A Pocket Full of Rye [DeliciousDeath]

Collins, London, 1953
Dodd Mead, New York, 1953

For Bruce Ingram
who liked and published my first short stories

Plot

(from HarperCollins "The Agatha Christie Collection" cover)

Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonising and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals.

Yet, it was the incident in the parlour which confirmed Miss Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme...

Characters

Miss Jane Marple, Rex Fortescue, Adele Fortescue, Percival Fortescue, Jennifer Fortescue, Lance Fortescue, Patricia Fortescue, Miss Grosvenor, Vivian Dubois, Mary Dove, Mr Crump, Mrs Crump, Gladys Martin, Ellen, Det.Insp.Neele, Det.Sgt Hay, Miss Griffith

Movie & TV

[MV] Taina chyornykh drozdov, 1983(USSR) 97min.: [direct] Vadim Derbenyov; [script] Valentina Kolodyazhnaya, Yelizaveta Smirnova; [cast] Ita Ever, Vladimir Sedov, Vsevolod Sanayev, Lyubov Polischuk, Yuri Belyayev, Yelena Sanayeva, Andrei Kharitonov, Natalya Danilova, Yelena Ivochkina, Elsa Radzinya
[TV] A Pocketfull of Rye, 1986(UK/BBC) 100min.: [direct] Guy Slater; [script] T.R.Bowen; [cast] Joan Hickson(Miss Marple), Stacy Dorning(Adele Fortescue), Clive Merrison(Percival Fortescue), Rachel Bell(Jennifer Fortescue), Peter Davison(Lance Fortescue), Martyn Stanbridge(Vivian Dubois), Selina Cadell(Mary Dove), Tom Wilkinson(Neele), Fabia Drake(Miss Henderson)

Mother Goose

Sing a song of sixpence: Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye;; Four and twenty blackbirds, Backed in a pie.; When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing;; Was not that a dainty dish, To set before the King?; The king was in his counting-house, Counting out his money;; The queen was in the parlour, Eating bread and honey.; The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes,; There came a little blackbird And snapped off her nose.