A POCKET FULL OF RYE

BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
Hena Jazvin, April 2020
 AGATHA CHRISTIE
Born on the 15th In 1971, she
September 1890. was appointed
She was an a Dame
English writer Commander of
known for her the Order of
sixty-six the British
detective novels Empire (DBE)
and fourteen for her
short story contribution to
collections. literature.
 AGATHA CHRISTIE
oChristie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in
Torquay, Devon.
oShe served in a Devon hospital during the First World War,
acquiring a good knowledge of poisons which would later
feature in many of her novels, short stories, and plays.
oShe was initially an unsuccessful writer with six consecutive
rejections, but this changed when The Mysterious Affair at
Styles was published in 1920 featuring Hercule Poirot.
oShe passed away peacefully on January 12, 1976 in the age of
85.
 CAREER & NOVELS

o Christie wrote her first short story, The House of Beauty while

recovering in bed from an undisclosed illness.
o This was about 6,000 words on the topic of "madness and
dreams", a subject of fascination for her.
o One of her biographers has commented that, despite
"infelicities of style", the story was nevertheless "compelling".
Magazines rejected all her early submissions, made under
pseudonyms although some submissions were revised and
published later, often with new titles.
 CAREER & NOVELS
oChristie had long been a fan of detective
novels, having enjoyed Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories.
oShe then wrote her own detective novel,
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring
Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian police
officer noted for his twirly large
"magnificent moustaches" and
egg-shaped head.
 SUCCESS
o Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist
of all time.
o Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies.
o Her estate claims that her
works come third in the
rankings of the world's most-
widely published
books, behind
only Shakespeare‘s works and
the Bible.
 DISSAPPEARANCE
o The disappearance o Christie's
caused a public disappearance was
outcry. featured on the front
o On 3 December page of The New
1926 Christie o York Times.
disappeared from o Despite the extensive
her home. manhunt, she was
o Her car was found not found for 10
perched above a days.
chalk quarry with o On 14 December
an expired driving 1926, she was found
licence and clothes. at a hotel.
 A POCKET FUL OF RYE
o A Pocket Full of Rye is a work of detective
fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in
the UK  on 9 November 1953.
o Two reviewers at the time of publication felt that
"the hidden mechanism of the plot is ingenious at
the expense of probability and that the novel was
"Not quite so stunning as some of Mrs Christie's
criminal assaults upon her readers".
o Christie's overall high quality in writing detective
novels led one to say "they ought to make her
a Dame".
 PLOT SUMMARY
oThe novel begins with the passing of a London businessman
called Rex Fortescue while drinking his morning tea in his
office when later it is discovered that the actual cause of death
was a taxine poison.
oThe investigation was taken on by detective Neele and right
away, the main suspect of the murder mystery was Rex‘s much
younger wife Adele.
oRex‘s son, Lancelot and his wife Pat are travelling to London,
at the invitation of his father, according to Lance. The very day
Lance arrives, Adele dies of cyandine in her tea, and a few
hours later the maid Gladys Martin is found strangled in the
yard, with a clothes pin put on her nose.
o The weirdest thing about the whole
case was that inside Rex‘s pocket, some
rye was found.
o Later in the investiogation, Miss
Marple shows up because she knew the
now deceased maid, Gladys.
o She discovers a rather strange
connection between the mystery and an
old children song.
o That becomes of great interest to
inspector Neele.
o With that, a new mystery begins.
Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye
Four and twenty black birds baked in a pie
When the pie was opened the birds began to
sing
Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the
King
The King was in his counting house
counting out his money
The queen is in the parlour, eating bread
and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the
clothes,
When there came a little dickey bird and
nipped off her nose
o Rex had many enemies and his murder came as no surprise to
anyone.
o Detective Neele figured out that the taxin was in a jar of
marmelade and was later threw out the window.
o In the maid‘s room, the police found letters
and postcards of a mystery man named
Albert who Gladys was in a relationship
with.
o With the help of inspector Neele, Miss
Marple solved the case and it turnes out
that the person who killed Rex, Adele and
Gladys was Lancelot.
o He was also the person who Gladys was in a
relationship with and she didn‘t know his
true identity.
 CHARACTERS

Rex Fortescue:
o Wealthy, unscrupulous businessman in
London who dies in his office.
o He was over 60 years old, and suspected by
his sons of a serious disease which impairs
his functions in the business, Consolidated
Investments.
o A very unpleasent man who hated his son
Lancelot and had many enemies.
 Adele Fortescue:
o Second wife of Rex, about thirty years
younger than he is, about the age of his
sons.
o They have been married two years. She
is a beautiful woman who loves
expensive things.
o She is very shallow and pretty much the
only thing the cares about is money and
wealth.
o She dies in a library one afternoon.
 Miss Marple:
o She trained Gladys in the duties of
service in a home or at a restaurant,
and feels responsible when she reads
of the murders where Gladys works.
o  A natural busybody, she is skilled
at problem solving and has an
unsentimental understanding
of human nature.
o An elderly woman who has always
lived in St. Mary Mead, a snug
English village.
o Lancelot Fortescue:
o Second son of Rex, nickname
Lance.
o The two argued eleven years
earlier, causing a breach, but
he retains a role as junior
partner.
o He lives in Kenya, coming
home apparently to reconcile
with his father because he is
very happy with Pat, and
wants to settle down. He is
handsome, attractive, clever .
o Percival Fortescue:
o Eldest son of Rex, working
with him in the business.
o He is more conservative in
his investments than his
father is.
o He is about 30 years old.
o He seems to get what he
wants, and has the most to
gain from the deaths of his
father and stepmother, but
could not have killed the
latter.
o Jennifer Fortescue:
o Wife of Percival for the last
three years.
o They met when she nursed
him back to health from
pneumonia.
o She is bored in her life as a
wife, without the focus of
professional nursing.
o She was Ruby MacKenzie
before she married.
o She was the person who put
the birds in the pie.
o Inspector Neele:
o Detective inspector of the
CID (Criminal Investigation
Division) who handles the
death of Rex Fortescue and
the following two deaths at
the Fortescue home.
o He is quick-thinking,
making sure of the cause of
death rapidly, so it is known
to be murder.