Agatha Christie, Dead Man's Folly

Amy Lee (The Open University)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

It has been noted in Sir Max Mallowan's memoir that the setting of

Dead Man's Folly

is based on Greenway House, a property bought by Christie and her husband in 1939. The boathouse and river attached to the fictional Nasse House are both features borrowed from Greenway House.

Dead Man's Folly begins when Hercule Poirot gets a call from his friend, Ariadne Oliver, the famous detective story writer who always gets mixed up in murder cases. This time, she has been invited to Nasse House in Devon to organise of one of the events in a local charity show. The show is an annual tradition, organised by the owner of the house to let the local people enjoy themselves, and features fortune-telling, handcraft stalls, a food court, and all kinds of games. Mrs Oliver is to organise a murder hunt,

1282 words

Citation: Lee, Amy. "Dead Man's Folly". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 August 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5719, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5719 Dead Man's Folly 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.