A Pocket Full of Rye

infobox Book |
name = A Pocket Full of Rye
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust-jacket illustration of the first UK edition
author = Agatha Christie
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Crime novel
publisher = Collins Crime Club
release_date = November 9 1953
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 192 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = NA
preceded_by = After the Funeral
followed_by = Destination Unknown

"A Pocket Full of Rye" is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 9 1953Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. "Collins Crime Club – A checklist of First Editions". Dragonby Press (Second Edition) March 1999 (Page 15)] and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year [John Cooper and B.A. Pyke. "Detective Fiction - the collector's guide": Second Edition (Pages 82 and 87) Scholar Press. 1994. ISBN 0-85967-991-8] [http://home.insightbb.com/~jsmarcum/agatha53.htm American Tribute to Agatha Christie] ] . The UK edition retailed at ten shillings and sixpence (10/6) and the US edition at $2.75. The book features her detective Miss Marple.

Explanation of the novel's title

Like many of Christie's novels, the title and substantial parts of the plot reference a nursery rhyme, in this case "Sing a Song of Sixpence".

Plot Summary

When wealthy Rex Fortescue dies while having tea, the police are baffled. Mr. Fortescue died during his morning tea in the office and the diagnosis was that a poison, taxine - a poison found as a diterpene in berries of the yew tree, had killed him. His wife was the main suspect in the murder, until she also was murdered, after she as well drank the tea. Her lover, Mr. Dubois, was the suspect next, as well as just about everyone that knew the family. Going on the only clue, a pocket full of rye found on the victim, Miss Marple begins investigating. Marple realizes the murders are arranged according to the pattern of her childhood nursery rhyme 'Sing a Song of Sixpence'. Murder though, is anything but child's play. She works together with Inspector Neele on the case, who seems to have a very different idea of what happened.

Characters in "A Pocket Full of Rye"

*Rex Fortescue - Businessman who is the first to die. He is in his second marriage and has two sons and a daughter. His business is an investment firm.
*Adele Fortescue - Second wife of Rex Fortescue which has had no children with him. She is the second to die. She also had a boyfriend named Vivian Dubois.
*Percival Fortescue (a.k.a. Percy, Val) - One of Rex's three children. He was the not liked child and his mother, Rex's first wife, died when he was 12 years old. He also was co-owner of Rex's business.
*Jennifer Fortescue - Percival's wife.
*Lancelot Fortescue - Also one of Rex's three children. He was liked by Rex and lived in Africa for seven years before Rex finally made him a business deal. He flew into London just two days before Rex died for the deal to be finalized but it never was.
*Pat Fortescue - Lancelot's wife.
*Elaine Fortescue - The last of Rex's three children. She is the only one that shows sorrow for Rex's death.
*Gerald Wright - Elaine's boyfriend. Rex opposed their engagement and threatened to disinherit Elaine which caused Gerald to suddenly depart.
*Miss Ramsbottom (a.k.a. Aunt Eiffe) - Rex's sister-in-law from his first marriage. She is in her eighties.
*Mary Dove - Housekeeper in the Fortescue household.
*Gladys Martin - Maid in the Fortescue household. She is thought to be the third to die.
*Ellen - Another of the Fortescue's maids.
*Mr. Crump - Fortescue family butler.
*Mrs. Crump - Fortescue family cook. She is also Mr. Crump's wife.
*Vivian Edward Dubois - Adele's golfing partner whom she is having an affair with.
*Inspector Neele - Inspector assigned to the murder of Rex Fortescue
*Miss Marple - Amateur detective assisting Inspector Neele.
*Miss Grosvenor - Rex's Secretary.
*Miss Sommers - One of Rex's workers. She is very dimwitted.
*Miss Griffith - One of Rex's workers. She is a perfectionist.
*Mr. Ansell - Solicitor that dealt with Adele's will.

Literary significance and reception

Maurice Richardson in "The Observer" of November 15, 1953 said, "Not quite so stunning as some of Mrs. Christie's criminal assaults upon her readers; the soufflé rises all right, but the red herrings aren't quite nifty enough. But how well she nearly always writes, the dear decadent old death-trafficker; they ought to make her a Dame or a D. Litt." ["The Observer" November 15, 1953 (Page 10)]

Robert Barnard: "Super-stockbrokerbelt setting, and quote exceptionally nasty family of suspects. (Christie usually prefers to keep most of her characters at least "potentially" sympathetic as well as potential murderers, but here they are only the latter). Something of a re-run of "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" (loathsome father, goody-goody son, ne'er-do-well son, gold-digger wife, etc.), but without its tight construction and ingenuity. And the rhyme is an irrelevancy. Still, a good, sour read." [Barnard, Robert. "A Talent to Deceive – an appreciation of Agatha Christie" - Revised edition (Page 203). Fontana Books, 1990. ISBN 0006374743]

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

Adapted into a Russian film in 1983 (using the Russian edition's translated title, "The Secret of the Blackbirds") with an Estonian actress Ita Ever as Miss Marple and then by BBC on March 7, 1985 with Joan Hickson in the lead. The novel is currently set to be the first adaptation of the fourth season of Marple, which now stars Julia McKenzie as the title character.

Publication history

* 1953, Collins Crime Club (London), November 9, Hardcover, 192 pp
* 1954, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), 1951, Hardcover, 211 pp
* 1955, Pocket Books (New York), Paperback, 186 pp
* 1958, Fontana Books (Imprint of HarperCollins), Paperback, 191 pp
* 1964, Ulverscroft Large-print Edition, Hardcover, 191 pp
* 1981, Greenway edition of collected works (William Collins), Hardcover, ISBN 0-00-231681-1
* 2006, Marple Facsimile edition (Facsimile of 1953 UK first edition), January 3, 2006, Hardcover, ISBN 0-00-720852-9

The novel was first serialised, heavily abridged, in the UK in the "Daily Express" starting on Monday, September 28 and running for fourteen instalments until Tuesday, October 13, 1953 [Holdings at the British Library (Newspapers - Colindale). Shelfmark: NPL LON LD3 and NPL LON MLD3.] .

The novel was first serialised in the US in the "Chicago Tribune" in forty-two parts from Monday, January 11 to Saturday, February 27, 1954.

References

External links

* [http://us.agathachristie.com/site/find_a_story/stories/A_Pocket_Full_of_Rye.php "A Pocket Full of Rye"] at the official Agatha Christie website
*imdb title|id= 0086407|title=Tayna chyornykh drozdov (Russian: 1983)
*imdb title|id= 0087924|title=A Pocket Full of Rye (1985)
*imdb title|id= 1189440|title=Marple:A Pocket Full of Rye (2008)