The Mousetrap

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay, England, to a middle-class family. She was homeschooled and taught herself how to read by the age of five. At 24 years old, she married Archibald Christie, a military officer in the Royal Flying Corps. While her husband served in France during World War I, Agatha worked as a nurse at a Red Cross Hospital in Torquay. Following the end of the war and Archibald’s return to England, Agatha gave birth to her only child, Rosalind, in 1919. The next year, she published her first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which introduced her now-famous detective character, Hercule Poirot. Later, Agatha and Archibald divorced, and in 1930 Agatha married Max Mallowan, an archaeologist, whom she accompanied on excavations in Iraq and Syria. During this time, Christie wrote many more murder mysteries, as well as several novels published under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. She also wrote plays, including The Mousetrap, the world’s longest-running play. Throughout her career, Christie published 66 novels and 14 short story collections, becoming the best-selling fiction writer of all time. In 1971, she was made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for her great literary contributions. Christie died in Oxfordshire, England, in 1976.

Christie based the fictional Longridge Farm case in The Mousetrap on a real case of severe child abuse, which occurred in Shropshire, England, in 1945. The local governing council sent two boys, Dennis O’Neill and his younger brother Terence, to live with Reginald and Esther Gough at Bank Farm. The Goughs starved, beat, and neglected the boys. Dennis died at 12 years old after being beaten to death by Reginald, who was charged for murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. This shocking case prompted inquiries into how governmental authorities failed to ensure the O’Neill brothers’ welfare, and it ultimately led to the creation of the Children Act of 1948, which outlined provisions for the care of foster children. More broadly, The Mousetrap also alludes to the reality of post-World War II society in England. For instance, the play’s characters possess ration books, referencing the fact that rationing of food and other important resources continued for years in Britain after the end of the war in 1945. Additionally, Detective Sergeant Trotter notes that the war has left countless “homes broken up and families dead,” creating strain on communities even in peacetime. And Mrs. Boyle’s comments about the working classes having “no idea of their responsibilities” points to shifting class dynamics. By including such details, Christie grounds The Mousetrap in history, so that it’s not only an intriguing whodunnit but also a subtle reflection of the issues she observed her country facing at the time.

Christie read and was inspired by the works of other well-known British writers of mystery and crime fiction, including Wilkie Collins and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Collins’s book The Woman in White, published in 1860, is often ranked among the greatest mystery novels. Similarly, The Moonstone, published by Collins in 1868 and later adapted into a stage play, is one of the first great modern detective novels. It established many conventions of detective fiction that appear in Christie’s own writing, such as red herrings, reconstructions of the crime, and final plot twists. Additionally, the Sherlock Holmes stories, which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote between the 1880s and 1920s, significantly influenced Christie’s writing in that they essentially defined the main features of 20th-century detective fiction. Christie herself wrote other plays besides The Mousetrap. The first play she ever produced, titled Black Coffee, features Hercule Poirot solving the murder of a scientist; its premiere launched her successful career as a playwright. Another one of Christie’s most successful plays is Witness for the Prosecution, a courtroom drama in which a man is put on trial for the murder of a wealthy older woman. Finally, three of Christie’s contemporaries are well-known for their murder mystery novels and short stories, which contributed to the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. These authors are Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh, who—along with Christie—are collectively referred to as the “Queens of Crime.”