
Mr Mayherne was a small man precise in manner, neatly, not to say foppishly dressed, with a pair of very shrewd and piercing grey eyes. By no means a fool. Indeed, as a solicitor, Mr Mayherne’s reputation stood very high. His voice, when he spoke to his client, was dry but not unsympathetic.
‘I must impress upon you again that you are in very grave danger, and that the utmost frankness is necessary.’
Leonard Vole, who had been staring in a dazed fashion at the blank wall in front of him, transferred his glance to the solicitor.
‘I know,’ he said hopelessly. ‘You keep telling me so. But I can’t seem to realize yet that I’m charged with murder – murder. And such a dastardly crime too.’
Mr Mayherne was practical, not emotional. He coughed again, took off his pince-nez, polished them carefully, and replaced them on his nose. Then he said:
‘Yes, yes, yes. Now, my dear Mr Vole, we’re going to make a determined effort to get you off – and we shall succeed – we shall succeed. But I must have all the facts. I must know just how damaging the case against you is likely to be. Then we can fix upon the best line of defence.’
Still the young man looked at him in the same dazed, hopeless fashion. To Mr Mayherne the case had seemed black enough, and the guilt of the prisoner assured. Now, for the first time, he felt a doubt.
‘You think I’m guilty,’ said Leonard Vole, in a low voice. ‘But, by God, I swear I’m not! It looks pretty black against me, I know that. I’m like a man caught in a net – the meshes of it all round me, entangling me whichever way I turn. But I didn’t do