REVIEW: The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (Short Story Collection)

 The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories
Author: Agatha Christie

This collection gathers 11 short stories by Agatha Christie. The collection was first published only in the US in 1948. The stories are: 

The Witness for the Prosecution
The Red Signal
The Fourth Man
S.O.S
Where There's a Will
The Mystery of the Blue Jar
Sing a Song of Sixpence
The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl
Philomel Cottage
Accident
The Second Gong

The Witness for the Prosecution - One of Agatha Christie's most famous short stories. It has been adapted to a stage play, radio dramas, a film and multiple television adaptations. The ending of the short story and the play (also written by Christie) are different as she was dissatisfied with the original ending. First published in January 1925 in Flynn's Weekly under the title "Traitor Hands,'' this story was also published in The Hound of Death (1933, UK), The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948, US) and Mousetrap and Other Plays (1993). BBC4 Radio "modernized'' the story. This version is available in Agatha Christie: Twelve Radio Mysteries.

The Red Signal - A medium gives a warning at a dinner party which comes true in dreadful ways. First published in the UK in The Grand Magazine in 1924 and included in Hound of Death in 1933 (UK). It was not published in the United States until 1948 when it appeared in The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories.  The story was adapted for The Agatha Christie Hour (television) in 1982. 

The Fourth Man - A group riding on a train discusses a case of multiple personalities. This story was first published in The Grand Magazine in 1925 and later in The Hound of Death (1933. UK). It was adapted for television in 1982 (The Agatha Christie Hour, episode 4). 

S.O.S - A man gets stranded in the middle of nowhere and encounters a family at a secluded house with strange results. First published in The Hound of Death in 1933 (UK). I found no adaptations for this story. 

Where There's a Will -  A woman hears the voice of her deceased husband over the radio for several days. The effects are disastrous...for more than one person. First published as Wireless in The Hound of Death (1933. UK). I found no adaptations of this story for radio or television.  

The Mystery of the Blue Jar - Jack Hartington is dragged into a strange mystery after hearing a haunting cry of "Murder! Help! Murder!'' coming from a nearby cottage. This story was first published in 1933 in The Hound of Death (UK). I found no radio adaptations of this story, but it was used in an episode of The Agatha Christie Hour (episode 7, 1982). 

Sing a Song of Sixpence - This story was first published in 1929 in Holly Leaves, the annual Christmas special of Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. It was later included in The Listerdale Mystery (1934, UK). It was first published in the US in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1947.  I didn't find any radio or television adaptations of this story.

The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl - This story was first published as The Mystery of the Second Cucumber in The Novel Magazine, 1924. It was later included in The Listerdale Mystery (1933) story collection with the title Mr. Eastwood's Adventure. This collection changed the title yet again to The Mystery of the Spanish Shawl. I found no adaptations of this story. 

Philomel Cottage - An heiress marries in haste, and comes to wonder how well she really knows her husband. Is he plotting? First published in The Grand Magazine in 1924. It was later included in The Listerdale Mystery story collection in 1934 (UK) and The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories in 1948 (US). It was adapted for radio 3 times for the OTR show Suspense (1924. 1943 and 1946), and once by BBC4 Radio in 2002 (modernized version). It has also been adapted for the stage (1936, titled Love from a Stranger), television (Fireside Theatre, 1950) and film (1947 in the US, titled A Stranger Walked In). The stage play (titled Love from a Stranger) was adapted for film and television four times (1938, 1947 and 1958 and once for West German television in 1957) It is one of Christie's most adapted short stories. 

Accident - A man suspects a wife may be plotting to poison her husband. This story was first published  in 1929 in the Sunday Dispatch under the title, The Uncrossed Path. It was included in The Listerdale Mystery story collection (UK, 1934). In March 1943, Accident was published in Ellery Queen Magazine in the US. It was adapted once into a stage play titled Tea for Three in 1939. 

The Second Gong - A wealthy man who demands his guests never be late to dinner is suddenly....late to dinner. Definitely a case for Hercule Poirot! This story was first published in The Strand Magazine in 1932 and in Ladies Home Journal that same year. It is the basis for a novella (Dead Man's Mirror) published in 1937. It was included in the story collection The Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (UK) in 1991. This original version of the story has not been adapted, but Dead Man's Mirror was crafted into an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot (Season 5, episode 7)

Lovely collection of short stories! I am enjoying my journey through Agatha Christie's writing in publication order (with a few backtracks when I miss something....lots of jumping around and re-publication of earlier stories,etc) Nice mix of plots...just a fun, entertaining read. There was not a single story that I did not like! 

Still working my way through short stories....then back to novels! :)