Murder in the West End Volume II: The Plays of Agatha Christie and Her Disciples

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, only a few criminous plays premiered in London's West End. The Tragedy of Nan (1908), by John Masefield, is the story of Nan Hardwick, whose father was hung for stealing sheep and she moves in with her uncle, William Pargetter, a farmer. Soon Nan finds herself under the yoke of Pargetter's shrewish wife and gossipy daughter. The growing torment leads to deadly violence and a tragic climax. A.E.W. Mason's The witness for the Defense (191...