The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories

Infobox Book
name = The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Dust-jacket illustration of the first US edition
author = Agatha Christie
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Detective fiction
short stories
publisher = Dodd, Mead and Company
release_date = 1948
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 272 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by = Taken at the Flood
followed_by = The Rose and the Yew Tree

"The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories" is a short story collection written by Agatha Christie and first published in in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1948 [http://home.insightbb.com/~jsmarcum/agatha45.htm American Tribute to Agatha Christie] ] . The first edition retailed at $2.50. The story "The Second Gong" features Hercule Poirot, the only character in the stories who appears in any other of Christie's works.

Each story, except "The Second Gong", has also appeared in either of the UK collections "The Hound of Death" or "The Listerdale Mystery" and therefore this collection was not published in the UK. Some of the stories are fantasy fiction rather than mysteries.

List of stories

*"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")
*"The Witness for the Prosecution"

Publication history

* 1948, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), Hardcover, 272 pp
* 1956, Dell Books, Paperback, (Dell number 855), 192 pp

First publication of stories in the U.S.

The first US magazine publication of all the stories has not been fully documented. A partial listing is as follows:

* "The Mystery of the Blue Jar": a 1924 issue of "Metropolitan Magazine".
* "The Witness for the Prosecution": January 31, 1925 issue of "Flynn's Weekly" (Volume IV, No 2) under the title "Traitor Hands" with an uncredited illustration.
* "Where There's a Will": March 1, 1926 issue of "Mystery Magazine" under the title "Wireless".
* "The Second Gong": June 1932 (Volume LIIX, Number 6) issue of the "Ladies Home Journal" with an illustration by R.J. Prohaska.

In addition, the following were published unillustrated in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine":

* "Accident": March 1943 (Volume 4, Number 2)
* "Sing a Song of Sixpence": February 1947 (Volume 9, Number 39)
* "The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl": April 1947 (Volume 9, Number 41)
* "The Red Signal": June 1947 (Volume 9, Number 43)
* "The Fourth Man": October 1947 (Volume 10, Number 47)
* "S.O.S.": December 1947 (Volume 10, Number 49)

For first publications in the UK, see the applicable UK collections referenced above.

References

External links

* [http://us.agathachristie.com/site/find_a_story/stories/Witness_For_The_Prosecution_and_Other_Stories.php "The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories"] at the official Agatha Christie website