Butter in a Lordly Dish

by Agatha Christie

Sir Luke Enderby, eminent prosecution barrister and seasoned womaniser, bites off more than he can chew, when the case of a serial killer comes back to haunt him. A tense one act thriller that's contains one of Christie's most gruesome murders.

Genres: Agatha Christie, Mystery, Plays, Audiobook

30 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1948

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

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Dish Best Served Cold*
A review of the Samuel French / Concord Theatricals online eBook (2019) of the BBC Radio Play first broadcast January 13, 1948.

SIR LUKE. "Butter in a lordly dish**" - now where does that come from? The Bible? Esther? No, it isn't Esther.
JULIA. Don't you remember?
SIR LUKE. I'll get it in a minute.
(He gives another exclamation of pain.)
Ooh - funny this cramp. I feel quite stiff. What were we talking about?
JULIA. Killing...

This is my first review of one of Agatha Christie's shorter (usually 25-40 minute) plays written as originals or adapted from short stories for BBC Radio back in the day. These are probably the most obscure works of Christie. The usually thorough Wikipedia bibliography of Christie only lists 5 of them. Even the Agatha Christie official website only lists 6 of them. I can find at least 8 (see under Trivia and Links below).

The story has Crown Prosecutor Sir Luke Enderby KC, who is notorious for his successful death sentence prosecutions, going off with his latest paramour Julia Keene. Little does he know that Keene has an entirely different motive for the relationship. I read the online eBook at Concord Theatricals AND listened to the BBC Radio broadcast which is part of the audiobook Agatha Christie: The Lost Plays. The play is maybe a 3-star, but the audio performances (particularly that of Rita Vale as Julia Keene) bumped it up to a 4-star.

This short radio play counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge read goal, so I have 17 novels (including 4 remaining Westmacotts), 4 short story collections, 10.5 full-length theatrical plays, 7 shorter radio plays) and 1 autobiography left to go.


I rather like the yellow cover of the online eBook which seems to go with the butter🧈 title.

Footnote
* My lede header is taken from the expression "Revenge is a dish best served cold," meaning that "vengeance is more satisfying when exacted some time after the harm that instigated it." You can read about the origins of the phrase at Phrases.org.uk.
** It is from Judges 5:25 NOTE: Spoiler if you read Judges 5:26.

Trivia and Links
As best as I can currently find there are at least 8 of the shorter radio plays which are available to read or to listen to as of April 2026. The dates and timings are from various sources (Official Agatha Christie website, Wikipedia, publishers Concord Theatricals/Samuel French, Audible Audio) with some still to be confirmed. Not all of these plays or anthologies have a separate listing on Goodreads.

1. The Wasp's Nest (1937) adapted from the same-titled Hercule Poirot short story (1928), also available as part of A Poirot Double Bill- 25 minutes
2. The Yellow Iris (1937) adapted from the same-titled Hercule Poirot short story (1937), also available as part of Murder in the Studio and/or A Poirot Double Bill - ? minutes
3. Butter in a Lordly Dish (1948), the original audio recording is also available as part of the audiobook Agatha Christie: The Lost Plays (2015) - 30 minutes
4. Personal Call (1954), the original audio recording is also available as part of the audiobook Agatha Christie: The Lost Plays (2015) - 30 minutes
5. Murder in the Mews (1955) an adaptation of the same-titled Hercule Poirot short story / novella (1936), there does not appear to be a printed version of this, but the original BBC audio recording is available as part of the audiobook Agatha Christie: The Lost Plays (2015) - 90 minutes [you could say this was a full-length radio play - this adaptation may not be by Christie herself and therefore may not be considered part of the canon, but it was made in her lifetime so presumably she had some right of approval.]
6. Afternoon At The Seaside (1962) also available as part of Rule of Three - 55 minutes
7. The Patient (year is presently unknown) also available as part of Rule of Three - 40 minutes
8. The Rats (year is presently unknown) also available as part of Rule of Three - 35 minutes

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful radio play! I really recommend it!

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Status Christie wrote this play for broadcast on the BBC, one of 5 plays written by members of the Detection Club. It had been thought the recording was lost, but it was found a few years ago. I listened to it on Internet Archive.

It's only short, a KC with a roving eye meets up with a lady at her cottage, but the weekend doesn't quite turn out the way he had expected. The twist is pretty brutal, certainly not a cosy drama.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full-cast radio play. The title comes from Judges 5:25: "He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish." The internet tells me that the expression means "favors to win the trust of an enemy"

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Butter in a Lordly Dish remains one of Christie's least-known works. The title comes from the Bible, at Judges, 5:25 – 'He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish', where "he" refers to Sisera, "she" is Jael, and Jael kills Sisera by hammering a nail through his head. The same fate awaits Sir Luke Enderby in Christie's play at the hands of Julia Keene. Jack Malvern, of The Times called it "one of Agatha Christie’s most gruesome murder plots." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter_....

[James Uscroft · Rating 1 out of 5]

This joke of a play is absurdly lazy and mind-numbingly predictable, making the victim's utter obliviousness all the more infuriating. ...A serious case of "The Victim In A Serial Killer Movie Doing The Exact Opposite Of What's Rational" trope.

[Jina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific play! Short but very dramatic ending. Oh boy, Agatha Christie could be quite terrifying when she wanted!
Listened to the BBC Radio Drama from 1948! It was such a clean audio with marvelous voice actors! So fun!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

For production as a radio play.

[Cheruv · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars. I listened to the BBC Radio Production.

[Maymunah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting radio play. Cozy mystery.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Agatha Christie play - not the best

[Farhana Sufi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Capital one-act murder mystery.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came back to this after playing Julia my freshman year of high school. I LOVE this little radio play.

[Isabella ⸙ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Archibald should consider himself lucky that Agatha Christie channelled all of her female rage into her writing... 👀 Butter In A Lordly Dish manages to pack quite the punch in its short run, and I'm glad that the "lost" recording was found!

[Zviko Mukamba · Rating 5 out of 5]

The twist killed me... The girlfriend is the widow of the men you convicted and she is the real murderer... Say it's not so😅

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a surprising departure for the Queen of Cozy