About the author and her works:-

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie (15 September 1890 – 12

January 1976) was an English writer. She is known for her 66 detective
novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around
her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Christie also
wrote the world's longest-running play, a murder mystery, The
Mousetrap.

Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family

in Torquay, Devon. Before marrying and starting a family in London, she
had served in a Devon hospital during the First World War, tending to
troops coming back from the trenches. She was initially an unsuccessful
writer with six consecutive rejections. During the Second World War,
she worked as a pharmacy assistant at University College Hospital,
London, acquiring a good knowledge of poisons which feature in many
of her novels.

Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all

time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and
her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's
most-widely published books,[6] behind only Shakespeare's works and
the Bible.

WORKS:-

 Murder on the Orient Express

 Crooked house
 Five little pigs
 The big four
 Appointment with death
 The murder on the links
Author contemporaries:-

1] Dorothy L. Sayers-
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was a
renowned English crime writer and poet. She is best known for her
mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between the First and
Second World Wars. She is also known for her plays, literary criticism,
and essays.

She grew up in the tiny village of Bluntisham-cum-Earith

in Huntingdonshire after her father was given the living (benefice) there
as rector. The church graveyard next to the elegant Regency-
style rectory features the surnames of several characters from her
mystery The Nine Tailors.

Sayers's first book of poetry was published in 1916 as OP.

I by Blackwell Publishing in Oxford. Her second book of poems,
"Catholic Tales and Christian Songs", was published in 1918, also by
Blackwell.

2] Patricia Wentworth-
Patricia Wentworth (born 10 November 1877[1] – 28 January 1961[2])
was a British crime fiction writer. She was born
in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India (then the British Raj), and was
educated first privately, then at Blackheath High School for Girls
in London.[1] Her father was General Edmond Elles.

Wentworth wrote a series of 32 crime novels in the

classic whodunit style, featuring Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess
and teacher who becomes a professional private detective, in London,
England. Wentworth also wrote 34 books outside of that series. She won
the Melrose prize in 1910 for her first novel A Marriage Under The
Terror, set in the French Revolution.

3] Christianna Brand-
Christianna Brand (17 December 1907 – 11 March 1988) was a
British crime writer and children's author, born in British Malaya.
Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne (1907)
in Malaya but spent most of her childhood in England and India.[1] She
had a number of different occupations, including model, shop assistant
and governess.

Her first novel, Death in High Heels, was written while Brand was
working as a salesgirl, the idea stemming from her fantasies about doing
away with an annoying co-worker. In 1941, one of her best-loved
characters, Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, made his debut
in the book Heads You Lose. The character would go on to appear in
seven of her novels. Green for Danger is Brand’s most famous novel.

Setting:-
The time, place, and culture in which the action of the play takes place is
called the setting. The elements of setting may include geographic
location, physical or mental environments, prevailing cultural attitudes, or
the historical time in which the action takes place. The location for The
Mousetrap is Monkswell Manor, a small guest house thirty miles from
London. The action begins in the late afternoon and concludes the
following afternoon; both acts take place in the Great Hall of the Manor.
Plot:-
It is the first day, Monkswell Manor opens its door for the guests. The newly-
married Giles and Mollie Ralstons’ business venture is about to prove its
worthwhile. Five guests are present amidst the heavy snow; four have booked their
rooms in advance. The last guest, an Italian man, turns up after he abandons his car
which has been stuck in the snowdrift. Nonetheless, he is not the last to come as a
detective sergeant knocks the door later in the evening to investigate a murder
case. Afterwards, the snow storm makes the road impassable.

Mrs. Maureen Lyon was strangled in her home in Paddington, London, a day before.
The main suspect is a man wearing a dark overcoat, light scarf and a soft felt hat.
Police’s attention is drawn to the guest house as two people therein are linked to
the death. What relates the demise of a middle-aged woman and a child abuse case
at the Longridge Farm nearby?

The next day, a guest is found dead in the lounge after lunch.

bibliography:-
https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/mousetrap

https://knowingchristie.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/notes-on-the-
mousetrap