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The Stranger
A small cast, short version of an intimate psychological thriller taken from Philomel Cottage. Enid rejects her fiancé for newcomer Gerald and moves to a remote country cottage with him – where a dark and terrible climax takes place.
- GenresAgatha ChristiePlays
78 pages, Paperback
Published January 6, 2020
About the author
Agatha Christie
6,466 books79.5k followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 11, 2026
A Stranger Cometh
A review of the Samuel French paperback (January 6, 2020) of a play originally written in 1932 but published posthumously, it was an adaptation of the short story "Philomel Cottage" (1924).
This is a medium length three-act play which closely follows the plot of Philomel Cottage: an Agatha Christie Short Story (The Grand Magazine, November 1, 1924) which I also read and reviewed recently as part of the collection The Listerdale Mystery (1934).
The characters' names have mostly been changed for the stage version, although some first names remain the same. The main plot change is that the lead character Enid (originally Alix in the short story) saves herself in the end, rather than having her former love come to the rescue. I don't want to spoil it further. I enjoyed this just as much as the original, especially for the rise in tension towards the end as Enid realizes whom she is dealing with. The play gets the same 4-stars as the short story.
Note: This play, as well as its original short story, is a standalone and does not feature any of Agatha Christie's many sleuths or investigators such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, a.o.
This full length play counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge read goal, so I now have 4 novels (including 2 remaining Mary Westmacotts), 2 full-length theatrical plays and 1 autobiography left to go.
Soundtrack
The housekeeper Mrs. Huggins sings a song called "Love from a Stranger" during the 1st Act of the play. The lyrics are presumably by Agatha Christie as no other writer is credited. I could not find any contemporary 1932 recording of such a song.
You can listen to excerpts from composer Benjamin Britten's orchestral score (no songs) for the film Love from a Stranger (1937) at Spotify here.
Trivia, Reckoning and Links
There have been no film or TV adaptations of The Stranger as such, but there have been several adaptations of the short story Philomel Cottage through its other version adapted by Frank Vosper as Love from a Stranger (1936) in various media which you can see listed at Wikipedia here. You can even watch the 1937 film version on YouTube here.
As best as I know, the 2 remaining full length Agatha Christie plays on my TBR list are:
Akhnaton (1937).
Fiddlers Three (1972).
In addition there are several full length plays that have been posthumously adapted from Agatha Christie novels by other people, but I am not counting them as part of the canon. For a complete listing see the works at Concord Theatricals listed under Agatha Christie.
The above list does not include the shorter one-act plays and/or radio plays which I been accounting for separately.
A review of the Samuel French paperback (January 6, 2020) of a play originally written in 1932 but published posthumously, it was an adaptation of the short story "Philomel Cottage" (1924).
MRS. HUGGINS. Seven years or seventy - you never know with a man. Men is always men.
DORIS. Oh, come Mrs. Huggins. I hope it won't be so bad as all that. After all, if you don't know what a man is like after seven or eight years, when will you know?
MRS. HUGGINS. Never! Secretive, that what men are - and artful. You never know what they are thinking and planning until they are in their graves.
This is a medium length three-act play which closely follows the plot of Philomel Cottage: an Agatha Christie Short Story (The Grand Magazine, November 1, 1924) which I also read and reviewed recently as part of the collection The Listerdale Mystery (1934).
The characters' names have mostly been changed for the stage version, although some first names remain the same. The main plot change is that the lead character Enid (originally Alix in the short story) saves herself in the end, rather than having her former love come to the rescue. I don't want to spoil it further. I enjoyed this just as much as the original, especially for the rise in tension towards the end as Enid realizes whom she is dealing with. The play gets the same 4-stars as the short story.
Note: This play, as well as its original short story, is a standalone and does not feature any of Agatha Christie's many sleuths or investigators such as Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, a.o.
This full length play counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge read goal, so I now have 4 novels (including 2 remaining Mary Westmacotts), 2 full-length theatrical plays and 1 autobiography left to go.
Soundtrack
The housekeeper Mrs. Huggins sings a song called "Love from a Stranger" during the 1st Act of the play. The lyrics are presumably by Agatha Christie as no other writer is credited. I could not find any contemporary 1932 recording of such a song.
You can listen to excerpts from composer Benjamin Britten's orchestral score (no songs) for the film Love from a Stranger (1937) at Spotify here.
Trivia, Reckoning and Links
There have been no film or TV adaptations of The Stranger as such, but there have been several adaptations of the short story Philomel Cottage through its other version adapted by Frank Vosper as Love from a Stranger (1936) in various media which you can see listed at Wikipedia here. You can even watch the 1937 film version on YouTube here.
As best as I know, the 2 remaining full length Agatha Christie plays on my TBR list are:
Akhnaton (1937).
Fiddlers Three (1972).
In addition there are several full length plays that have been posthumously adapted from Agatha Christie novels by other people, but I am not counting them as part of the canon. For a complete listing see the works at Concord Theatricals listed under Agatha Christie.
The above list does not include the shorter one-act plays and/or radio plays which I been accounting for separately.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review