The Unexpected Guest

by Agatha Christie

A thriller as well as a puzzler set in a foggy estate in Wales, this mystery opens as a stranger walks into a house to find a man murdered and his wife standing over him with a gun. But the woman is dazed and her confession is unconvincing. The unexpected guest decides to help her and blame the murder on an intruder. Later, the police discover clues that point to a man who died two years previously and a Pandora's box of love and hate, suspicion and intrigue is opened in the night air.

Genres: Mystery, Agatha Christie, Fiction, Crime, Plays, Audiobook, Classics

100 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 1958

About the author

Agatha 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)

Reviews

[samantha Bookworm-on-rainydays · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well......that was weird...that's all I can think to say at the moment

[Heather W · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read for me, I love this story. It is fast-paced with a wonderful twist at the end that I solved the first time and remembered about half way through this time. Did I mention I love this story??1 Definitely recommend

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is EVERYONE the murderer in The Unexpected Guest?!

[Muddle head · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple, small, no-nonsense story! A man driving in the night through the fog finds himself entrenched in a ditch. So he walks up to the nearest house and walks into a murder scene quite unexpectedly! He finds a cripple of a husband murdered, shot through his head, in the wheel-chair, while the wife is standing in a corner with the gun still in her hand and confessing to the murder. But did she really do that? Is she shielding someone else? Maybe a lover? Or her retarded bro-in-law?
TO those who are thinking of picking this up, u might feel the story is kind of slow in the beginning without any hint of mystery, but then half way through it slowly starts picking up pace and the climax is just too overwhelming!
This is supposedly the only or one of the few Christie novels where the murderer isn't caught or dead!

[Vintage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has some of the nice twists that Agatha Christie is known for with Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

If you like to be surprised then I suggest you skip the review and simply read or listen to the book. If not then....

As I listened to the narration by Hugh Fraser, I thought this would make a great play only to find out it was one. At one point I suspected every character of being guilty and was happy to be wrong in every single case.

Not very many nice characters AT ALL.

Victim:
For starters, the victim deserved his end like few others. He's a big game hunter, first strike, who was attacked by a tiger or lion and has been confined to a wheel char which has brought out his worst qualities. Worse qualities than shooting wild animals include lowering his standards and shooting stray cats, rabbits, the occasional dog and scaring one woman by taking potshots at her as she ran away, and threatening to put his mentally handicapped little brother in an asylum.

Even worse: He killed a child while driving drunk and got off by being charming at the inquest and having his secretary lie for him. Completely unrepentant.

Possible suspects:
His wife... bland, a tad stupid and has been having an affair. HP heroine material.

Her lover...a wannabe politician and best friend of the victim that has been cuckolding his best friend.

Victim's mother...all the warmth of Medea.

Victim's little brother...Felt sorry for him until he begins to gambol around the estate waving a gun around and threatening to kill someone...anyone.

The doting secretary...Lies for the victim when he runs over the 6 year old, but lovingly scolds him for it.

All in all a fun listen/read. Like I said it has some of the nice twists you expect to get from Agatha Christie, but it's not so well known that you know the end going in.

[শাহ্‌ পরাণ · Rating 4 out of 5]

৩.৭৫/৫

পাঠকের মন নিয়ে লেখিকা রীতিমত খেললেন যেনো। কিছুদূর পর পরই কাহিনী টার্ন নিচ্ছে। এক মুহূর্তের জন্যও বিরক্ত হইনি। ক্রাইম থ্রিলার আপনার পছন্দের জনরা হলে চোখ বন্ধ করে পড়ে ফেলুন।

[Poonam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Interesting start of the story with a murder scene, a stranger walking in on the murder scene, a confession of the crime.
It looks very simple open and shut case, and then the Web of confusion begins.
Very different from the other agatha christie stories.
This was the first one not having a Miss Marple or Poirot solving the crime.
Somehow I was able to guess the plot at 70% of the story even with all the red herrings.

[Lovely Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

AH! Another AC favourite!!!

The entire time I knew how this was gonna end….until it ended and I was like wha?!?!? But it’s so good!!!!!!!

———

When a man’s car breaks down, he finds himself seeking help at the nearest home, only to see a wealthy patriarch, dead at the feet of his stunned wife.

———

This is a short story, but felt like a full length AC novel to me!

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a play turned novel. It was an excellent murder mystery. It had me guessing the whole way, and kept my interest. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Christie's books or is new to her world. I would even reread it to see if I could pick up on clues as to who the murderer was.

[Anna Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending bumped it from a 3 to a 4. Thought this was the first time I’d predicted the ending before it was revealed, but, alas, not this time!

[Ash(eaux) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhhhhhhh

[Tee · Rating 3 out of 5]

****3.25 Stars****

I haven't read an Agatha Christie novel in a while so I needed this one badly, and as usual, it did not disappoint.

The Unexpected Guest is a short play about the murder of Richard Warwick and the potential suspects, which could be any member of his family.

-I've never read a play before, so this was different. But I liked it a lot. It was very nerve-wracking and I felt I was part of the story. I love how Agatha Christie makes simple characters appear intriguing, mysterious, and worth reading about. I call that clever writing because she can write a story out of nothing.

The only thing I didn't like was how short it was. I guess for a play it had to be. But I wanted to know more, to get more in depth and get to know the characters more. I also felt at times that it was similar to her other plots, which made it a bit predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.

Overall, definitely worth reading. It's a play full of mystery, drama, and suspense.

[Barakiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've almost given up on Agatha Christie so many times... but this book renewed my interest in her. This author's strong points are interesting characters, excellent dialogue, mystery and intrigue. Forensics, detective work and science are not her strong points. So when you get a book like this, that is written more from the laymen's perspectives and less from the detective's P.O.V. it's pretty good.

There was one character in this book that I enjoyed. Unfortunately toward the latter part of the book his character just kind of - poof - disappeared. :( It was the poetic sergeant who was so busy composing and reciting poems that he seldom performed his duties as he should have. Fun and interesting to read.

Good plot. Good ending. Recommended.

[Pauline Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to as an audiobook and at the time of choosing I thought it was a short story, being only 58 minutes long, what a surprise to find out that this was made into a play! And what a good one for it! I throughly enjoyed this, it was to the point, very much a detective scene with questions and answers, and suppose if.

Definitely recommend if you are looking for a short audiobook, or I noticed it's only 100 pages in this particular one.

Pauline Reid
Reviewer
New Zealand.

[Aisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one phenomenal mystery. The reader who wants to solve this one will be taken on a wild ride. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone is lying. The twists and turns leave the reader shocked at the final reveal. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.

[elise rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

As soon as the Sergeant started quoting poetry at a murder scene, I knew he was my favorite character. 😂

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent who done it mystery from the Queen of mystery. I enjoyed every minute. Recommend to anyone who loves murder mystery classics like me. 🥰

[Nancy Lockett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favorite Agatha Christie.

[Ishmam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I solved this yey!

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really sure what to say. Good in parts, painfully politically incorrect in others (and this is coming from me who hates PC). I realize this was written a long, long time ago but still. And the ending, the very very end (I kinda guessed the whole reveal) but to leave it like that. WTH?!?!? Generous 3 stars

[Tobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audio play on youtube

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was the late monsoon of 2002, Delhi cloaked in that peculiar JNU dampness, where ideas floated like mist and coffee never cooled fast enough. It was Teachers' Day, and I—then a younger version of the man writing this—was entrusted with the direction of a play.

The choice was instinctive: Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest, a thriller that had obsessed me for years. Not a whodunit in the usual Christie vein, but something moodier, richer in psychological undertones, fog-drenched and full of silences that spoke louder than lines.

The play opens on a dark, misty night (how apt for JNU’s Parthasarathi Rocks stage!), as a stranger enters a house to find a man murdered and a woman holding a gun. What follows is not so much an investigation, as a peeling of layers—guilt, complicity, deception, justice. It’s a play where no one is who they seem, and the truth is a shifting mirage.

I remember discussing with the actors how Christie here doesn’t just set a trap for her characters, but for her audience too. You think you’re solving a murder, but you’re really uncovering your own assumptions about morality.

Staging it was no cakewalk. The fog machine malfunctioned spectacularly during our first rehearsal (we choked, coughed, then laughed it off), and finding a Laura Warwick with both elegance and hidden steel took time. But by performance night, the magic had set in. The set was sparse: one armchair (the murder site), a French window, and shadows everywhere. The gunshot was offstage, the tension—very much on. And when the twist landed—ah! That audible gasp from the packed audience in the Open Air Theatre is something I still carry like a badge of honour.

The Unexpected Guest is not just a play about a dead man and a suspicious widow. It is about how people build stories to survive, how memory can be manufactured, and how guilt can be repurposed. Christie plays God here, but a quiet one—watching her characters rewrite their roles, unsure whether they are heroes or accomplices. That ambiguity is what made me choose the play back then, and it is what makes it linger still.

Over the years, I’ve read and reread it, but that 2002 staging remains my truest encounter with it. Every time I come back to it, I hear echoes of that Teachers' Day applause, the scent of wet earth backstage, and the weight of directing something far bigger than a mere murder mystery.

This play taught me that suspense isn’t about who did it—but about why we think we know who did it. And that, like the fog, truth can sometimes just be an illusion waiting to lift.

[Adela Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avem parte din nou de un roman povestit din prisma celor implicați în această crimă. Totul începe când un bărbat pe nume Starkwedder călătorește în sudul Wales-ului (Țara Galilor) și se blochează cu mașina pe drum, în fața unei case. Cum afară e și ceață, el hotărăște să dea un telefon. Nu răspunde nimeni la ușă, așa că încearcă ușa glasvandului, care e deschisă. Înăuntru e întuneric, dar vede un invalid în scaunul său. Îi explică în ce situație se află, dar niciun răspuns. Așa că aprinde o lumină și observă că… e mort, iar în spatele lui se află o femeie, soția lui, cu un revolver în mână. I-ar părea rău ca o femeie frumoasă și tânără ca ea să fie închisă, mai ales când află de la ea că nimeni nu îl suporta pe bărbat din cauză că se purta urât cu toată lumea, așa că face ca totul să pară o crimă săvârșită de un bărbat al cărui copil fusese călcat de mașină de către cel ucis în urmă cu câțiva ani. Poliția cade în plasă și pornește pe urmele bărbatului, dar află că e mort. Starkwedder bănuiește că e ceva putred la mijloc, că nu tânăra doamnă și-a ucis bărbatul, dar nu are de ales și trebuie să o ajute în continuare.

Cel mai bun lucru la acest roman e că nu bănuiești cine e criminalul decât aproape de sfârșit. Apoi ești sigur/ă că știi cine l-a ucis și te răzgândești puțin la o anumită declarație pentru ca apoi să revii la vechile bănuieli și să constați că ai avut dreptate. Iar capitolul final te lasă puțin pe gânduri: chiar așa să fie? ( A se reciti pasajul după ce terminați cartea, care bineînțeles nu aveți nicio șansă să o găsiți în librării. Cel mai probabil o găsiți la anticariat sau la o bibliotecă mai mare, care neapărat să aibă și cărți vechi. )

[Sumit Singla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say that this book was good - though I read a novelized version of the play and not the play itself. It is about a dark, rainy night when a man's car breaks down. He seeks help in a house nearby, and realizes that a man who he thought was sleeping is actually dead.

And then begins a roller-coaster ride, which I cannot begin to describe without giving away spoilers.

However, it'll suffice to say that it is a good book, with some interesting twists that I didn't see coming. (Either Ms. Christie is THAT good, or maybe I'm just a dumb detective!)

It's not one of her finest works and lacks the intricate weaving that some of her best works have. But, it's still a fairly decent quick read.

P.S. I'm guessing that it'll be much more 'mysterious' in play format instead.

[Herzl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm.. not her best (for me, at least). I did not see it coming, yes, but the revelation kind of fell flat for me. I read "Murder on the Orient Express" first, and I found it so well-written and engaging that perhaps I expected highly of the rest of her works. The next on my to-read list is her "And Then There Were None," her bestselling novel. I hope the wheels turn in my favor.

I recommend listening to the audiobook version narrated by Hugh Fraser. His delivery is phenomenal, and honestly what made me power through the story instead of the writing.

[Ragnhild · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Agatha Christies way of writing. Suspensful, original and without the unnecessary drama and violence. She makes it all about the mystery, with a hint of humor. Classic and well worth every second.

[Emmaline Savidge · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the twist ending but the pervasive framing of disabled people as violent disturbed monsters ruined it for me. Agatha’s views about marginalized groups really negatively impact her books for me.

[Penny · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of her best! Somehow I missed reading it in the past. Highly recommend.

[AlexK_D1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll always trust Agatha Christie to shock me. I really did not see that ending coming.

[Redouan Elkham · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really make one dizzy to guess who committed the crime , Agatha Christie is a real marvelous crime plots maker.