What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

As a pre-teen kid in the early 60s, I read quite a few mysteries, and often can't remember the author/title information, and sometimes not much about the plot or characters. All I really remember about this one is that it's set in England, and near the beginning, the main characters are watching a production (or maybe a rehearsal) of the ancient Greek play Antigone, at a girl's boarding school. The teen girl in the title role (who may be the murder victim later, though I don't recall for sure) is doing a great job with it; but at one point when she pauses in delivering a speech, the prompter says the next line loudly enough to ruin the effect, and take the heart out of the rest of the performance. (Agatha Christie may be the author, and this may be a Poirot book, but I wouldn't swear to either.) I know this probably isn't much to go on; but I'd love to track this book down! :-)

Werner, is this book for teens or adults?

I added a few details to the header/ topic title. Feel free to edit it.

Kris, your additions are excellent; thanks! It's for adults (I read above grade level at that age).

You're welcome.

Reference: Antigone (play by Sophocles based on Greek mythology) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigone + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigon...

Probably not The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross (not published until 1971, set in New York, and not quite the right plot) but I mention it just in case.

SamSpayedPI wrote: "Probably not The Theban Mysteries by Amanda Cross (not published until 1971, set in New York, and not quite the right plot) but I mention it just in case."

No, I definitely read it before 1970 --I'd say early 60s. But thanks anway!

Bit of a long shot, but could it be one of Gladys Mitchell's Mrs Bradley series?

Right era, and I think there were a few that had a school setting or classical antiquities tropes.

(I find them pretty much unreadable, myself: so not particularly familiar with them. One of those instances where the television adaptation was (imho) a considerable improvement! I'm aware that not everyone agrees with me)

No, Robert, I don't think it was any of those; the list of series books doesn't ring any bells. But thanks for the suggestion!

Just posting to update this request, and confirm that I haven't given up!

I know the Poirot boarding school book is Cat Among the Pigeons, but I'm not sure I remember a play?

Thanks for the guess, Library! Based on the Wikipedia plot summary, though, it's not Cat Among the Pigeons. :-(

I still haven't given up hope of finding this one!

Again, just posting to update this thread, and to confirm that I haven't given up!

I found this blog post that mentions a book called Case for Mr Fortune:

https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/202...

It states: “In the first chapter, “The Greek Play,” Reggie is dragged by his wife to see her godchild who attends an exclusive girls school perform in the Greek drama Antigone.”

The book is also contained in an omnibus: Meet Mr. Fortune: A Reggie Fortune Omnibus. However, they look like they are out of print.

Lori, I really believe that you've probably identified the book! (If that's the case, what has been throwing us until now was that we were looking for a novel, whereas the part that I remembered is actually the beginning of the first story in a collection.) I'm going to put in an interlibrary loan request for the collection, to check this out (I won't have any trouble recognizing the text of the part I remember, if it's the same book!) and will post an update here as soon as I know for sure.

FYI. Project Gutenberg has the complete text for other "Mr. Fortune" short story collections by H.C. Bailey:

1) Call Mr. Fortune - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...
2) Mr. Fortune's Practice - https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/...

Thanks for those links, Kris!

Yay! My interlibrary loan copy of Case for Mr Fortune arrived today, and I was immediately able to confirm that this was the book I read (I still recognized some of the dialogue). A big thanks to you, Lori! This one now moves into the SOLVED section. :-)