Crooked House

Classic mysteries use several kinds of clues to “play fair” without immediately giving away the solution to the puzzle. These include false clues (intentionally misleading clues created by characters to throw off the detective), red herrings (things that appear to have significance but are actually irrelevant), buried clues (clues that would help solve the mystery, but the author directs attention away from them), and misleading clues (clues that would help solve the mystery, but the author leads the reader to misinterpret them). How skillfully does Christie balance clue types in Crooked House, and how does this contribute to the reader’s enjoyment of the puzzle? Use these guiding questions to help you in formulating a response.

• How many of each type of clue do you see in the novel?
• How would a dramatic change in the balance of clue types change the reader’s experience?
• Were there enough buried and misleading clues along the way to make the revelation of Josephine’s guilt a satisfying and logical answer to the puzzle?
• Did Christie succeed in obscuring the puzzle’s answer long enough, or were the clues to Josephine’s guilt too easy to spot?

Teaching Suggestion: If you suspect that your students will not immediately understand the differences between the various clue types, you might plan to spend a few minutes discussing the prompt itself, offering an example from Crooked House of each clue type.